INSTRUCTION 13 



In this sense, conservation does not mean merely saving 

 all species from destruction nor haphazard efforts to increase 

 all the existing species but rather implies selection with the 

 result that, in some instances, conservation may even mean 

 destruction of certain predatory species of wild life whose 

 appetites or habits make them too expensive in relation to 

 their contribution to the social and economic needs of the 

 nation. Thus conservation, in its broadest sense, means 

 wise use. 



^ The writer subscribes to this latter interpretation although 

 rn ne recognizes that with the comparatively limited informa- 

 , tion available on wild life, the decision as to its relative 

 /. value compared with various human undertakings is difficult 

 1 to make. Under the circumstances he believes that all species 

 of wild life should be protected from destruction and their 

 quantity increased unless it can be clearly demonstrated that 

 a particular species is destructive of property out of all pro- 

 portion to its possible value to society. Within this limita- 

 tion conservation as it will be used in the following study 

 <*Vcan be taken to mean protection and increase of existing 

 LOwild life. 



, Aims and Methods of Proposed Study: There is a vital 

 ^ need for stock-taking at the present day to determine what 

 should be the future course of wild life control policies in 

 the United States. We have already passed beyond the 

 stage where conservation may be left to the conscience of 

 the individual hunter or fisherman. Now the question is 

 whether control over wild life should be a function of the 

 ^ state governments or of the federal government, or perhaps 

 divided between them. If the latter alternative is chosen, 

 then what should be the respective sphere of each govern- 

 ment? 



