WEALTH ON WINGS 



gaily or illegally ; but it did prevent the marketing of 

 yet other thousands of tons which otherwise would 

 have been killed and shipped. It recognized the old 

 doctrine of the common law, that wild game be- 

 longed to the man who reduced it to possession; 

 but it recognized also the right of the several states, 

 under their police power, to regulate the killing and 

 shipping of the game, and the accepted doctrine 

 that ownership of game rested in the state. 



This was as far as we had gotten under our old, 

 absurd, gamewarden system. The Lacey Act went 

 a step further. It took advantage of this very con- 

 fusion and lack of uniformity in state laws and 

 forbade the handling in one state of game illegally 

 killed in another. It was a clever use of the blanket 

 utility of the interstate commerce idea. 



Still our game decreased, upland birds and wild- 

 fowl as well. Under our system of state license we 

 Americans raised nearly two million dollars a year, 

 ostensibly to protect our game. We protected our 

 politicians instead. It became obvious that a few 

 more years would see our upland game wiped out 

 and wildfowl shooting pretty much a thing of the 

 past. 



It became evident that, even yet, some means 

 must be found by which the wisdom of the nation 

 could protect the American people against the folly 



