138 
numbers of local gunners using modern 
methods of transportation, such as auto- 
mobiles, motorboats, trolley roads and 
improved firearms. The present game 
supply of the country should be consid- 
ered in exatly the same way as that of 
domestic stock and fowls, the breeding 
reserve of which should be increased to 
insure increased supplies for food. This 
is even more necessary for much of the 
wild game, since once it is destroyed to 
a certain point it will decrease under 
natural conditions to extinction and can 
never, as in the case of domestic stock, 
be restored. 
To advocate the relaxation of state 
game laws would secure neither uni- 
formity in action or results since state 
legislatures can not be brought to exactly 
the same views, and most of the states 
will not have regular sessions for another 
year. Since an attempted relaxation of 
laws would tend toward a rapid destruc- 
tion of game, no emergency has as yet 
arisen sufficiently acute to warrant the 
Food Administration advocating the de- 
struction or impairment of game which 
forms a valuable national asset. 
It may be added that no extensions of 
the hunting season or bag limit beyond 
those now specified in the state game 
laws could be legally made without action 
by the state legislatures, most of which 
will not meet until a year from the 
coming winter. Furthermore, an action 
which could be taken in this country 
which would contravene the Migratory 
Bird Treaty between the United States 
and Great Britain as concerns the con- 
servation of wildfowl would be deeply 
resented by Canada, which through con- 
siderable effort has secured the acceptance 
of all the provinces of the treaty and of 
the enabling act and regulations whereby 
it is to be enforced. 
U. 8S. Foop ADMINISTRATION. 
HOW TO HELP. 
There are many persons sufficiently 
interested in wild life to seek some way 
of helping in the conservation movement. 
Believing that one of the most funda- 
mental methods of bringing about con- 
servation in the future is to begin with 
school children, we are led to make the 
suggestion that such people demand that 
CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
wild-life conservation be taught in the 
schools of their respective towns or cities. 
A talk with the principal or with the 
teachers will oftentimes accomplish the 
right end. The ability to properly teach 
nature study and wild-life conservation 
should be demanded of every prospective 
teacher. 
LIMITS THE RULE. 
The opening day of the 1918 trout 
season demonstrated that fish are even 
plentiful in the coastal streams near San 
Francisco. One of the fish and game 
deputies, working near Pescadero, San 
Mateo County, checked over forty-two 
limits of trout, and many other fishermen 
had very near the limit. The fish were 
not very large, but of sufficient size to 
make them the best kind of food. 
THE POLLUTION OF PUBLIC 
WATERS. 
The pollution of the public waters of 
the state has become a serious menace to 
fish life, and the Fish and Game Com- 
mission has for a number of years been 
using the powers given it by the legis- 
lature to stop this wanton destruction 
of fish. 
Large quantities of fish in San Fran- 
cisco and San Pablo bays are often so 
charged with petroleum that they are 
unfit for food. The principal offenders 
are the refining companies on the shores 
of San Francisco and San Pablo bays. 
The companies have been warned from 
time to time regarding this evil and have 
promised to stop the pollution, but, with 
few exceptions, have failed utterly to 
keep their agreements. They have been 
-arrested numerous times and with but 
one exception have escaped punishment 
upon the promise to the court that the 
evil would be remedied. The defense 
frequently advanced by the several offend- 
ing companies has been that the industry 
is more important to the people than the 
fish. Both are economically important, 
but the importance of one is no excuse for 
the destruction of the other, for it has 
been shown conclusively that the evil 
complained of can be remedied without 
impairing the operation of the plant. 
This has been demonstrated in almost 
every instance, for, as soon as an arrest 
