THE GAME BREEDER 



110 



discount is made from the market price 

 to enable the purchaser to sell at a profit. 

 When one publisher, for example, pur- 

 chases books from another he gets the 

 trade discount always ; and so it is, we 

 believe, in most business transactions of 

 this character. Some game farmers we 

 know make a special price to dealers and 

 this amicable rule always should prevail. 

 It is more important that the dealers in 

 the game breeding industry should help 

 each other and be on the most friendly 

 terms than it is in any other industry. 

 The trade is much hampered by restric- 

 tive laws, some of which are reasonable, 

 but there have been entirely too many 

 cases where ignorant game wardens have 

 acted as if they were sure the state 

 owned all the game and that they were 

 the state. Some of the more outrageous 

 performances have been reported and 

 discussed in The Game Breeder. The 

 society has defended some cases and has 

 brought others to an end by correspond- 

 ence, or by giving publicity to the out- 

 rage. 



Our advice to the game farmers and 

 sporting breeders is to stick well together 

 and to act on the most friendly terms, 

 giving trade discounts always when deal- 

 ing with other dealers. The industry 

 will grow so rapidly that all will be bene- 

 fitted. Competition is the life of trade 

 and friendly dealing is its twin brother. 



PECULIAR IDEAS OF DEMO- 

 CRACY. 



Mr. Leopold says the European sys- 

 tem of game management is undemocra- 

 tic, unsocial and therefore dangerous. 

 He admits that it is a fact that in Amer- 

 ica "the posting of farm lands, theories 

 of democracy to the contrary notwith- 

 standing, is in some places fast render- 

 ing free hunting a thing of the past." 

 This is a fact and not a theory and we 

 must face it as such, he says. 



We have long known the reason 

 why upland field shooting rapidly was 

 coming to an end. The farms are the 

 best places for quail, grouse and pheas- 

 ants, and (some of them) for ducks, 



woodcock and snipe, all of which re- 

 spond to proper care. 



Mr. Leopold sees that the posting of 

 the lands by farmers makes it impossi- 

 sible for state game departments to carry 

 out his idea ol free shooting. It is pe- 

 culiar to say that democracy vanishes 

 when a farmer refuses to allow all tres- 

 passers to shoot up his place. It is 

 peculiar to say that a farmer should not 

 have the right profitably to produce any 

 plant or animal on his farm. 



There are more people in America 

 who may be heard to say that no r one 

 should shoot for the pleasure of shoot- 

 ing than there are who will say that the 

 farms must be thrown open to trespass- 

 ers and that the farmer must be arrested 

 if he produces and sells food. 



Mr. Leopold jumps at the conclusion 

 that the game farmers are opposed to 

 restrictive game laws which certainly 

 limit the freedom of shooters. We are 

 quite sure there is no opposition to re- 

 strictions and we deplore the fact that 

 they must be increased to supplement the 

 posting of the farms by their owners. 

 All that we have ever asked is that the 

 restrictions be not applied to producers; 

 that the people be not arrested for food 

 production. Our sympathies are with 

 the poorer classes (this is where we re- 

 side) who should have game and 3hoot- 

 ing if they wish to do so and who should 

 sell some game to help pay their ex- 

 penses if necessary. 



Our ideas of democracy are different 

 from those of Mr. Leopold. We do not 

 think that true democracy demands that 

 the people must be arrested if they have 

 game birds or eggs in their possession 

 for food — or even for sport-producing 

 purposes. We do not believe that true 

 democracy demands that the farms be 

 thrown open to trespassers with the hope 

 that they will only destroy the game and 

 will not shoot farm animals or steal 

 melons. 



As to "sociability," referred to by Mr. 

 Leopold, we have had some very socia- 

 ble times when shooting with market 

 gunners ; we have had some very socia- 

 ble times when shooting with people who 

 have organized game shooting clubs and 



