March 11, 1880.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



111 



know the extent and comparative value of the displays 

 made by all exhibitors. All goods are to be sent not 

 later than the 18th inst., either to the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, or to Mr. E. G. Blackford, SO Fulton Market, New 

 York, marked : "For the Fishery Exhibition at Berlin." 

 The persons to whom the matter has been intrusted are 

 intending to sail in the North German Lloyd steamer 

 Neckar, from the Bremen Pier, Hoboken, on the 20th, 

 and it is necessary that they should have a complete cat- 

 alogue of all exhibits to leave in the hands of the printer 

 on the day of sailing, bo that it may follow in the next 

 ship. 



There will be no attempt at a display of live fishes on 

 the part of the United States Commission, but working 

 models of fish-ways may be put in running order with a 

 few salmon fry to illustrate their practical working, and 

 also some hatching jars. For the latter we learn that Mr. 

 James Airnin, Jr., of Caledonia, N. Y., will send over 

 some trout eggs, which, after the Exhibition is over, will 

 be presented to the Deutsche Fischerei Verein. It is also 

 announced that the New York State Fish Commission 

 will make a display of fish which have been reared in 

 their ponds, and also of implements. This will be the 

 only State exhibit, made as such, although the Commis- 

 sioners of some other States will make individual ex- 

 hibits. 



Accounts have been published to the effect that all the 

 exhibits were to be transported across in the Fish Hawk, 

 but this is not correct ; her services are needed here this 

 spring in shad hatching, and the North German Lloyds, 

 with their usual liberality, have offered to transport all 

 articles free of charge. 



THE INTERNATIONAL RIFLE MATCH. 



THE question of how best to revive long-range shoot- 

 ing at Creedmoor is now alive one before the Board 

 of Directors of the National Rifle Association. Last year 

 at Creedmoor the long-range practice took a season's va- 

 cation, and compared with other classes of shooting was 

 a nonentity. This condition of affairs is a disgrace to 

 the association, and it is the duty of its officers to consi- 

 der the catise of the deficiency and to so order and arrange 

 the programmes of matches that the long-range men may 

 find a foot-hold and be given a fit opportunity for their 

 special style of shooting. It is true, as Col. Bodine said 

 in urging upon the Board at its last meeting, that some- 

 thing should be done for the encouragement of long- 

 range marksmanship, that while off-hand shooting is 

 popular and military shooting very essential, that long- 

 range work remains the perfection of rifle shooting. The 

 drift of military shooting is toward this higher, or longer 

 plane of marksmanship, and in the past it is by and from 

 the observations of these " fancy " shooters who lay 

 about on the ground or twisted themselves up in knots 

 and fired over long stretches of country, that hundreds 

 of points were cleared up and the supremacy of Ameri- 

 ican armories maintained. It is, in fact, the short-range 

 men who are the fancy shooters, if any style is to be dub- 

 bed with that epithet. While every class of shooting has 

 its uses, and to lop it off is to make the sport and the art 

 warped and misshapen, Creedmoor to-day should boast its 

 strong squad of long-range men, as it can muster its 

 thousands of military marksmen, and its long lines of 

 short and mid-range shooters ; but how to bring this 

 about is the problem which the Board have now to solve. 



The answer may be found in a consideration of the 

 history of long-range shooting in this country. He must 

 indeed be a shooter of yesterday who cannot recite the 

 whole of America's proud record with the rifle before 

 the butts. Mistakes have been made, and it is due to one 

 of these that we are suffering under the stagnation and 

 lethargy of to-day. Such indeed is tho judgment of 

 many who have had the best of opportunities to inform 

 themselves, and whose interest is in the answer by 

 reason of their participation in great matches of the 

 past. 



It will be remembered that in 1874 we were favored by 

 a visit from the Irish Team, who formed the match be- 

 cause in their winning of the Elcho Shield they had 

 placed themselves as the leading rifle shooting nation of 

 the world. Their visit and tho match which they fought 

 with so much eclat with the American Team were very 

 informal. No championship emblem had been estab- 

 lished, and the chief results of the contest wont to make 

 the riflemen of two great countries better acquainted 

 with each other, to make the Americans confident in 

 their own power and ability, before that time entirely 

 untriod, and it sot what may be styled the rifle " boom " 

 in this country going. Other ranges were then started, 

 the inefficiency of the militia was commented on, and 

 measures taken to make it a serviceable force. That 

 Irish-American match did incalculable good, and Ameri- 

 can riflemen can never sufficiently thank their brothers 

 from Dublin and Belfast who came over to be deflated 

 for the glory of rifle shooting in America. Then came 

 the return match to settle the very close shade of defer- 

 ence which existed between the merits of the two team: 

 I; was pretty conclusive.!}' settled at Dollymount in 187- 



ened by the interchange of visits. Thus far it had been a 

 sort of amateur shooting scheme ; championship was not 

 spoken of, and each match was only a friendly contest, 

 ith a proud feeling and patriotism thrown in to give 

 purpose and incentive to the efforts of the men. 



