53 



Bounty Laws do not protect Birds. 

 In my "Decrease of Birds" the following in substance ap- 

 pears: The main object of all bird legislation is to protect the 

 birds. This can be done by restricting both the number of 

 shooters and the time during which shooting is allowed. 

 Bounty laws have precisely the opposite effect. They encourage 

 boys, foreigners and unemployed persons to roam with guns in 

 their hands through the woods and fields at all seasons of the 

 year, and furnish an excuse for the lawbreaker. This is sure to 

 result in the destruction of game birds and insectivorous birds at 

 all seasons, to say nothing of the poultry and other property of 

 the farmers that, perforce, must suffer. Probably every State that 

 has offered bounties in recent years has had this experience. 1 



Bounty Laws do not protect the Farmer. 

 The following extract from the letter from Professor Surface, 

 hereinbefore quoted in part, shows plainly how bounty laws 

 eventually result in injury to crops : — 



History, which is yet vivid in the memories of most of us, has shown 

 the evils of the bounty system. In the 90's Ohio passed a bounty law; 

 and as that was my native State, in which I was living at the time, I had an 

 opportunity to see the disastrous results. Mice and rats, which are the 

 chief food of such creatures, became so abundant, not only in buildings 

 around the farms but also all over the farm, that a large percentage of 

 the farmers' crops was destroyed by them. I have seen many a clover 

 field with the roots of the clover plants gnawed down several inches by 

 mice. I found it not uncommon for every shock containing corn also to 

 be the abode of several mice of two or more species, and in every case 

 the loss of grain to amount to several dollars per acre. This increase in 

 destructive vermin was so marked that the citizens themselves had to cry 

 aloud for the removal of the bounty law in order that the natural enemies 

 of the pests could increase. 



Bounty Laws encourage Fraud. 

 Bounty acts no doubt are urged by many persons who hon- 

 estly believe in their effectiveness, but usually the beneficiaries 

 of such laws are among the chief movers for them, and often 



1 Special Report on the Decrease of Birds and its Causes, with Suggestions for Bird Protection, 

 fifty-second annual report, Mass. State Board of Agr., 1909, p. 527. 



