146 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



as imperfect unless he had a hundred dead ducks, grouse, 

 or geese around him. Today a true sportsman would be 

 ashamed to be pictured in connection with a larger num- 

 ber of fowls than a decent share of an American gunner, 

 having due regard to the preservation of the game for the 

 future. 



This bill is directed against the pot-hunter. When you 

 take away his market you destroy his occupation. Take 

 away his market or put that market under the surveil- 

 lance of the game wardens, and the pot-hunter must cease 

 to carry on his nefarious traffic. He is the man who 

 should have no friends on the floor of this House or any- 

 where in the United States of America. He is the relent- 

 less enemy of all animal life. The states have awakened 

 to the necessity of preserving what remains of bird life, 

 with which nature so generously endowed our country. 

 State laws of a rigorous character are enacted, and a 

 public sentiment has grown up in favor of the enforce- 

 ment of the statutes. 



But the facility of commerce in these days of rapid 

 transit enables the violator of the state law to market the 

 product of his crime at a distance, and thus defy the laws 

 of his own commonwealth. This bill will supply the pres- 

 ent defect in the law, and a halt can be called upon the 

 ruthless destruction and exportation of the small remains 

 of our once apparently inexhaustible bird population. 



Seton-Thompson tells us that no wild bird or wild ani- 

 mal ever dies of old age. Their lives, sooner or later, al- 

 ways have a tragic end. When a wild animal makes a 

 mistake the penalty is death. 



The gulls, the scavengers of our bays and harbors, are 

 now being killed for use as ornaments. 



The plumes of the egrets are especially sought after; 

 and as their plumage is at its best when nesting, the 

 mother bird is shot while rearing its young, and the or- 



