VALUE OF WILD LIFE TO THE NATION 13 
they were careful not to exterminate in any area the fur- 
bearing or game animals. This policy continued until the 
advent of the independent fur trader—the ‘‘free trader” 
and hunter—who observed no law and whose whole aim 
was to secure the greatest quantity of furs by the quickest 
method regardless of the future. The effect of men of this 
type on the attitude of the Indian towards wild life was 
what one might expect, but we cannot hold the latter en- 
tirely responsible for his abandonment of his former habits. 
The Indian will conserve wild life if he believes that it is 
to his advantage to do so. He is not so “‘red in tooth and 
claw” as many of those who are frequently accustomed to 
speak ill of him. His primitive weapons were playthings 
compared with the modern sporting rifles. The wild life 
constituted his natural means of subsistence and, with the 
advent of the trading companies, of revenue. In his primi- 
tive state he was merely a unit in that balance of nature 
that is so marvellously adjusted that while the abundance 
of species of animals rises and falls extermination does not 
follow the preying of one species of animal upon another. 
For such changes as have been brought about in the Indian’s 
attitude he is not to blame, and the foregoing facts are set 
forth with a view to removing prejudice in the minds of 
those who have not seriously considered the rights of the 
Indians in this matter. Our obligations to them in those 
areas where tribes still exist who have always lived on the 
wild life that still constitutes a means of subsistence, cannot 
be overlooked or neglected in developing those regions. 
Recreative Value of Wild Life-—When we come to con- 
sider the recreative value of our wild life we touch an aspect 
of wild-life conservation that is as universal in its appeal 
to the sentiments of Canadians as it is inestimable in its 
value to the nation. Few men there are who never feel 
or respond to the call of the open air, the lure of the wild; 
and to all those who cast aside the daily task and seek re- 
