80 WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 



been dug up by western hands, brushed off, washed, var- 

 nishd anew, and set up on a pedestal made in the West. 

 In a word, state-rightism is the desire of an individual state 

 to do as it pleases, irrespective of the rights and interests 

 of its neighbors, and the rights of the federal government 

 in its own property. 



This whole matter has become important at this time, 

 because there are now in Congress several devotees of state- 

 rightism who are in a position to block legislation necessary 

 for the protection and development of our nation's federal 

 resources. By way of illustration, I refer particularly to 

 Senator Smoot of Utah, Senator Thomas of Colorado, and 

 Representative Mondell of Wyoming. As an index of the 

 influence that a very few determined men can exert in legis- 

 lative bodies, we record the fact that but for the blockading 

 tactics of the gentlemen named, the game sanctuary bill 

 would have been passed by the QAth Congress, in 1916. 



Inasmuch as Mr. Smoot and Mr. Mondell both hold firmly 

 to the idea that "the states can protect game better than the 

 federal government," we are inclined to record here a few 

 facts bearing upon that point. And inasmuch as the par- 

 ticular matter at issue in the game sanctuary bill is more 

 western than eastern, I shall, for the present, confine my 

 records to western evidence. 



Without a single exception, ever since the West first be- 

 gan to think seriously about game protection, which was 

 about 30 years ago, every western state has depended upon 

 game laws that were five times too liberal to the hunters, 

 and five times too hard upon the game. Open seasons were 

 too long, bag limits were recklessly extravagant, the guns 

 were too deadly, the hunters were five times too numerous, 

 and there was 100 times too much lawless killing. 



If there is any state in the Union whose lawmakers feel 

 that during the past 30 years it has adequately protected 

 its wild life and has given its wild life a thoroughly square 

 deal, I will, upon request, gladly furnish a bill of particulars 



