CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
the 
and 
pollution is stopped tem- 
continued again 
is made, 
porarily, then is 
with greater aggravation. Consequently, 
if it can he stopped temporarily, it can 
be stopped permanently. 
Another defense frequently advanced 
is that the expense of disposing of the 
waste oil, other than in the public waters 
of this state, is too great. Certainly it 
can not be contended that the money ex- 
pended by any oil company to prevent 
this pollution would represent, in the 
smallest degree, the value of the fish 
destroyed. 
There are only a few of nature’s gifts 
which have not been appropriated and 
exploited by corporate greed and which 
the public are privileged to enjoy. These 
are air, fish and game, and, regardless 
of expense, they should be perpetuated. 
One of the best illustrations of the 
willful and malicious pollutions to which 
the attention of this commission has been 
called is that of two oil companies oper- 
ating on Edna Creek in San Luis Obispo 
County. This stream is one of the 
largest and best trout streams in the 
county. For some time the companies 
on its banks have run their waste oil into 
the creek, polluting it for many miles, so 
charging fish with oil as to make them 
unfit for food, and making the water 
unfit to drink, either for man or beast. 
The companies have been warned 
numerous times to cease polluting the 
water of Edna Creek, which warning 
they have failed to heed, and as a result 
they were arrested recently and convicted 
and fined. Within twenty-four hours 
after they were convicted, the pollution 
ceased, and the sump holes, from which 
pipes and ditches lead into the creek, were 
filled in or disconnected. 
This same condition prevails along the 
shores of San Francisco and San Pablo 
bays. 
The pollution of the public waters can 
and must be stopped. The people demand 
it and it is absolutely necessary for the 
preservation of the fish life in waters of 
the state. The Fish and Game Com- 
mission will do all in its power to enforce 
the laws upon the statute books governing 
this subject, and it is the duty of the 
139 
courts to see that the mandates of the 
law are carried out. 
This, however, can not be done without 
the earnest assistance and co-operation of 
the several district attorneys throughout 
the state, who have in some instances 
failed to give the assistance which the 
importance of the subject demands.— 
XOBERT D. DUKE. 
HOW SAN FRANCISCO BACKS THE 
GAME LAWS. 
There has been great improvement in 
the co-operation of the judges of this 
state in enforcing the fish and game laws. 
There are only a few places where it is 
still difficult to obtain convictions. One 
such place is San Francisco. Records 
compiled by the Fish and Game Com- 
mission show that during the last three 
years but twenty fines, and these for 
small amounts, have been imposed by the 
police courts of San Francisco on vio- 
lators of the fish and game laws. During 
the same length of time, only five vio- 
lators were sent to jail, while thirteen 
cases were dismissed and fifty-three con- 
victed persons were let go with suspended 
sentences. The record also shows that 
a large percentage of those who were 
fined or jailed were Chinese. All but. ten 
of the eighty-nine violators appearing in 
court were foreign born. 
The record compiled is worthy of con- 
sideration. This commission does not 
expect the fishermen to be branded as 
felons or anything of that sort. It seeks 
from the courts in convictions, punish- 
ment which will deter the market fisher- 
men from despoiling the fish supply. The 
law is not drastic. It aims to protect in 
a perfectly sane way the fish and game 
food supply of the state. When the 
commission presents evidence that war- 
rants conviction, it stands to reason that 
if the convicted person is let off with a 
suspended sentence which means’ no 
punishment at all, the very purposes of 
the commission’s work are hampered 
seriously. 
If for profit market fishermen or game 
hunters are wilfully violating laws which 
they know exist, the Fish and Game 
Commission should be sustained in its 
endeavor to enforce these laws. 
