12 WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 



attitude of eastern sportsmen toward the protection of 

 game in Alaska, and now we respectfully remind him that 

 those men now come very near to having some vested rights 

 as conservators of the game of Alaska, because their efforts 

 for his territory far antedate those of any Alaskan whom 

 we know. 



The original game act of 1902* purposely conferred upon 

 the Secretary of Agriculture wide power in the framing 

 of regulations to carry out unspecified details in game pro- 

 tection and register the spirit of the law. It was believed 

 that the Federal Government could be trusted to do the 

 right thing by the moose, sheep and caribou of Alaska, and 

 there was no disposition to impose upon the people of 

 Alaska, either native or white, any unnecessary restrictions. 

 On the contrary, the f ramers of the bill accorded the native, 

 the miner, the explorer and the prospector such special 

 privileges, and such wide latitude, that we never yet have 

 received any complaints from anyone speaking in their be- 

 half. On the other hand, we have openly and repeatedly 

 protested against the slaughter of cow moose, especially in 

 the closed season, by lazy Indian epicures who profess not 

 to be sustained and satisfied by the flesh of bull moose. 



In the writer's article in the New York Herald of Jan. 

 12, 1902, published before the first Alaskan game bill was 

 even in its swaddling clothes, we offered the following basic 

 propositions as constituting the 



DUTY OF CONGRESS. 



Truly, it is the duty of Congress to preserve the valuable 

 national property in large game now living in Alaska. 



What we want at Washington is the immediate enactment 

 of game laws for Alaska, based on plain common sense and a 

 sincere determination to protect the game from extermination. 

 After that we want in Alaska a few honest and resolute men 

 with power to act, whose salaries and positions will depend 

 upon their success as game protectors. 



*See page . 



