ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 173 



members from the state whose governor had seen only 

 amusement in the idea, voted for the bill. 



Local laws had been evaded by the shipment of game 

 and birds killed in their violation, by placing them on the 

 market in other states. Under the new national law, com- 

 monly known as the ' ' Lacey Act, ' ' this can be prevented, 

 because the interstate transportation of the birds and 

 game killed in violation of local laws is made illegal and 

 punishable in the federal courts. 



The violator of the state law meets with no profit in the 

 secret breaking of the law of his own state, because when 

 he ships the fruits of his lawlessness to another state for 

 sale in the open market, he finds that while he has escaped 

 the sheriff at home, he runs into the arms of the United 

 States marshal. 



The magnitude of this nefarious business may be under- 

 stood when it is known that in a single seizure, recently 

 made in Chicago, more than twenty thousand birds were 

 confiscated. Thousands of pairs of birds, migrating to 

 their northern summer breeding grounds, had been killed 

 and sent to market in defiance of state laws in this one 

 instance. 



Before the enactment of the national law, this seizure 

 would not have been practicable, because the dealers 

 would have claimed that the killing had occurred in an- 

 other state and would have sheltered themselves under 

 the cloak of commerce. The parties could not have been 

 punished in the state where the birds were killed, because 

 they had committed the offense secretly and concealed 

 their identity in making the shipment. 



By destroying the market the temptation to break the 

 state laws was removed. It is this feature of the federal 

 law which makes it effective. The various state game 

 wardens should now be able to watch the markets and 

 prevent the unseasonable sale of all kinds of game. It is 



