170 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Under the so-called "Lacey Act" this commerce is un- 

 lawful, and birds or game killed in violation of local law 

 are not lawful subjects of commerce. 



It is now illegal to ship such game, even when killed in 

 season, without having the contents of the packages suit- 

 ably and openly labeled. 



When game arrives at its destination after an inter- 

 state transit, it at once becomes subject to the local law 

 by the terms of this act, and cannot be sold as an article 

 of commerce in violation of the local statutes. 



This provision has enabled state game wardens to pre- 

 vent the use of imported game as a shelter behind which 

 local game might also be sold. 



Not long before the passage of this law, I saw a large 

 hogshead opened in the Washington market and it was 

 completely filled with frozen prairie chickens from Kan- 

 sas. 



There were nearly 1,000 of these frozen birds in this 

 single package. 



They were killed and shipped in violation of the Kansas 

 law, and the crime had been concealed in Kansas. But at 

 the end of the journey they had come out in the open 

 market, and under the present federal law the shippers 

 would have been confronted with the dreadful national 

 power. 



The state of Wyoming has of its accord created a game 

 refuge in a part of the state adjacent to the Yellowstone. 

 It is a good example to follow. 



The Wichita Forest Eeserve in Oklahoma has been by 

 law declared a game refuge. 



In urging this latter bill before Congress but little op- 

 position was met with, and the people of Oklahoma are 

 united in their approval of the law. It gives the people 

 there a source of supply, which by natural overflow, will 



