88 



THE GAME BREEDER 



WELL SAID. 



Mr. John C. O'Conor made a sensible 

 suggestion to the committee at the hear- 

 ing on the bill to make Washington, D. C. 

 "dry" in so far as game is concerned. 

 Mr. O'Conor said: 



"Now when the State of New York 

 adopted its constitution it provided that 

 the laws of England, which were extant 

 on the fourth of July, 1776, should be 

 the laws of the State. We start then 

 with the common laws of England, and if 

 we had stopped with it, stuck to the com- 

 mon law of England, there would have 

 been plenty of game to-day. We de- 

 parted from it, and we have no game." 

 We went in for impossible game laws 

 and lost our game. Scientists know why. 



The attempt to make game abundant 

 by licensing trespassers to shoot up the 

 farms' and by arresting farmers if they 

 produced any game for food or for profit 

 has not resulted in any game or even in 

 any shooting in many States. Quail and 

 grouse shooting are prohibited for terms 

 of years or forever. Mr. O'Conor does 

 not seem to be aware that in densely 

 populated England 5,000 market gun- 

 ners shoot migratory fowl on public 

 waters and sell the birds in the markets. 



properly uphold the laws even when they 

 appear to be wrong, deciding rightly that 

 the proper remedy is with the legislature 

 which made them, the courts not being 

 empowered to make laws but only to in- 

 terpret them and to decide matters aris- 

 ing under them. 



It is a legal absurdity, as often we 

 have pointed out, for the law to say the 

 people may produce certain kinds of food 

 pheasants and mallards, for example, but 

 not quail and wood-duck. It is well 

 known that the quail and the wood-duck 

 are as good, and many say better, foods 

 than the first-named birds, and since they 

 are nearing extinction the quail and the 

 wood-duck need the breeders' attention 

 more than the pheasants and common 

 ducks do. Common sense is progressing 

 slowfy in America, but with the farmer's 

 assistance we believe it will gain ground 

 rapidly next winter in many legislative 

 halls. 



LICENSES AND COMMON SENSE. 



We heard not long ago from a western 

 game officer that numerous people in his 

 state, who owned game birds prior to the 

 enactment of a game breeders' law re- 

 quiring breeders to have a license, had 

 neglected or refused to pay for licenses. 

 It seemed doubtful if it would be popu- 

 lar to endeavor to make them pay for 

 licenses since they owned their birds be- 

 fore the law was enacted. We are told 

 there are quite a number of breeders in 

 New York State who have no licenses. 

 It seems to be unreasonable to charge for 

 permits to produce food just at this time, 

 and Massachusetts seems to have settled 

 the matter properly, making no charge 

 for permits to produce any kind of game 

 food on the farms. 



We have always advised people to 

 obey the laws no matter what they are 

 and to seek to have them changed when 

 they appear to be outrageous. The courts 



GAME AS FOOD. 



Game of certain species rapidly is be- 

 coming so abundant in America that the 

 supply soon will exceed the demand pro- 

 vided a lot of game be not eaten as food. 

 The breeders should insist upon all of 

 the markets being open to the sale of 

 game. We can see that at the rate game 

 now is being produced that it is highly 

 important to encourage small shooting 

 clubs as well as the big preserve owners 

 to send a lot of the food to market. The 

 sale of game makes it possible for sports- 

 men of comparatively small means to 

 have excellent shooting during long open 

 seasons. The prohibition of the sale of 

 game as food has a tendency to prevent 

 the production of the food, and the ef- 

 fect soon will be bad on the producers. 

 It is good statesmanship just now to en- 

 courage the production of food. The 

 small politician who attempts to hinder 

 the new industry should be highly un- 

 popular. 



Muskrat is the favorite meat of the 

 Winnebago Indian during the war. He 

 declares it tastes much like venison and 

 it is healthful food. 



