CURRENT TOPICS. 



BY OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT. 



Since the time that the last issue of 

 the American Angler was presented 

 to its readers but little if any news has 

 to be recorded in this department. It 

 is apparently a case of midsummer in- 

 activit5^ Possibly it may be owing to 

 the state of doubt among business men 

 regarding the course of affairs both 

 politically and pecuniarily. Reputable 

 concerns in the handling of guns and 

 fishing tackle appear to have agreed 

 upon a policy of "do nothing" until 

 the "Ides" of November are passed. 

 No orders have gone forward to either 

 Birmingham, England, or Liege, Bel- 

 gium, for arms, either of low or high 

 grade to replenish almost exhausted 

 stocks. It seems to be a time of 

 uncertainty everywhere. 



THE SHOOTING HOBBY. 



Notwithstanding the unusual depres- 

 sion in business matters, never in the 

 remembrance of the writer has there 

 been so much or so long continued 

 shooting meetings as in the month just 

 closed, and August opens with no 

 diminution of these shooting events. 

 The first week saw advertised at Chicago 

 a meeting for the capture of the hand- 

 some, as well as valuable silver trophy 

 presented by the Du Pont de Nemones 

 Smokeless Powder Company. It was 

 arranged that the tournament should be 

 one of three days. Instead of that it 

 ran the full week and with but one 

 excfeption not a tie in a single event 

 was shot out to a finish. To give some 

 idea of the extent of this affair it is 

 only necessary to mention that nearly 



every State in the Union had its repre- 

 sentative among the contending men 

 present. The number of these taking 

 part in one of the contests was 175, the 

 largest, with one exception, that has 

 ever been seen in this country. The 

 single exception, if memory serve me 

 correctly, was in 1880 or 1881 when the 

 Chicago Board of Trade presented a 

 magnificent emblem to be shot for at 

 John Watson's Bumside Park. In that 

 affair between 180 and 190 men took 

 part, but it was not exclusively a 

 gathering of shooting men. Members 

 of the Board of Trade, in fact many of 

 them took part in the race, men who 

 never before had had a gun in their 

 hands and never have had since. It 

 was lots of fun, and a happy-go-lucky 

 affair from beginning to end. This 

 last affair given, by-the-way, by E. C. 

 Rice, manager of the western end of 

 the Du Pont de Nemones Smokeless 

 Powder Company's business, was com- 

 posed of an aggregation of shooting 

 men entirely. The week was started 

 on Monday and was continued without 

 intermission until Saturday night. 



ARE THE TIMES HARD ? 



Now the attendance at that shooting 

 meeting demanding as it did the 

 expenditure of thousands of dollars 

 would lead one to think that this cry of 

 hard times and no business must be 

 grossly exaggerated or it would be 

 utterly impossible to gather together 

 for a week's shooting an average of 145 

 men daily. Let us consider this cost 

 of shooting a little. Some good birds 



