BULLETIN NUMBER FOUR 157 



the law on a speculative basis now are said to be more 

 than anxious to "settle!" 



The chances are that the Supreme Court will decide in 

 favor of the law, because the logic of the law points that 

 way! It is impossible for one who has read the five briefs 

 now before the Court to think otherwise. The law that 

 the game of a nation belongs to the king dates back to 

 about the year 400 B. C, as does its twin principle that 

 when the sovereign does not choose to exercise his full 

 right to the ferae naturae, it may ad interim be admin- 

 istered by states and provinces. 



The chances are that a decision will be rendered by the 

 Court within a short time after the appropriations of this 

 Congress become available for use. If the decision sup- 

 ports the law, it will at once become imperatively neces- 

 sary that further measures shall be taken for its enforce- 

 ment, and that the numerous cases of violation now in 

 hand shall be prosecuted to the utmost. 



The logic of the law imperatively demands that every 

 federal statute shall be enforced right up to the point of 

 its repeal or overthrow. To this rule the federal migratory 

 bird law can not be regarded as a solitary exception. 



Even with the co-operation of the states, the sum of 

 $50,000 for the annual maintenance of law represents an 

 imperative necessity, and an irreducible minimum. In spite 

 of all handicaps and weaknesses, already the law has ac- 

 complished a stoppage of bird destruction and a great in- 

 crease in our bird life, game and not game. Attention is 

 particularly called to the array of testimony at the end of 

 this Bulletin, reproduced from the letter files of the Bio- 

 logical Survey, of the Department of Agriculture. 



WEAKNESS OF THE LAW. 



Unfortunately for the country at large, circumstances 

 quite beyond our control provided for the migratory bird 

 law numerous and serious handicaps. Law-abiding and 

 conscientious citizens the country over have cheerfully ac- 



