Game Laws 



Laws for the preservation of wild animals 

 are a product of civilization. The more civil- 

 ized a nation, the broader and more humane 

 will be these laws. 



Our ancestors of the flint age were lawless. 

 After the fall "thorns also and thistles" came 

 forth, and man ceased from eating herb-bear- 

 ing seed and fruit, and turned his hand to kill- 

 ing and eating flesh — "even as Nimrod, the 

 mighty hunter before the Lord." Many great 

 and dangerous animals then existed, and it was 

 a necessity to kill off the cave bear, the cave 

 tieer and the mastodon. The earliest of Chal- 

 dean poems indicates the equally great fishing 

 of those days: "Canst thou draw out levia- 

 than with an hook, or his tongue with a cord 

 which thou lettest down?" All savage nations 

 are still ruthless and wasteful in their destruc- 

 tion of animal life. An example is found on 

 the plains, where a thousand buffalo were 



35« 



