178 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



Resolved, That said committee bo, and it is, hereby authorized and empowered to 

 compel tlie attendance of witnesses at its several sessions, by subpoenas, to be served 

 by the clerk of said committee; and that the chairman and vice chairman of said 

 committee be and they are each of (hem authorized to administer oaths to witnesses; 

 and any witness refusing to answer questions is hereby declared to be in contempt, 

 and may be punished as for contempt. 



Said committee is empowered to employ all needed clerical and expert assistance to 

 carry on said investigation, and all costs and expenses of such invesligation shall be 

 paid out of the Contingent Expense Fund of this Assembly, not exceeding one thousand 

 live hundred dollars. 



Reply to the Eden Resolution by the Executive Officer of the Fish and Game 



Commission. 



In the preamble of Mr. Eden's resolution introduced in the Assembly, April 1, 

 1919, it is stated that some of the members, officers and assistants of the Fish and 

 Game Commission appear before the Legislature. While this is true, they do bo 

 merely in an advisory capacity and have not at this or any other session of the 

 Legislature, attempted to influence any legislation for personal motives. They have 

 favored the legislation which they thought was best for the conservation of the fish 

 and game of this state and have opposed legislation which, in their opinion, was 

 harmful or vicious. 



A general statement is made that certain members, assistants and employees of 

 the commission have been derelict in the performance of the duties imposed upon 

 them by law, but no specific instances have been enumerated. The statement is 

 untrue. Assistants or employees found derelict in the performance of their duties 

 have been promptly discharged from the service of the commission. 



The following is a brief reply to each of the nineteen points set up in the 

 resolution : 



1. The fact that two of the three commissioners are members of gun clubs has in 

 no way influenced them in showing any favoritism towards gun clubs nor have they 

 been perniciously active in supporting or opposing legislation pending before the 

 Assembly, nor have they sought to establish the European system of monopoly in 

 the control and use of iish and game, against the interests and wishes of the common 

 people. On the contrary, they have always sought to perpetuate fish and game in 

 this state for the benefit and use of all tha people. Commissioner Bosqui is not 

 a member of nor in any way affiliated with any hunting or fishing club nor with any 

 game or fishing preserve. 



2. It is not true that within the past nine years the Fish and Game Commission 

 has dismissed three executive officers of the commission. Charles A. Vogelsang 

 severed his connection with the commission long before Commissioners Newbert and 

 Bosqui were appointed and several years prior to the time the present executive 

 officer became connected with the commission. 



John P. Babcock, after several conferences with Governor Hiram W. Johnson, 

 resigned on November 24, 1911. 



Ernest Schaeffle voluntarily resigned on September 15, 191G. Both resignations 

 are now on file in the office of the commission. 



3. Mr. Robert D. Duke, attorney for the commission, devotes all of his time to 

 the duties of his state office. 



4. During the four years ending June 30, 1918, the Fish and Game Commission 

 collected the sum of .$837,409.20, because under the laws of the state, it was its 

 duty to collect said sum. This money was paid into the Fish and Game Preservation 

 Fund by hunters, anglers and commercial fishermen who desired that it be used for 

 the purpose of conserving fish and game and not that it be diverted into the general 

 fund to be used for other purposes. It is their wish that these funds be spent on 

 patrol, enforcement of fish and game laws, erection and maintenance of hatcheries, 

 distribution of fish, installation of screens in ditches, fishways in dams and research, 

 etc. 



The fish canncrs and commercial fishermen, of their own accord, asked that a 

 privilege tax be imposed on the taking of fish and that the money from this source 

 be turned over to the Fish and Game Commission for the purpose of conducting 

 investigations of the life history of fishes in order that the commercial fisheries might 

 be further developed, new methods of fishing experimented with and proper legislation 

 passed in order to conserve the fishes of this state. 



Accounts of its receipts and expenditures are published more frequently _by this 

 commission than by any other state board or commission. "California Fish and 

 Game," published liy the commission quarterly, contains a full statement of all money 

 expended by this commission each month, besides an account of the commission's 

 other activities. 



That the funds of the commission have not been unwisely or extravagantly spent 

 is proven by the results obtained. The salmon run, which in the early '80s was 

 practically exterminated by mining operations, was restored by the work of the 



