2fi6 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



his "sportsmen" following, to a glori- 

 ous finish. The final fight in the Sen- 

 ate lasted four hours, and ended in a 

 victory for the quail, thirty-four to 

 fourteen. 1 



By their own acts and ethics, the 

 men who shoot game are now dividing 

 themselves into two distinct groups. 

 Heretofore all the members of the en- 

 tire body have been known as "sports- 

 men," chiefly because the line of 

 cleavage has not been clearly defined. 

 Now, however, the time has arrived 

 when it is not only possible, but also 

 necessary, to separate into two classes 

 the men who hunt and kill game. 



One class consists of real sportsmen, 

 who may be defined as men with logical 

 minds, high moral principles, ethical 

 standards either developed or latent, 

 and a willingness to make any personal 

 sacrifice for the preservation and in- 

 crease of wild life that circumstances 

 may render necessary. The other class 

 consists of men whom we shall call 

 "gunners," whose minds are impervious 

 to logic, who recognize nothing resem- 

 bling broad policies in the protection 

 of wild life, who are devoted to the gun 

 and shooting, and who believe in kill- 

 ing game by every means that the law 

 permits, as long as any game remains 



' The factor that enabled the educational lead- 

 ers of that fight to engage in it as they did, was 

 nothing more nor less than two hundred and fifty 

 paltry dollars in money that were thrown into the 

 contest from the Permanent Wild Life Protection 

 Fund, when none of the fighters had time to stop 

 to raise campaign expense funds. It was very 

 much like buying a victory for |250; and when 

 the whole western campaign was over, there re- 

 mained in the treasury of the Permanent Wild 

 Life Protection Fund only one hundred and 

 twenty very lonesome dollars. 



alive, and regardless of the prospect 

 of the extinction of species. 



The word "sportsman" has reached 

 the point where it must either disap- 

 pear altogether or be split into frag- 

 ments, each one bearing either a now 

 name or a qualifying adjective. The 

 time when the old and favorite term 

 necessarily meant a game protector is 

 gone by. The men who lack the sense 

 of fairness, and the spirit of self-sacri- 

 fice which is found in every true sports- 

 man, must now and henceforth lie 

 reckoned with separately. 



The true sportsmen have joined 

 hands with the great mass of the 

 friends and protectors of wild life, who 

 do not shoot and who never kill game. 

 It is incumbent upon this class to meet 

 the gunners whenever necessary, and 

 fight the battles of the vanishing wild 

 life. Today the gunners are still keep- 

 ing up the senseless slaughter that dis- 

 graces Texas; but surely some day the 

 people of that state will arouse from 

 their lethargy. Whether they will do 

 so before the game is entirely gone — 

 remains to be seen. 



The American people are big enough, 

 and rich enough, and sufficiently nu- 

 merous, to continue to defend and in- 

 crease the wild life of the American 

 continent, even during a war with Ger- 

 many. War or no war, we must pay 

 our taxes, educate our children, and 

 protect our wild life and forests from 

 destruction. We are strong to do all 

 these things, at the same time that we 

 join the World War for democracy and 

 the rights of man. 



