The ReginalMeeting. 



115 



that their disappearance would mean 

 the loss to us of one of the most valuable 

 and essential benefits provided by 

 Nature their preservation becomes a 

 duty requiring our every attention and 

 effort. Sad to say, any energy put forth 

 in the endeavor to protect wild life is 

 too often looked upon as little more than 

 the worthy agitation of a few biased 

 enthusiasts; but the matter of the pro- 

 tection of game (and with it that of all 

 beneficial species of animals) means far 

 more to the state than the mere curtail- 

 ing and lengthening of the open seasons 

 for shooting, subject to the whims of a 

 few present-day sportsmen. 



Value of Game Preservation to 

 Agriculture. 



In the United States the preservation 

 of game is now being looked upon 

 almost wholly from an agricultural point 

 of view. Large appropriations of money 

 have enabled the Department of Agri- 

 culture to make the fullest scientific 

 enquiry as to the value of all wild life; 

 and this has proven in the most con- 

 clusive manner that the whole question 

 is one of the greatest economic value. 

 The work achieved in their Bureau of 

 Biological Survey has been of marked 

 assistance in providing information that 

 applies to this country also, and is well 

 worthy of adoption by our own govern- 

 ment. It has been shown that "weeds 

 and insects cost the farmers of Canada 

 millions of dollars annually, both in 

 direct losses and in expenditures for 

 labor and material necessary to protect 

 their crops. Anything, therefore, which 

 tends to reduce the number of weeds or 

 to check the ravages of injurious insects 

 is a direct benefit. Among the most 

 useful natural agents in checking such 

 losses are insectivorous and seed-eating 

 birds (many of which are game birds); 

 and the importance of their preserva- 

 tion, while difficult to measure in dollars 

 and cents, is self-evident, since it may 

 mean the difference between large 

 profits and heavy losses." The fecund- 

 ity of insect pests, to say nothing of 

 rodents, is amazing and appalling; and 

 it has been oft repeated by those who 

 have given the subject the most earnest 

 study, that without birds human life 

 could not long exist upon the earth. An 

 estimate of the present damage to agri- 

 culture in the United States from insects 

 and rodents alone places the loss at 



eight hundred millions'bf dollars. With 

 such facts as these before us it is pos- 

 sible to grasp some idea of the import- 

 ance to our national interests that birds 

 should not be needlessly destroyed, and 

 that they should be given every op- 

 portunity to remain and increase in our 

 midst . 



Revenue to the State from Game. 

 That the systematic protection of 

 game rnay be the means, both directly 

 and indirectly, of developing the pecuni- 

 ary resources of a country is an assured 

 fact. In our game supply we possess an 

 asset of the greatest commercial value, 

 and one from which a very considerable 

 source of revenue may be derived. As 

 an instance, not much more than a score 

 of years ago, the wild game in the State 

 of Maine had been depleted to ^,n extent 

 almost bordering on extermination. A 

 few intelligent, far-seeing men took it 

 upon themselves to reclaim this lost 

 heritage, under government patronage, 

 with the result that to-day the State 

 possesses not only a bountiful supply of 

 game, but derives therefrom one of its 

 rnost substantial revenues. In 1904 the 

 license fees from non-residents who 

 visited the State to hunt game amounted 

 to over $25,000, and a fair estimate of 

 the money spent in employing guides 

 alone amounted to $307,000. This 

 revenue, which may safely be said to 

 be a permanent one, has thus been 

 summarized by Senator Frye : "In all 

 times of business depression and distress, 

 financial panics and consequent un- 

 employment of labor, so seriously af- 

 fecting the country, the State of Maine 

 has suffered much less than any other 

 state in the American Union; and this 

 is mostly, if not entirely, due to the 

 large amount of money left with us by 

 the fishermen, the surnmer tourist, and 

 the fall hunter — the seeker after change, 

 rest and recreation." 



Necessity for Game Refuges. 

 The que.stion arises, how are we to 

 solve the future preservation of our wild 

 animals and birds? All expedients and 

 devices of late years in the form of re- 

 strictive laws must in the end prove to 

 be inadequate. Sooner or later the 

 development of the country will reach 

 a point when there will be no room, 

 under existing conditions, for our larger 

 mammals and many of our birds. How 



