162 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



of these articles of diet, unless it be among the million- 

 aires. And so it is with all our other natural resources. 

 At Delhi natural gas was worshiped by the Greeks 2,300 

 years ago. Now it is harnessed and set to work in the 

 gas fields of the United States, but a reckless disregard 

 for its preservation has been shown in every field, and 

 it is only a question of comparatively a short time until 

 the gas and the coal oil will take their places in history, 

 along with the buffalo, the wild pigeon, the terrapin, and 

 the salmon. 



The presence of this assembly tonight indicates that 

 the conscience of the American people has been quick- 

 ened on these questions. The hunters and the fishermen 

 begin to join hands in the preservation of the inhabitants 

 of the forests, the air, and the streams. 



St. Paul was the persecutor and destroyer of the saints, 

 but he saw a great light, and spent his after life in their 

 defense. The birds and the beasts appeal to the sports- 

 men who have persecuted them in the past and have not 

 appealed in vain. I am talking to gentlemen who may 

 have been "game-hogs" or "fish-hogs" in their early 

 youth. Every true sportsman outgrows this mania for 

 indiscriminate slaughter. No doubt some gentleman here 

 has had himself photographed in the past, standing by the 

 side of a great string of fish or by a reeking holocaust 

 of game. A pot-hunter now might have his picture thus 

 taken, but a sportsman, in these days of scarcity, would 

 be ashamed to do so. 



I plead guilty to having, in my youth, taken part in the 

 brutal pastime known as the "side hunt," where two 

 parties start out in the remorseless competition of de- 

 stroying as much animal life as possible ; a rabbit count- 

 ing so many points, a prairie chicken so many, a blue jay, 

 blackbird, crow, and other birds all being scheduled at a 

 given number of points. A hunt like this at the evening 



