190 Third Annual Report of the 



protect and perpetuate the wild game indigenous to the country, 

 not for the sake of the game itself, but for the sake of the whole 

 people, and for its value to the whole people. 



The Merit System 



The past year is the first in which the merit system has been 

 applied to the protective force of the State, and there is every indi- 

 cation that it is a wise provision, as it stimulates the whole force so 

 to perform the duties for which they have been appointed, that 

 they may be placed in the first grade, which entitles all those at- 

 taining to that rank to an additional salary at the rate of $50 per 

 annum, up to $1,300. One of the provisions which was applied to a 

 protector who wished to attain the first grade, was that he must not 

 have a private business which would take his attention and time 

 from his game protective work. I believe that no protector who 

 has a private business or profession of his own should continue 

 with the Conservation Commission, unless he immediately severs 

 all other business ties. The underlying reason for this fact is 

 found in the old saying that no man can serve two masters. In 

 the past there have been men in the service who made claim that 

 their position and their business did not conflict. This might 

 have been true, but there assuredly comes a time when one or the 

 other business exacts close attention at the expense of the other. 

 In such a case the protection of game is apt to be neglected, for 

 the reason that the iState is a good old tolerant mother, and the 

 salary comes along once a month anyway, while the private busi- 

 ness pays an income only in proportion as the man who owns it 

 stays on the job. 



Therefore the Department was only able to place in the first 

 grade 17 men out of the 125 employed. In placing these seventeen 

 men in the first grade, it was necessary to take into consideration 

 the physical condition of each protector, and his absolute belief 

 in the justice of the conservation of our natural resources and the 

 preservation of our wild life ; he must have unflinching courage ; 

 he must be something of an educator, and must be well acquainted 

 with his own territory, for it is necessary that he be on the spot 

 sooner and stay on the spot longer than the violators ; in fact, he 

 must beat the poacher at his own game if he is going to success- 



