150 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Me. Clark of Missouri. Have you any way of keeping 

 them from eating the cherries ? 



Mr. Lacey. No one should ever begrudge a cherry to 

 a woodpecker or a robin. He has made the cherry pos- 

 sible before he takes it. He has done more toward its 

 fruition than the man who set out the tree, because he has 

 protected it from the pests that destroy it. 



Unless some other question is asked, I ask that the bill 

 be read by sections for amendment. 



Mr. Cummings. Will the gentleman inform us, in a 

 few words, what birds this bill does not protect? 



Mr. Lacey. It protects only those birds that are pro- 

 tected by local laws. If the state of New York protects 

 a certain kind of birds, interstate commerce in the dead 

 bodies of those birds is forbidden, so that nothing is taken 

 from the powers of the state. The sound judgment of 

 the legislatures of the states really control this matter 

 after all, and this bill merely builds upon the foundation 

 that is first laid by the state legislature. 



Mr. Gaines. Why do you confine it to states that pro- 

 hibit the killing of robins, for instance? Could not this 

 apply just as well between states that do not prohibit 

 their killing as between states that do? 



Mr. Lacey. In order to do that it would become neces- 

 sary to enact a national law, which, I think, would be 

 unconstitutional. By limiting it to the prohibition of 

 interstate commerce in those things which the state pro- 

 hibits, then we have clear ground, and there is no trouble 

 on the subject. Every state in the Union is today legis- 

 lating as well as it can to perfect the general purpose had 

 in view by this bill. 



Mr. Adamson. The gentleman has not read his amend- 

 ment yet. 



Mr. Lacey. No. 



Mr. Adamson. I suppose I may as well call your at- 



