10 WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 



ATTITUDE OF ALASKANS TOWARD GAME 

 CONSERVATION. 



By Thomas W. Riggs, Jr., Governor. 



"The attitude of Alaskans toward proper game laws is 

 not antagonistic, as is generally considered by the unin- 

 formed. On the contrary, every right-thinking Alaskan is 

 extremely jealous of the country's game and wishes to see 

 a true conservation effected, as without it game develop- 

 ment must cease. Without game the small mining camps 

 must suffer not only in health but in activity, and the trap- 

 per and the prospector will be driven from the hills. That 

 the supply of game must be conserved is apparent to all, 

 but the Government, by ill-advised laws, is hastening the 

 extermination of the game. The sentiment of the people 

 of Alaska will enforce laws when enacted by a body of men 

 who are conversant with the country, but now, even when 

 an arrest is made by a game warden, it is almost impossi- 

 ble to secure a conviction, owing to the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing a jury not more or less sympathetic with the offender. 

 To enforce laws to which the people of Alaska are hostile, 

 I must draw attention to the fact that the force of game 

 wardens is entirely inadequate." — (From the Annual Re- 

 port of the Governor of Alaska on the Alaska Game Law, 

 1918.) 



THE FIRST ALASKAN GAME LAW. 



The first law ever framed for the protection of Alaskan 

 game was enacted by Congress in 1902, through the leader- 

 ship of Representative John F. Lacey, of Iowa, father of 

 the now famous "Lacey Act," for the inter-state protection 

 of birds. It originated in the ranks of "eastern sportsmen" 

 and naturalists, and it was brought into existence through 

 their initiative and their efforts. It was vigorously as- 

 sisted by the New York Zoological Society and the Boone 

 and Crockett Club. But for this strictly eastern impulse 

 it is extremely probable that Alaska's game act would have 

 been deferred for a number of years, with corresponding 

 slaughter of most valuable game. 



