FIRST BIENNIAL STATEMENT 53 



for the organization of the Interstate Sportsmen's Protec- 

 tive Association ; and, strange to say, with it were identified 

 a few such men as Edward F. Swinney. banker, and S. H. 

 Ragan, physician. The talk was both incendiary and se- 

 ditious. For example, Mr. D. G. Phillips, of Moberly, Mo., 

 said that "ducks were being shot in his part of the state 

 every day/' that "the bolder of the hunters were going 

 ahead and enjoying their sport," and he "advised all duck 

 hunters to go ahead and shoot ducks the same as they have 

 always done." (Sportsman's Review, Feb. 14, 1914, page 

 149.) 



"Mr. Rooney, president of a club at Archie, attorney, 

 said he had been shooting ducks and was going to continue 

 to shoot them," and "he strongly advised all hunters not 

 to be deterred from their sport, but to go ahead and shoot 

 as the state of Missouri licenses them to do. His remarks 

 were just what the crowd wanted." 



"Several hunters present announced that they had shot 

 ducks in January, and notified the district attorney that 

 they awaited arrest. The Congressmen and Senators were 

 asked to work to secure a third zone, to be called 

 the 'passing zone,' which would take in Kansas and Mis- 

 souri," and by a special dispensation give those states a 

 special privilege all their own. 



But the new association did not stop with planning to 

 attack the federal law, and if possible have it declared un- 

 constitutional. As a crowning injury to the interests of the 

 people of this country at large, their senators and represen- 

 tatives in Congress "were also asked to vote against the 

 treaty with Great Britain, which if passed, will make it 

 impossible for the States to declare the Weeks-McLean law 

 unconstitutional." 



From that original program that Association has not 

 swerved an inch. Its motto seems to be: "Rule or ruin!" 

 The Association's senatorial champion, Mr. Reed, already 

 has attacked the law as bitterly as he could, and has de- 

 nounced it as "unconstitutional." 



From his latest utterances on the floor of the Senate, 

 we know that Senator James A. Reed, of Missouri, is also 



