152 



THE GAME BREEDER 



still have a good excuse for collecting 

 money to be expended in getting more 

 laws. 



' The people who succeeded in putting 

 the dove (a bird which Audubon re- 

 garded as one of our best wild food 

 birds) on the song bird list, soon were 

 active in trying to exterminate another 

 excellent, food bird which commonly was 

 served on toast. I say, "exterminate," 

 advisedly since all naturalists are aware 

 that in populous regions it "is absolutely 

 necessary to encourage the propagation 

 and practical protection of game if it is 

 to become a food supply and that laws 

 prohibiting the shooting and sale of 

 game tend to exterminate it because no 

 one can be expected to do anything for 

 nothing. The wood-pigeon is an abund- 

 ant food in England. In some places it 

 is overabundant. It has no such laws as 

 the Meeker bill to contend with. 



There can be no doubt that if the few 

 people who are enthusiastic about secur- 

 ing laws creating fanciful crimes, which 

 are unknown in countries which have 

 game are successful in preventing the use 

 of one kind of gun, in time they will 

 be active in the attempt to prevent the 

 use of other kinds of guns. "For Satan 

 finds some mischief stiir for idle hands 

 to do." 



In England where the market gunners 

 are permitted to take migratory game 

 birds with guns far more fatal than those 

 mentioned in the bill, and where trap- 

 pers are permitted to trap migratory wild 

 ducks by the thousands for the people to 

 eat, the birds are always abundaiit rand 

 cheap in the markets. Fishermen in 

 America take fish in large nets for the 

 people to eat. To be consistent the 

 Meeker bill well might be amended so 

 as to provide that only 15 fish be taken 

 in a day for sport, on a pin-hook, and 

 that fish so taken be not sold as food and 

 only shipped home under fanciful regu- 

 lations. 



The truth of the matter is that Con- 

 gress is asked to handle "wrong end 

 first" a big economic food question of 

 vast importance to all of the people. • We 

 would suggest that the matter .?is suf- 



ficiently important for a congressional 

 investigation in order that the true rea- 

 son why thousands of laws have not pro- 

 duced and can not produce any food for 

 the people, to eat may become known. 



Now is the time to buy rabbits for 

 the game farm dnd preserve. 



Game breeding rapidly has become a 

 big food-producing industry throughout 

 the United States and Canada. We pre- 

 dict that our game census will show that 

 milHons of eggs have been sold by the 

 end of the year. 



The laws should be amended every- 

 where so as to permit game breeders to 

 obtain stock birds and eggs for propaga- 

 tion purposes. There are more wild 

 ducks in the United States than in any 

 other country and the common species 

 are sold as food in many markets. 



Since it has been legal to produce 

 pheasants and ducks profitably these 

 birds have become abundant in many 

 States. Hundreds of thousands are sold 

 annually. Why not make it legal to in- 

 crease the numbers of other game birds 

 which most need the breeders' attention? 



The State Game Departments in many 

 states are becomirig of great economic 

 importance. 



The idea that we should have plenty 

 of game to eat in a big country like the 

 United States is growing rapidly. 



We now predict that in two or three 

 years at most the United States will be 

 the biggest game producing country in 

 the world. 



How would it do to lay all new re- 

 strictive game laws on the table for three 

 years and give the game a chance ? We 

 will guarantee 50 cent wild ducks abun- 

 dant, in the markets and soon all game 

 should be as cheap as it is in countries 

 where game ,f arming is a legal industry. 



