THE GAME BREEDER 



25 



Kennen : Did any State game officers 

 request that his Commission favor the 

 opening of the New York market to 

 their people, on the same terms granted 

 to foreigners? 



We believe they did. 



The only ground for the refusal to 

 permit the sale of desirable foods pro- 

 duced by the industry of citizens of sis- 

 ter States appears to be a fear that some 

 of the wild creatures in other States 

 might find their way to the table. In 

 other words, the people of New York 

 must be denied desirable foods because 

 of the interest of the State game officer 

 in wild creatures beyond his jurisdiction. 

 His fears do not appear to be well 

 founded. 



Should not the State game officers of 

 other States who offer to identify the 

 game legally produced by their people 

 before it is shipped, and who offer to 

 superintend the shipping, be the best 

 judges as to what will happen to any 

 Chinese pheasants or other birds which 

 may be roaming at large in their States? 



We think that Mr. Van Kennen in 

 submitting his opinion on this highly im- 

 portant matter to the Governor should 

 not have forgotten to mention the re- 

 quests of other State game officers. 



The Governor appeared quickly to 

 grasp the point and to understand the 

 situation at the hearing. Unaided, un- 

 doubtedly he would have handled the 

 matter in a business like manner. 



It is fair to say that Commissioner 

 Van Kennen expressed to the writer the 

 additional fear that New York breeders 

 might be opposed to the admission of 

 game shipped from other States. 



We promptly answered this : 

 First, by assuring the commissioner 

 that there would be no complaint from 

 our readers, the New York breeders ; 

 secondly, by pointing out the wrong done 

 to the game farmers of other States, pro- 

 vided the food producers in New York 

 should be able to persuade a State officer 

 to prohibit the marketing of similar 

 foods coming, legally, from other States. 

 We believe the Governor should call 

 for the correspondence which was not 

 submitted to him, evidently, when Mr. 



Van Kennen forwarded his important 

 opinion. 



We would like to know if the Conser- 

 vation Commission passed on this highly 

 important matter, or if Mr. Van Ken- 

 nen simply disposed of it without con- 

 sulting his colleagues. We had formed 

 such a good opinion of them that it 

 seems hard for us to believe they would 

 concur in what seems to us to be a wrong 

 conclusion. 



— ■» 



THE PROPAGATION OF ALL 

 SPECIES. 



The new Jones law provides for the 

 propagation of all species of game and 

 game fish upon the payment of a fee of 

 $1.00. Often we have insisted that it 

 was foolish to encourage only the breed- 

 ing of foreign fowls and certain wild 

 ducks and deer which are in no danger 

 of being extirpated. Often we have in- 

 sisted that we should encourage the pro- 

 duction of our indigenous game in the 

 same way we encouraged the breeding 

 of foreign fowls. 



The new law is a step in the right 

 direction, but it does not go far enough. 

 Upon the payment of a dollar for a 

 license anyone can propagate any species 

 of game or fish. But then what? Can 

 the owner shoot his game or catch his 

 fish? 



As a matter of fact, under the old 

 law, which the section we now refer to 

 is intended to remedy, no one could 

 have gray partridges or quail in his pos- 

 session even for propagation. The peo- 

 ple, however, seemed to regard this as 

 a mistake and at all events thousands 

 of gray partridges were imported annu- 

 ally and went to their new homes with- 

 out anyone being jailed. This was great- 

 ly to the credit of a good State depart- 

 ment and in striking contrast to the old 

 fashion of arresting people if they had 

 a bird with a broken wing which they 

 were trying to heal or if they received 

 presents of game sent from abroad, etc. 



No sensible game officer could be found 

 to arrest any one for having game in 

 his possession for propagation, provided 

 he obtained it legally and, of course, an 

 absurd law became a dead one. It evi- 

 dently needed amendment. 



