CONSERVATION COMMISSION. 13 



The Commission believes that without imposing any unjust 

 burden on the citizens of the State, the Division of Fish and Game 

 can be made self-supporting, providing a proper solution may be 

 reached for obtaining an adequate income from the lands leased 

 for shell fish purposes. 



The fish and game protective departments of the State have 

 heretofore rated their efficiency too largely on the number of con- 

 victions secured and penalties recovered, with the greater the num- 

 ber of successful prosecutions the greater the -credit claimed by 

 the protectors. This Commission will endeavor to popularize the 

 work of preserving and protecting; the wild life of forests and 

 streams to a point where the oldtiine standard shall change, By 

 that, of course, is not meant that there shall be any relaxation of 

 vigilance and determination to bring habitual and willful violators 

 of the law to justice, for as tho chief protector says, " Every time 

 the. game law is violated with impunity, the moral sense of the 

 violator is weakened and his respect for the law is lessened." And 

 touching on the necessity for the moral support of the general 

 public in the work of law enforcement, he adds : " But, if the sense 

 of the community in which he resides is in favor of a strict enforce- 

 ment of the law, the breaker of that law will be severely judged by 

 his associates." However, until public cooperation in the enforce- 

 ment of the law shall have become more general and active, the 

 efficiency of protectors must be to a large extent based on the num- 

 ber of convictions secured; and, until that time the hands of the 

 protective department should be strengthened in this State. An 

 increased number of protectors is urgently required. There should 

 bo at least one in every county and several protectors in the eoun- 

 tios where the fish and game are most abundant and the largest 

 number of violations of the law necessarily occur. From all over 

 the State come demands for increased protection for fish and game 

 which the Commission is unable to meet without legislation in- 

 creasing the total number of protectors. 



It is gratifying to report that during the year chapter 256 of the 

 Laws of 1910, for the protection of wild birds in this State, the so- 

 called plumage law, attacked by the plumage interests as uncon- 

 stitutional on the chief ground that the Legislature had no right 

 to classify birds into families, was upheld by the L T nited States 



