180 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



appeal to their representatives and senators. Any 

 cause that can command the support of 20,000 or 

 30,000, or 100,000 strong personal letters from 

 constituents is backed by a force that i& well-nigh 

 irresistible. Sometimes "the voice of the people" 

 is indeed "the voice of God." In the passage of the 

 Lacey bird law, the Bayne law, the McLean- Weeks 

 law and the plumage law, the opposition of private 

 and commercial interests was in the end completely 

 overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of earnest 

 letters of appeal and demand that flowed in an 

 irresistible tide upon the lawmakers. I wish that 

 the college men of America would make clear to all 

 persons in their spheres of influence the power of 

 the original personal letter from constituent to 

 representative. At the same time, it should be 

 remembered that "machine-made" letters always 

 are detectable; they are worse than useless, and it 

 is right that they should be so. 



There is another phase of citizen duty toward 

 wild life that I approach with a feeling of hopeless 

 despair. It is the raising of campaign funds. I 

 present it merely as a matter of form, and not at all 

 in the hope of accomplishing even secondary results. 



In all campaigns for the protection and increase 

 of wild life, the need for campaign cash is very 

 great. I have seen three great causes won because 

 each one had an adequate campaign fund. I have 

 seen several worthy movements languish and die of 

 financial starvation. At this moment I know of 



