VALUABLE WILD LIFE 37 



more. We of to-day have no right to destroy, or to 

 permit others to destroy, the principal of a wild- 

 life inheritance that belongs to posterity fully as 

 much as to ourselves. We hold the wild life of our 

 glorious land IN TRUST, and it is our duty to protect 

 it adequately from the spendthrifts who would 

 foolishly butcher it and destroy it. 



Thanks to the fighting that already has been 

 done, the army of destruction has been routed on 

 many a field, and its entire line of battle has been 

 checked. I wish it were in our power to speak to 

 every American who loves his country and say that 

 it pays to fight in this cause. In 1912, a band of 

 teachers, curators and students in the University 

 of California decided that it was their bounden 

 duty to put forth a supreme effort to save the wild 

 birds and mammals of that state from the annihi- 

 lation that was then in full progress. They ad- 

 dressed themselves to the task before them like 

 men! They organized an army of defense such as 

 California never before had seen; and they taught 

 the sportsmen of California the foundation prin- 

 ciples of real campaigning in behalf of wild life. 



In the terrific conflict that ensued, in which 

 nearly every large newspaper in the state was 

 bitterly arrayed against them, they never wavered 

 or looked back. Eventually the contest ended in 

 an almost complete victory for the wild-life cause, 

 and in a manner that reflected great credit on the 

 University of California. 



