A NATIONAL GAME POLICY 773 



preservation and use of the creatures placed upon this earth by God 

 gives a clear grasp of the game as a national asset. 



The fact that the game is the property of the State does not lessen 

 the need of the forester's interest or the National Government's duty 

 to provide amply for wild life production. This interest is established 

 through the ownership of the areas and besides this the Government 

 owns practically all the land upon which game could be produced in 

 those regions where the bulk of the National Forests are located. 



The Nation should be vitally interested in the production of wild 

 animals through the important value of natural history. For this 

 reason foresters should recognize the necessity of ample provision 

 for the game on all lands used for forest culture. 



When one speaks of game there is naturally the thought of those 

 animals and birds sought in shooting. When one speaks of wild life 

 there is the thought of all birds and animal life found in the open, and 

 this last is the sense in which the subject should be approached in 

 defining its complete value. 



The open is rendered doubly attractive by the presence of that life 

 which is characteristic of it, and its bald effective use depends greatly 

 upon the presence of this life. The issue takes shape then in a 

 much broader sense than that of the chase. The mere presence of 

 this life, which may be apparent in a dozen different ways even though 

 it is not actually seen, gives a very material value in the interest which 

 it stimulates. The actual hunting, while extensive in all its ramifi- 

 cations, is the smaller part of the value. Against one person who 

 hunts there are thousands stimulated to an interest of active observa- 

 tion and study. 



Taken upon the old order of things, there was no justification for 

 the forester to withhold from direct industrial use, any of the forest 

 lands. Where the values of the chase were considered with its atmos- 

 phere of pleasure or light sport, in fact, the rich man's game, there 

 arose continuous objections to the extensive use of forest lands for 

 game production. Doubtless some of this objection found its origin 

 in European countries where forests are sometimes abused in the 

 production of life for the chase and the interests of the masses are 

 ignored in developing the interests of the classes. 



This recognition of human values as a national asset resulting in 

 the regulation of business in the public interest will control those who 

 see only ])roperty exercise as functions of activity. It is a power for 



