WILD LIFE IN ALASKA—GRANT. 523 
entire people of the United States, and to some extent that of the 
civilized world, is centered in the continued existence of the forms of 
animal life which have come down to us from an immense antiquity 
through the slow process of evolution. It is no longer generally 
conceded that the local inhabitants of any given district have a divine 
commission to pollute the streams with sawdust, to destroy the 
forests by axe or fire, or to slaughter every living thing within reach 
of rifle, trap, or poisoned bait. This must be thoroughly understood 
in advance. The game and the forests belong to the nation and not 
to the individual, and the use of them by the individual citizen is 
limited to such privileges as may be accorded him by law. The mere 
fact that he has the power to destroy without interference by the law 
does not in itself confer a right. The destruction of game is far 
more often effected by local residents than it is by visiting sportsmen, 
but the chief evil doer, and the public enemy of all classes is the 
professional hunter, either Indian or white, who kills for the market. 
Worse still, perhaps, is the professional dealer in heads and antlers, 
who employs such hunters to provide game heads for the decoration 
of the banquet halls of the growing class of would-be sportsmen, who 
enjoy the suggestion of hunting prowess conferred by a selected col- 
lection of purchased heads, mixed in with those of their own killing. 
However efficient the game laws may be in limiting the killing to a 
given number of individuals, and to certain seasons of the year, or, 
better still, to the adult males of certain species, the only permanently 
effective way to continue in abundance and in individual vigor any 
species of game is to establish proper sanctuaries, as thoroughly con- 
trolled as the Yellowstone Park, and these must contain both summer 
and winter ranges. In such areas no hunting or trapping, nor per- 
haps even dogs, should be allowed; and in them the game will then 
retain its native habits and breed freely, while the overflow would 
populate the adjoining districts. This principle has been applied in 
East Africa with brilliant success, where a protected strip of land on 
either side of the Uganda Railway is now absolutely swarming with 
game. 
Such preserves should be set aside in Alaska, while land is yet of 
little value. Districts should be selected where there is but little, if 
any, mineral wealth; and there are abundant areas of that descrip- 
tion in Alaska. Certain islands should also be utilized, particularly 
in southeastern Alaska. Beyond doubt such refuges will be ulti- 
mately established, but it is to be hoped that it can be done before the 
game has been decimated and the forests cut down or burned. 
Another element in game protection is the relation of the Indian to 
the wild game. This problem is not as serious in Alaska as it is in 
parts of British Columbia and the Canadian Northwest, and is set- 
tling itself by the rapid decline of the Indian population. Indians, 
