220 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



The results of such conditions are manifested in some of the 

 present problems of conservation, and the author is here constrained 

 to express his firm conviction that these problems will not be solved 

 or conditions greatly improved until a way is found to harmonize the 

 individual and organized interests with the public interests, as they 

 pertain to fish and game. And, furthermore, unless harmony is 

 attained it will not be many years before there will be no fish and 

 game interests to harmonize or fish and game to conserve. And, 

 again, if he may be pardoned for referring derogatively to the sacred 

 institution of political favor, the author is compelled to say that no 

 harmony can be attained, no conservation consummated, until that 

 factor is eliminated. 



Remedies for Present Conditions; Investigations. In his 

 annual report for 1921, W. C. Adams, of the Massachusetts Con- 

 servation Commission, referring to the early depletion of fish and 

 game, says : " It is useless to inveigh against the profligacy with 

 which this great wealth has been squandered in the past, save for the 

 lessons that may be drawn for present and future guidance. While 

 we take pride in contemplating the amount of wild life still remain- 

 ing in our comparatively small State, such pride must be fully tem- 

 pered by the realization that even we, who have had and still possess 

 one of the most enlightened public opinions on this continent, have 

 wasted our substance in riotous living." 



This great wealth which has been " wasted in riotous living " can 

 never be restored, but what there is left can be so invested and con- 

 trolled that it will not grow less, and even perhaps increase, provid- 

 ing we learn our lesson, not only from the " profligacy " of our 

 pioneer ancestors, but from the results of defective fish cultural 

 policies and practices of the last half century, which to no small 

 extent continue to this day. 



W. C. Adams previously wrote ('20) that the greatest concern of 

 those who are studying the relation between the wild life of any given 

 state and the increasing drains on it, through the taking in each 

 year, is the fact that there is probably no species of game bird or 

 fish which is more than holding its own. The annual production of 

 the bird farms and fish hatcheries is not in proportion to the increas- 

 ing sportsmen and fishermen who take to the fields, and very little 

 or no margin is left for the inroads on the stock due to unfavorable 

 breeding seasons, forest fires, cutting of the covers, severe winters, 

 and ravages of vermin. While Adams referred particularly to game 

 birds, the principle is applicable to the game fish situation, even to 

 include unfavorable breeding seasons, forest fires and cutting of the 

 covers. 



The previously discussed perpetuation of erroneous practices and 

 mistaken policies of the past, must be recognized and modified. 

 The remedial policies of the past may be likened to the administra- 

 tion of a narcotic drug to alleviate pain, the cause of which was un- 

 known. It developed into a habit which is now difficult to break. 

 In manv instances its continuance or cessation signifies the same 



