of its then President, Dr. W. T. Hornaday and Ms ])lans 

 for the care of the herd. The result is, after ten years, 

 the small group of fifteen l^ison — donated for this pur- 

 pose by the New York Zoological Society — survived 

 the danger, and has increased, without any outside addi- 

 tions, to ninety-two line healthy animals. The other 

 herds have done equally well, the six herds now under 

 U. S. Government supervision totaling seven hundred 

 and fifty-eight head. 



While these figures tend to show that the danger of 

 extermination has in a measure been overcome by good 

 management, any relaxation in the care and the protec- 

 tion of these herds would be fatal to the work already 

 accomplished. 



Early in 1918 the great demand for American beef 

 and mutton and the instantly created shortage in the 

 supply, led cattle and sheep raisers to look in ever}^ di- 

 rection for ways and means by which to procure more 

 stock. Longing eyes were fixed u])on the Rainier Na- 

 tional Park, and a campaign was set going for the 

 purpose of securing from the Government the privilege 

 of grazing stock in that area. A personal aiD]oeal was 

 made to the American Bison Society to assist in coun- 

 teracting the influence of certain large sheep owners in 

 the West who were making a strong effort to influence 

 the Secretary of the Interior, to allow the grazing of 

 sheep in the Public Parks and Reservations as a "war 

 measure. ' ' 



The President of the Society innnediately com- 

 municated with various game protection organizations 

 throughout the country and with certain influential men 

 in the West, and a counter-agitation was at once started 

 to prevent the sheepmen from grazing their sheep in 

 the National Parks, on the ground "that such grazins; 

 would ruin the scenic value, and destroy vegetation." 

 These men were profiteers who paid practically no taxes 

 and were only grazing their sheep on the loublic domain 

 in competition Avith the farmers and sheepn^en who 

 owned their land, and i^aid taxes. The few herds of 

 sheep that might l)e herded in the National Parks and 

 Reservations were but a "drop in the bucket" as af- 



12 



