THE GAME BREEDER ' 



151 



some of the "shoots" pheasants and wild 

 ducks are hand reared but at most of 

 the places the quail, doves and wild 

 turkeys are the principal game. 



The Hitchcock Bill. 



Mr. Hitchcock has introduced a bill in 

 the Senate of the United States to give 

 effect to the convention between the 

 United States and Great Britain for the 

 protection of migratory birds. The ap- 

 propriation seems absurdly small and en- 

 tirely inadequate to accomplish any re- 

 sults in the way of protecting the game 

 on an area as large as the United States. 

 One hundred and seventy thousand dol- 

 lars will be enough to start a good clerical 

 force in Washington, but it takes many 

 times this amount for state officers to 

 inadequately execute some of the State 

 game laws. Mr. Wm. S. Haskell said 

 at the game dinner of the Game Con- 

 servation Society that $400,000 would be 

 needed. We think the amount he named 

 is not nearly enough. An appropriation 

 of $170,000 would simply be a waste 

 of money. Anything that is worth do- 

 ing is worth doing well. The bill should 

 be arnended so as to provide that nothing 

 contained in the act should be held to 

 apply to game breeders in order to avoid 

 the unpleasant misunderstandings which 

 occur between food producers and State 

 game policemen in some States where 

 politics seem to be -mere important than 

 food. 



The Meeker Bill. 



Congressman Jacob E. Meeker has in- 

 troduced a bill for the conservation of 

 migratory game in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives. The bill provides that it shall 

 be unlawful to kill or have in possession 

 any migratory game bird except between 

 the dates named under the Federal law 

 for killing the same with five days 

 added, "for the purpose of consuming 

 the game killed." Section 2 provides that 

 it shall not be unlawful to possess or ship 

 live specimens of migratory game birds 

 or their eggs for propagation purposes 

 and public exhibition, "but then only un- 



der permit duly issued under State or 

 Federal authority." 



It will be observeci that the game 

 breeders' industry is recognized, but we 

 would prefer to see the bill amended so 

 as to provide that, "nothing in this act 

 shall be held to apply to game produced 

 by industry or owned by game breeders." 



There are numerous restrictions in the 

 bill which may possibly be used by a 

 special U. S. game police force just as 

 restrictions in State laws have been used 

 by ignorant game wardens to hamper and 

 annoy those who are engaged in the 

 laudable industry of producing game for 

 the people to eat. It is now well known 

 if this industry be encouraged the game 

 breeders soon will supply all the people 

 with cheap game for their tables and 

 that millions of dollars which are ex- 

 pended annually to secure new game laws 

 can be saved. 



There are provisions in the bill limiting 

 the daily bag to 15 birds ; prohibiting the 

 sale of migratory game birds; regulating 

 the shipping, and the kind of guns to be 

 used, etc. In other words the United 

 States is asked to enact a lot of restric- 

 tions similar to those already in the 

 State statute books and which the States 

 are much better equipped to execute than 

 the National government is. There are 

 good scientific reasons why such restric- 

 tions never have and never will result in 

 the people having an abundance of game 

 to eat. 



Destructive Devices. 



Section 9 of the Meeker bill aims to 

 prevent the use of "any unusually de- 

 structive devices for killing, injuring, 

 capturing or taking migratory birds, such 

 as automatic, pump, or repeating guns." 

 etc. 



We hold no brief for the makers of 

 "pump guns." We care very little about 

 them. We are chiefly concerned about 

 this kind of legislation since it surely will 

 be followed, if successful, by legislation 

 prohibiting the use of double-barrel guns, 

 because the game will continue to van- 

 ish and the few people who are opposed 

 to sport and in favor of restrictions will 



