SECOND BIENNIAL STATEMENT 59 



(17 381) may be brought up, debated and voted upon next Wednes- 

 day, January 10. I beg you to make note of the possibility, which 

 I greatly fear is the last chance that the game sanctuary bill will 

 have in the House during this session! 



I very much wish you could persuade Chairman Lever and the 

 other members of the House Committee on Agriculture to permit 

 the bill to be amended by making state approval subject to the 

 action of the governors of each state concerned rather than the leg- 

 islature. This is a highly important matter, — far more so than it 

 appears on its face. 



I have no objection to state legislatures, except on the ground 

 that they convene only once in two years; that their members are 

 elected for one term only, and that when they do convene, they are 

 so terribly hurried that they can give, and do give, mighty little 

 time to the consideration of wild life protection measures. With 

 the best intentions on the part of members, it requires a Herculean 

 effort, pushed by some one on the ground, to work the machinery 

 necessary to put through even the simplest and least offensive game 

 protection measure. 



I have entire confidence in the good-will of the legislators of 

 the western states, generally, PROVIDED there is someone who can 

 spend two months on the ground doing the routine work that is 

 necessary to put a bill through! That work cannot be done for the 

 game sanctuary cause at long range; and there is no one on the 

 spot who is going to give the time, effort and expense necessary to 

 do the work that would absolutely be required to achieve success! 



For these reasons I would regard any game sanctuary move- 

 ment which depends for its success upon joint resolutions adopted 

 by state legislatures as shorn of fully three-fourths of the power 

 and effectiveness that it would have if state concurrence and veto 

 power were vested in the various governors. Remember that the 

 average legislator is elected for ONE term; he takes office knowing 

 nothing about practical wild life protection, and requiring a very 

 considerable amount of educating. By the time he is educated and 

 able to act intelligently, the session is over. 



The governor, being one man, can be educated with a reason- 

 able amount of effort. He can hold hearings to determine the will 

 of the people, and he can represent the people at the finish more 

 intelligently than his legislature could do, because he has more time 

 in which to go into details. 



I put these facts before Mr. Jacoway in a letter dated July 24, 

 when the report of the Agricultural Committee was being drafted; 

 but not being on the spot, I failed to make an impression. I must 

 tell you, however, that the friends of wild life generally feel about 

 this matter just as I do, but much more strongly! Many of them 

 feel that if the game sanctuaries must be dependent upon the initia- 

 tive of state legislatures, as the Hayden bill in its present form de- 

 mands, then the whole act becomes almost useless. While I myself 

 think that we could induce some legislatures to take action, the 

 delays in doing so, and the difficulties, would be interminable; and 

 at least three-fourths of the whole structure that we are trying to 

 erect would fall to the ground in ruins. 



Knowing the workings of state legislatures as you do, do you 

 not agree with this view? 



Faithfully yours, 



WILLIAM T. HORNADAY. 



