9 



gives over the shooting privileges into the hands of the wealthy 

 few, thus depriving the many of the right to take game that 

 belongs to the whole people. It may be admitted that the 

 system is un-American, for the American policy of destruction 

 which was so successful in the past allowed unlimited free- 

 dom to all to take or destroy every living wild thing upon 

 the face of the earth. Such license was necessarily permitted 

 during the time of settlement; but unless the people are 

 restrained in their rapacious tendencies, as population increases 

 the extinction of all wild game will result. Already the day 

 of open and free shooting in the east has passed. The occu- 

 pation of the market hunter has become precarious, and 

 necessary laws have been enacted, — too late, indeed, to save 

 some species of our game, but in time to prevent the destruc- 

 tion of others. As population increases, the number of shoot- 

 ers will increase; and the present system of game protection 

 must and undoubtedly will be changed to follow somewhat 

 that of other countries, which, although more thickly settled 

 than our own, have nevertheless an abundance of game in 

 fields and coverts as well as in their markets. 



If we are to have game in the future, we must regulate 

 hunting strictly, and adopt some system of game preserving, 

 coupled with artificial propagation of game. The policy of 

 licensing hunters, which has gone into effect in New England, 

 will restrict the number of hunters, particularly the alien 

 hunters; and this is a long step in the right direction. For- 

 eigners, who come here without knowledge of our laws and 

 with the idea implanted in their minds that liberty in the 

 new country means license to do as they please, should not 

 be allowed to shoot at all. Aliens now are prohibited from 

 hunting, but even with the alien eliminated from the field 

 there will still remain an army of hunters so vast that, with 

 free shooting allowed, the game will have little chance except 

 in remote regions. In 1919 about 72,000 hunters were licensed 

 in Massachusetts, and the number is constantly increasing. 



Under our present system, the only salvation of the game 

 is to prohibit its sale and thus remove the incentive for mar- 

 ket shooting. Sale has been forbidden now by law except in 

 the case of rabbits or hares. But with the advent of arti- 



