LET US GO AFIELD 



our best at such increase, we saw the cost of all 

 these items go up with great rapidity. 



What, then, could be expected of a commodity 

 which was treated not as a domestic article of trade 

 but on the basis of a mine to be used until ex- 

 hausted ? We treated our wildfowl as a mine. We 

 applied state rights to this wealth, which beyond 

 all other commodities was itself inherently and fun- 

 damentally interstate wealth. 



We framed a multitude of state laws, based on 

 local whims, local ignorance and local selfishness, 

 with no uniformity even as between states in prac- 

 tically the same geographical situation. We fol- 

 lowed out our ancient right of personal privilege, 

 until we faced game fields suddenly gone barren. 

 For half a generation thinking men have known that 

 the game of America was doomed. 



It was not until some few years ago that John F. 

 Lacey, a congressman from Iowa, conceived the 

 idea that game shipped across the state line became 

 subject to the watchful care of the nation itself. 

 The Lacey Act may be called the first step toward 

 national intelligence in the preservation of our wild 

 game. Of course, its effect was for the good not 

 only of wildfowl but of upland or localized game. 



The Lacey Act did not prevent the marketing of 

 many thousands of tons of wild game, shipped le- 



174 