It was felt that something should be done to systema- 

 tize this international long-range work. The Eleho-Shield 

 contest in Eugland furnished the model, and a match 

 excellent in its several details was drawn up, with the 

 Palma as the bauble which was to be the ostensible ob- 

 ject of the struggle of the team-men, but; there crept into 

 the conditions of the matchan element of discord in defin- 

 ing the eligibility of contestants, which has been a bono 

 of contention ever since, and it is this which in the opin- 

 ion of riflemen on both sides the Atlantic is to-day acting 

 as a drag on the progress of international shooting. The 

 mistake lay in copying too closely the conditions of the 

 Elcho match, and in place of recognizing the meaning of 

 the word " International," going a step further, and 

 one marked instance making special concessions in favor 

 of parts of a nation. At the time it would have seemed 

 discourteous to have disbarred teams of Irish riflemen 

 from the contests for the uew Centennial trophy which 

 we were launching out with so much enthusiasm. The 

 mistake was made on the side of over-kindness, while 

 there was a good mixture of ignorance, and failure to 

 foresee the almost certain complication which would 

 arise. There was a lamentable blindness to the readiness 

 with which a company of Britishers could raise objec- 

 tions to almost any scheme, and attentive readers of the 

 Forest and Stream since 1876 well know the arguments 

 pro and con on the question of the Palma condition. 



Looked at calmly and deliberately it must be acknowl- 

 edged that the admission of Scotland, Ireland, Australia 

 and Canada as nations, while Great Britain was to be 

 regarded only as another nation, is a trifle coatradifctcuy. 

 It is an assertion, in spirit, that the part is equal to tho 

 -whole. Objection was raised by the English marksmen 

 that if the Palma was to be regarded as an interna- 

 tional trophy, then a British team only should be rec- 

 ognized, and that Ireland and Scotland should bear their 

 part in the contest only as component parts of the Brit- 

 ish Team. 



This reasoning was cogent, but tho Irish riflemen had 

 been our friends, the Canadians were our neighbors, the 

 chance of defeating the crack Scots was a tempting one, 

 and so the conditions were kept in that curious contra- 

 dictory condition which in 187G lead to an international 

 match, with two nations represented and five teams on 

 the field. The year following the match became really 

 an international one. We had a bona fide British team 

 here, who came under protest, claiming, consistently 

 with their position taken from the start and never 

 varied from, that the conditions of the match werewrong 

 and unfair alike to America and her wished-for rivals. A 

 defeat of an Irish team would be Only a partial victory, 

 for Great Britain would not be beaten, and no national 

 conquest would be made ; and when so elegant a trophy 

 had been prepared, it seemed a piece of criminal blunder- 

 ing to demean it by reducing it far below its importance 

 as an emblem of national victory by making sections of a 

 composite commonwealth possible contestants. We may 

 have Irish-American matches, and we may have Scottish-; 

 American contests, while our friends, the Canadian rifle- 

 men, might make frequent visits to our ranges for their 

 own improvement ; but when it comes to an international 

 match we recognize no States on this side the ocean, and 

 we should recognize no countries on the other. 



We discuss this question as though it were purely a 

 match between the countries of Great Britain and the 

 United States. This is only owing to the accident that 

 the other nations of Europe persist in the foolish course 

 of entirely over looking long-range practice. In time 

 they may see their folly, and then will come the time of 

 their protest, for it is not likely that they will have thi 

 easy complacency of our American Association and be 

 willing to shoot in an international match where five 

 teams may represent one nation. 



But it will be said by some advocate of the present 

 bungle that Scotland and Ireland have by their coming, 

 and by their recognition on this side the water, established 

 some claim to the trophy— at any rate a right to entry in 

 future matches. This is a claim without much founda- 

 tion. Were it a challenge trophy, to be taken after so 

 many winnings, then the claim would be a strong one; 

 but the fact that Scotland, for instance, has once shot for 

 the trophy, under a misnomer, does not establish for her 

 any right in the matter. America may be forced to ad- 

 mit that she has made a mistake, but she cannot be com- 

 pelled by any twisting of logic into perpetuating a wrong. 

