The Audubon Societies 



227 



Manufacturers' Offer Declined 



An offer to contribute to the National 

 Association $25,000 a year for the next 

 five years, the sum to be expended for 

 game protection, was recently made 

 through Mr. H. S. Leonard, of the 

 Winchester Repeating Arms Company. 

 The funds were to be contributed by a 

 dozen or more firms which manufacture 

 firearms, cartridges, powder, shot and 

 hunting accessories. In his letter making 

 the offer, Mr. Leonard pointed out that 

 no one can possibly be more vitally inter- 

 ested in the preservation of wild life than 

 the manufacturers of arms and ammunition, 

 for if the game should be exterminated, 

 their business would necessarily suffer. 



The Board of Directors at first thought 

 it would be well to accept the offer, as 

 there is such an urgent demand for means 

 with which to extend the work of bird and 

 game protection, and as the offer was 

 made in such apparent good faith. After 

 further consideration, however, the Board, 

 on June 16, decided that it would not be 

 wise to accept large sums from this source 

 for the purpose indicated. The work of 

 the National Association has always been 

 in the line of bird and animal protection 

 for the sake of preservation, and the new 

 principle involved, viz., protecting for the 

 purpose of killing later, was regarded by 

 many as being foreign to the real purposes 

 of the Association. It was also feared by 

 some that the using of so large a sum for 

 game protection alone might have a ten- 

 dency to cause the Association to lose 

 sight of the important work of conserving 

 the valuable non-game bird life of the 

 country, to the preservation of which the 

 Association has always devoted the major 

 part of its efforts. There is great need for 

 more work to be done for game protection, 

 and we learn that these companies are 

 intending to go on with the game protec- 

 tive movement under another leadership. 

 — T. G. P. 



Notes From the Field 



Oregon. — Following the recent strength- 

 ening of the Oregon game laws. Gover- 



nor West appointed Mr. William L. 

 Finley, Field Agent of this Association 

 and President of the Oregon Audubon 

 Society, to a position as one of the Board 

 of Fish and Game Commissioners. When 

 the time came for this Board to select a 

 State Game Warden, there appeared to be 

 no one of the dozen or more applicants, 

 good men as many of them undoubtedly 

 were, whom the Board felt justified in 

 supporting for the position. There was 

 but one man who, to them, stood out above 

 all others in the state as being especially 

 adapted for this work and that was Mr. 

 Finley, and he was not a candidate. The 

 other commissioners, ambitious that Ore- 

 gon should have him as its chief game 

 warden, insisted that Mr. Finley resign 

 as a member of the Board in order that 

 they might appoint him warden. Others 

 united in the request, and in the end, his 

 resignation was handed in and he was 

 appointed to this important post of duty. 

 Speaking of his selection, the Portland 

 (Oregon) Evening Telegram says in its 

 leading editorial of May 27, 191 1: 



"The Telegram believes that the ap- 

 pointment of W. L. Finley as State Game 

 Warden will meet with general, if not 

 unanimous, approval. Mr. Finley is a 

 man of the right spirit for the position. 

 In the first place he is enthusiastic in the 

 general work of game preservation, and 

 beyond that he is possessed of the tech- 

 nical knowledge regarding the wild deni- 

 zens of the woods that cannot be otherwise 

 than helpful in that office. Secondly, Mr. 

 Finley is a man of excellent judgment in 

 all matters pertaining to the office for 

 which he has been selected. And finally, 

 he is that type of man who seeks in his 

 administration of the office to do the thing 

 that is best; always bearing in mind that 

 efficient and economical protection of 

 game and fish in the state of Oregon is the 

 paramount duty imposed upon him. This 

 paper believes that it bespeaks the general 

 sentiment when it says that a better 

 selection for this particular office could 

 not have been made." 



Tennessee. — The East and West Tenn- 



