224 THE AXGLER AXD HUXTSMAX 



elk, the competition between game and live stock will be 

 negligible; and so far as the elk is concerned there is little 

 probability that any attempt will be made to bring him 

 back in large numbers on the National Forests. Like the 

 buffalo, he was doomed to go as a free-ranging game animal, 

 and henceforth he will necessarily be localized. 



"Another important safeguard to stockraising interests 

 lies in the limited size of the proposed refuges. None of the 

 proponents of refuges expects or desires the creation of 

 game preserves coextensive with the National Forests. 

 Even if any did so desire, they would be faced by insur- 

 mountable obstables. The locking up of resources is alien 

 to the spirit of the Forest Service ; all it insists upon is the 

 prudent use and protection which will assure a permanent 

 supply of these resources. The locking up of game re- 

 sources in particular is foreign to the democratic ideal of 

 American sportsmanship, which would never tolerate any- 

 thing that remotely approached the European system of 

 special privileges in the chase. What is desired is a com- 

 paratively large number of small refugees which would have 

 to be located geographically as to assure an overflow of 

 game to the surrounding regions adapted to it, in sufficient 

 numbers to satisfy the legitimate demands of sportsmen. 

 In the location of these refuges there is no reason why the 

 stockmen should not have an important influence. 



"Game refuges within the National Forests would be 

 under the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, as are the forests themselves. The National 

 Forests were and are created under a general enabling stat- 

 ute by Congress, which authorizes the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture to promulgate rules and regulations for their gov- 

 ernance. These regulations have the force of law. Ad- 

 ministrative regulations of this kind are the most flexible 

 system of laws yet devised. Everyone is acquainted with 

 the enormous difficulty of changing statutory laws; it is 

 much easier to secure changes in administrative regulations. 

 Here then is a safeguard whose value can not be overesti- 



