SECOND BIENNIAL STATEMENT 129 



It was necessary for the Canadian general government 

 to take up the matter of the treaty with all the various prov- 

 inces, and secure the adhesion of each one. While this was 

 in progress, there was little that could be done by the United 

 States ; and presently the progress of the campaign for the 

 treaty was lost to view. 



After a lapse of several months, inquiries regarding the 

 treaty elicited in America a statement that "The treaty is in 

 London, in the British Foreign Office ; and you must write to 

 all your influential friends in England, and request them to 

 help it along." We wrote, as suggested ; and in due course 

 of time our friends replied : — "The treaty is not in our For- 

 eign Office, and never has been." And that rather mortify- 

 ing information proved to be quite correct. 



Shortly after the outbreak of the European war, a letter 

 from a Canadian correspondent stated that "nothing can be 

 done by Canada about the bird treaty until after the war 

 is over." At that time it seemed that the conflict might 

 reach a conclusion in a few months. 



Month after month slipped by without a word regarding 

 the treaty. At last we learned that Canada was willing 

 to negotiate the treaty without waiting for the end of the 

 war. At the same time that bitter attacks were being made 

 upon the federal migratory bird law, in Missouri and else- 

 where, the situation was aggravated by a case started in an 

 unwise way, at an inopportune time, in the eastern district 

 of Arkansas, to test the constitutionality of the migratory 

 bird law. If ever a great matter was handled in an inade- 

 quate way, that prosecution of the Shauver case in the Mis- 

 souri court was so managed. 



During the year 1915, the status of the migratory bird 

 law steadily grew worse. While the great mass of respect- 

 able sportsmen of the United States cheerfully and gladly 

 obeyed all its regulations, both letter and spirit, as being 

 for the general good of all, there were many others who ei- 

 ther secretly or openly violated them. Some particularly 



