BIRD-PROTECTIVE LAWS 



man John W. Weeks reintroduced the bill with 

 slight modifications. Nothing came of this any 

 more than of the bill that he started going in 1909. 

 In ign he again brought forward this pet measure 

 toward which Congress had so often turned a cold 

 shoulder. Senator George P. McLean set a similar 

 bill afloat in the troubled waters of the Senate. 

 Nothing happened, however, until the spring of 

 1912, when committee hearings were given on these 

 bills in both branches of Congress. Representatives 

 of more than thrity organizations interested in con- 

 servation appeared and eloquently sought to impress 

 the national lawmakers with the importance and 

 desirability of the measure. Both bills were in- 

 tended for the protection of migratory game birds 

 only, but the representative of the National Asso- 

 ciation of Audubon Societies urged that the bills be 

 extended to include all migratory insect-eating birds, 

 because of their value to agriculture. This sugges- 

 tion was adopted and after a stiff fight in Congress 

 the McLean Bill became a law on March 4, 191 3 

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