 The right of no one will be invaded if the N. E. A. of 

 America should to-morrow send out a notice making- the 

 match what it was originally intended to be, an interna- 

 tional ono, where nation shall shoot against nation, and 

 not State or section, 



Here it seems essential for the healthful revival of our 

 long-range work, that another Palnqa match should take 

 place. Great Britain says, through her Natinnaj isoci 

 tion, that she is read)' to eater lies ,,,i, a series 



We shall lose such compact bands of patriotic co-workers 

 as the Irish and Scotch teams were, and will get in place 

 an imperial team of various elements. We know that 

 such a team can only win against the American team 

 system by remarkably good shooting, or by a fizzle 

 on the part of the home team. But even were the change 

 to bring us stronger antagonists than ever, it should bo 

 advocated, because it is a return to plain simple justice, 

 which for so many reasons has been withheld by our Board 

 of Directors here. We want uo more "walk-overs," if such 

 they can be called, where, no other entry is made. We 

 do not want the dullness of another blank season, but we 

 want the impetus and the improvement which a match 

 will bring. Where we are so clearly in the wrong as in 

 this case, it would bo but a slight display of that common 

 sense which wo Americans are so fond of claiming, if we 

 should step down and off from our own toes and permit 

 some progress to be made. Great Britain is able, and says 

 she is willing to contest for the trophy, when tho condi- 

 tions are such that she may shoot without protest. This 

 may be mere brag. A change in the rule will test it ; 

 and, at any rate, we cannot be further from another 

 Palma contest than we are now, for Ireland, Scotland 

 and the other countries are far from showing any desire 

 to come over for another knock-down. 



The subject is an interesting one, and we invite corre- 

 spondence and a free expression of opinion upon it, 

 especially from long-range men. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



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SHOULD THE GUN BE TAXED? 



Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb, SWfi. 

 Editor Forest and Stream :— 



I have read with interest " A True Lover of tho S|XjrtV 

 complaint, which is to be admired* hut with all due re- 

 spect. I hope hi; will excuse my Opinion if it differs with 

 ' ts. The game laws aro so muddled that 

 s the ta.sk to arrive at their true sense ; 

 greater still the risk following their abiding. A two 

 \ ears prohibitory game law is simply sheer nonsense ; to 

 tax l he shot gun, I shall presently show, would be a little 

 unfair. If the revenue thus obtained was appropriated to 

 game-keepers they wouldn't get the half of it, because tho 

 politicians will surely have the handling of the funds. I 

 was once informed by a trustworthy friend in Suffolk 

 County that the sons of the wealthy aristocracy had been 

 !<i>wn to shoot quail in the month of August. "Why 

 i.'i. I you not prosecute them?" I asked. "Hadn't time,"' 

 was the universal reply. Seeing tho need of some such 

 "spy," I at once formed a Bporting club, of which it is 

 my pleasure to be Secretary. At the present day this 

 very man who " hadn't time" has said tome: "The first 

 man in the club who shoots a quail before the 1st Of 

 November; I'll tell on him and then leave the club." I 

 hardly think there has been a quail taken out of season in 

 that locality in two years. Now, that friend of whom I 

 speak cannot afford to pay an annuity of even three dol- 

 lars tin- the use of his gun, which I am sure is never 

 cracked out of season. 1 say it would be unfair to de- 

 prive him Of his pastime on that account, and there are 

 more like him. Harry Fenwoi'd. 



Ferrisburgh, Vt., Ftb. Uth. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



I am sorry to see so many advocating the taxation of 

 guns. Tho only hope of efficient protection lies in mak- 

 ing our game laws popular, and, to do this, anything like 

 class legislation must be avoided. To especially tax his 

 gun would be to burden many a poor man too heavily for 

 him to bear, and if it did not make a poacher of him it 

 would at least make him utterly indifferent to the protec- 

 tion of game of which he could have no share. I know 

 poor men who are as strong supporters of game protec- 

 tion as any in the land, and as vigilant guardians of the 

 woods and waters about them, and as true sportsmen. 

 who could not afford to pay for the privilege of keeping 

 a gun. What would such a man do if a tax, amounting 

 to prohibition, was laid upon their cheap but highly^ 

 prized guns ? Would they continue to watch the haunts 

 of game, and report violations of game laws, when they 

 were debarred from all participation in what for some of 

 them is their only recreation? No ; to be so unselfish is 

 contrary to human nature. Rich sportsmen are too apt 

 to forget that wealth and a fine gun do not make a true 

 sportsman, any more than fine clothes make a gentleman, 

 and that there are some real sportsmen in the lower ranks 

 who ought to be considered in the framing of laws for 

 the protection of game. Such laws, to be popular, must 

 be for the good of all sportsmen, and not of a favored 

 class. R. e. R . 



Coiioes, N. Y., Feb, 16th, 



Editor Forest and Stream :— 



Let me ask what has the tax on guns to do with the 

 protection of game? Has it any tendency to slop mar- 

 ket hunting? "Would not market, hunters pay the tax 

 and reap greater benefits than now? Few sportsmen 

 would care to pay a tax, as your correspondent suggests, 

 and probably not have leisure ' 

 Another reason is that it i 

 American citizens to keep an 

 I heartily coincide with your 

 to protect game in this Stale. 

 laws enough. Every winter 

 tangled lot of game jaws, an 

 There might as" well not be 

 make laws ; far easier than 

 Legislature makes no provi 

 whatever. They should maki 

 thousand dollars yearly, and 



county appoint suitable men who would* enforce the lawsi 



If any number of persons interested in game protection 

 band themfielVM together, the same a.; the B& i fo] 



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