IN THE UNITED STATES 307 



the States whose sporting rights they desire to enjoy. 

 A recent meeting at Chicago with the object of enforcing 

 game protection in the State of Illinois elicits the 

 following comments in a leading paper, which gives 

 the modern American views on game preserving in 

 a form not more exalted than is commonly seen in 

 the discussion of such topics : ' Altogether aside from 

 the consideration of game as a food resource is the 

 influence it has upon the health and stamina of the 

 race. This is not in any degree a fanciful view of the 

 supply of wild game as a public benefit, and game 

 protection as a public charge. It has had recognition 

 from early days, and has furnished reason for the 

 enactment and enforcement of Game Laws. The 

 whole country reaps advantage when its public men 

 seek the woods for their recreations ; the community 

 shares the good which its citizens find in camp and 

 field. Game is a public property ; those appointed 

 to protect it are the trustees of the public ; game 

 protection is a public trust/ This public trust is 

 occasionally exercised to private detriment. Thus in 

 Long Island, at thirty miles from New York, deer 

 are so numerous, in consequence of the prohibition 

 of hunting with hounds as well as shooting, that 

 the market-gardeners' bitter cry is now being heard. 

 One of these writes a furious letter of complaint, of 

 which the following extracts are somewhat amusing. 



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