THE SPORTSMEN'S LEAGUE— A NEGLECTED AND 



UNDEVELOPED POWER FOR CONSERVATION. 



By Fred J. Foster 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Neosho, Mo. 



Fishermen are as a class a patient lot, otherwise they 

 would not be followers of the "Gentle Art", for patience is 

 one of the chief characteristics of a successful fisherman. 

 Perhaps it is due to this abundance of patience and to that 

 other trait, so often found in fishermen, confidence in his 

 fellow man, which has caused him to permit the pollution 

 and depletion of our waters. In days gone by, had fishermen 

 been quick to do battle for their rights, we should not now be 

 facing disaster to the life in so large a percentage of our 

 lakes and streams. 



We may thank providence, however, that patience and 

 persistence are usually found hand in hand and when pa- 

 tience ceases to be a virtue, as it most surely has in many of 

 our fish life questions of today, we may expect a militant 

 and persistent corrective effort on the part of this quiet and 

 long suffering brotherhood. 



Anger can seldom be condoned but righteous indignation 

 which has for its object the betterment of conditions or the 

 preservation of present favorable conditions is the com- 

 mendable and powerful incentive which has banded men to- 

 gether for ages. 



In union there is strength, but how slow have been the 

 sportsmen to apply this old, old adage to the problems so 

 near their hearts. Those of us who realized the importance 

 of organization have neglected our duty in not devoting more 

 time and greater energy to the furtherance of sportsmen's 

 leagues. Only within the last year has an organization been 

 developed whose aims, ideals and method of functioning are 

 such as to reach and hold the sportsmen of the entire country 

 and those interested in the preservation of our woods and 

 waters. 



The American Fisheries Society has and is filling a most 

 worthy and important part in the advancement of fish cul- 

 ture and conservation of fish life but from the general char- 

 acter of its organization, the infrequency of its meetings and 

 lack of state organizations capable of immediate action 

 when necessary, we have not been able to stem the tide of 

 private interests, commercialism and ignorance which has 

 swept the fish from so many of our waters and reduced the 



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