34 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



on October 4, 1913, set over the birds of the world 

 an impenetrable shield for their protection from the 

 feather millinery trade of America. This was 

 accomplished through a clause in the new tariff bill 

 absolutely prohibiting the importation of any fancy 

 feathers, plumes, skins or quills of wild birds other 

 than the ostriches and domestic fowls, for commer- 

 cial uses. Thus was there achieved in this country, 

 after six months of diligent labor, a result for which 

 England throughout six years has striven in vain, 

 but which now is near attainment, through a 

 government measure known as "the Hobhouse 

 bill." The clause in the new tariff bill, drafted by 

 and championed by the New York Zoological So- 

 ciety, gave the women and men of America the first 

 opportunity that ever had been offered them to 

 strike one crushing blow at the feather millinery 

 disgrace. 



The opportunity was improved to the utmost, 

 and after the fiercest battle ever waged in the 

 United States Senate over any measure for the pro- 

 tection of wild life, the protection cause completely 

 triumphed. To-day the ports of the United States 

 and its colonial possessions are absolutely closed to 

 the plumage of wild birds. As a first result, con- 

 sider the great quarterly feather sale in London on 

 October 14. On account of the closing of the 

 American market, more than one-third of all the 

 feathers offered there were unsalable, and had to be 

 withdrawn. In Berlin, the price of aigrettes has 



