Introductory 19 



ment. It is entirely in our power as a nation to 

 preserve large tracts of wilderness, which are val- 

 ueless for agricultural purposes, as play-grounds 

 for rich and poor alike, and to preserve the game 

 so that it shall continue to exist for the benefit of 

 all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable oppor- 

 tunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, 

 whether he is or is not a man of means. But this 

 end can only be achieved by wise laws and by a reso- 

 lute enforcement of the laws. Lack of such legis- 

 lation and administration will result in harm to 

 all of us, but most of all in harm to the nature 

 lover who does not possess vast wealth. Already 

 there have sprung up here and there through the 

 country, as in New Hampshire and the Adiron- 

 dacks, large private preserves. These preserves 

 often serve a most useful purpose, and should be 

 encouraged within reasonable limits ; but it would 

 be a great misfortune if they increased beyond a 

 certain extent, or if they took the place of great 

 tracts of wild land, which continue as such, either 

 because of their very nature, or because of the 

 protection of the state exerted in the form of 

 making them state or national parks or reserves. 

 It is utterly foolish to regard proper game laws 

 as undemocratic, unrepublican. On the contrary, 

 they are essentially in the interests of the people 

 as a whole, because it is only through their enact- 

 ment and enforcement that the people as a whole 



