THE LEGITIMATE USE OF GAME 93 



What may safely be conceded and sanely carried 

 into effect? 



We must not be extremists where extremism is 

 unnecessary; neither must we be frightened by the 

 cry of "prohibition" that is likely to be raised 

 against us. Let us resolutely hew to the line, let 

 the chips fall where they will. 



We hold that the best friend of the sportsman is 

 he who resolutely seeks to prevent sport with gun 

 and rod from becoming extinct through the failure 

 of legitimate game. 



The methods that must be applied to preserve 

 legitimate sport resemble a painful surgical opera- 

 tion. No man in his senses desires a surgeon to 

 perform half an operation, because a complete 

 operation would be doubly painful. If an evil is to 

 be eradicated, we wish it done thoroughly, in order 

 that the cure may be permanent. On this basis, the 

 saving and restoration of American game now 

 requires of us strong and resolute action. The 

 patient will many times wince and cry out, but we 

 know that the only way to preserve wild life is to 

 enable it to breed and multiply at least as rapidly 

 as it is destroyed. 



Let us therefore lay down as one of the corner- 

 stones of wild-life conservation the principle that 

 no valuable mid life ever should be destroyed, for 

 any purpose, faster than it breeds, unless it is 

 clearly desirable that its numbers should be 

 reduced. 



