THE GAME BREEDER 



71 



America is far too low. There are, prob- 

 ably, ten thousand game breeders or 

 more, not counting hundreds of clubs, 

 which have from 25 to 250 members 

 each, which produce game for sport and 

 for food. The Clove Valley Club, for 

 example, breeds thousands of mallards 

 and black ducks and the ducks not eaten 

 by the members of the club are sold to 

 a New York hotel and appear regularly 

 on the bill of fare as Clove Valley wild 

 ducks, during the open season. 



The Game Breeders Association, a 

 Long Island, N. Y., sporting club, with 

 $30 per year annual dues, produced one 

 season several tons of game. All of this 

 industry was criminal a few years ago — ■ 

 made so by the activities of those who 

 wish to make the District of Columbia a 

 food-prohibition area. 



Oysters, Fish and Game. 



Mr. R. B. Lawrence stated at the hear- 

 ing that once a distinguishing feature 

 of every butcher store in New York 

 City was the festoons of wild pigeons. 

 Not claiming that the extinction of the 

 pigeons was entirely due to market gun- 

 ners, Mr. Lawrence said they were abso- 

 lutely extinct. 



The fact is significant that during the 

 period when the American wild pigeons 

 became extinct the English wild pigeons 

 became so abundant as to be regarded' 

 as pests in some parts of England and 

 everywhere they remain a common and 

 cheap food. While we have been ex- 

 pending enough money on game laws to 

 feed the world with cheap game, if it 

 could have been properly applied, our 

 game of the ulpands. the grouse, quail, 

 woodcock and certain species of ducks 

 have steadily and rapidly decreased in 

 numbers, although the markets have been 

 closed to them for many years, and some 

 States, besides the District of Columbia, 

 have prohibited the shooting of the best 

 game birds at all times. 



_A few years ago the sign, "Oysters, 

 Fish and Game for sale," was a familiar 

 sign in every town and city. The oysters 

 and fish still appear on the signs, but the 

 word game has been eliminated in many 

 States. It is significant that the game 



has had the benefit (?) of thousands of 

 game laws. It is true at one time that 

 the oysters appeared to be in danger of 

 extinction and there was considerable 

 alarm in Baltimore about the oyster in- 

 dustry. The records of what happened 

 show that laws were not hastily enacted 

 prohibiting the sale of oysters. Efforts 

 .were made to encourage the production 

 of oysters. Oyster beds were leased and 

 common sense was applied to the pro- 

 duction of oysters. A price was put on 

 the head of the oyster (if an oyster 

 may be said to have a head), but no in- 

 telligent person agrees with the Zoo su- 

 perintendent when he says "it is really 

 marking the death warrant of any par- 

 ticular species to allow a price to be put 

 on its head." It is the price which causes 

 an abundance of any species when the 

 price is used for production. The trouble 

 with the game in America is that people 

 have been forbidden to get the -price of 

 the industry which is absolutely neces- 

 sary if game is to be used abundantly as 

 food as it should be. 



If the opportunity to obtain the price 

 should be removed from poultry such 

 laws would soon exterminate poultry. 

 The same is true of other food animals, 

 and of horses, dogs and of everything 

 else. 



Exciting Prejudice. 



Mr. Burnham, representing one of the 

 game protective associations, thus ad- 

 vised the committee : 



"We cou'd not follow the English principle 

 here without upsetting what most Americans 

 consider a system way ahead of the old con- 

 tinental and European system where only the 

 rich men have the privilege of shooting. We 

 don't want that system in this country." 



We have a notion that the association 

 which employs Mr. Burnham solicits and 

 receives contributions from the preserve 

 owners whom he denounces. As a mat- 

 ter of fact these game food producers 

 are performing a great public service ; 

 they produce thousands of tons of game 

 every year and, using an insignificant 

 amount of the vast areas of land in 

 America suitable for game, they not only 

 provide food for themselves but for 

 many others. 



