Speaking of Bears * * * * * 39 



of people. Fortunately, the big bears stopped their pursuit suddenly and 

 returned to their feast. Only the little bear ran into the crowd, which, 

 in less time than it takes to tell it, faded away leaving a lane for his 

 escape. 



In Yosemite National Park the bear pits are located some distance 

 from the camps and lodges and the feeding of the bears is made a great 

 event. In the evening just after dark, Dudes in motor stages and Sage- 

 brushers in their own cars drive to a spot along the Merced River. All 

 is quiet and dark. Suddenly the lights are flashed on across the river, 

 revealing the "salad bowl," with anywhere from half a dozen to a score 

 of bears growling and feeding as the bear man dumps numerous garbage 

 cans of supper for them. A tree stump in the middle of the platform 

 is painted with syrup each evening, and there is great rivalry among 

 the bears to get at this. Bears are like little boys in one respect they 

 prefer desserts to entrees, any day. 



An odd impasse between the Yosemite bears and the Yosemite au 

 thorities came about a short time ago when a new garbage incinerator 

 was installed in the park. It was decided that henceforth the garbage 

 would go to the incinerator, instead of to the "salad bowl," and the 

 bears became real cantankerous as a result. They raided camps, stole 

 from the store and the market, and banged garbage cans around fero 

 ciously each night, raising havoc in general. The newspapers on the 

 Pacific Coast took up the issue for the bears in their news and editorial 

 columns, insisting that the Yosemite bears were on strike and that they 

 were resorting to sabotage as a protest against the new incinerator. 

 Reporters created the fiction of a bear's union known as "The Amalga 

 mated Brotherhood of Black, Brown, and Cinnamon Bears," and pub 

 lished daily telegraphic reports of the strike activities. 



Public interest in the matter was great, and the rangers received 

 dozens of letters from newspaper readers protesting against the out 

 rageous treatment of the bears. We finally wrote to Superintendent 

 Lewis of Yosemite, offering to give the Yosemite bears plenty of garbage 

 and an eight-hour day if he would send them up to Yellowstone. After 

 that, the Yosemite authorities relented and restored the "salad bowl," 

 and the end of the strike was hailed generally as a great victory for the 

 Amalgamated Brotherhood of Black, Brown, and Cinnamon Bears. 



Bears are always doing unexpected and perverse things. That is 

 one of the reasons they seem so human. There is always a surprise in a 

 bear. There is always some play in him. He loves to fool somebody 

 else, but he doesn't like to be fooled himself. That is human. He wants 

 his own way. He has his moods when he is sulky, when he is friendly, 

 or when he is just plain ornery. The way to a bear's heart is through his 

 stomach, the female of the species being just as susceptible in this 



