EDITOR'S CORNER. 



315 



by the State to prosecute this case, but, 

 notwithstanding the promise made by Gov- 

 ernor Odell in the above letter, no action 

 has been taken against the Arctic Freezing 

 Company in this case. 



On the contrary, Governor Odell had a 

 bill prepared and passed by the last session 

 of the New York Legislature providing for 

 the keeping of game of any and all kinds, 

 throughout the close season, under bond. 



The passage of this law completely nulli- 

 fies the case against the Arctic Freezing 

 Company, in which the State stood to re- 

 cover nearly $2,000,000. It is now impos- 

 sible to get a judgment for $1. Every 

 lawyer knows that no court or jury can be 

 induced to convict a man, or a firm, or a 

 company, of an offense against a law which 

 may meantime have been repealed. 



Another charge which the sportsmen of 

 the State of New York have against Gov- 

 ernor Odell is that he vetoed a bill which 

 they induced the last Legislature to pass, 

 prohibiting the sale of ruffed grouse. 

 Thousands of the best sportsmen in the 

 State worked all winter to secure the pas- 

 sage of that bill. Originally it included 

 woodcock and quails. These were stricken 

 from the bill, by way of comnromise and 

 under protest of the men who were work- 

 ing for the bill. We were told by members 

 of the Assembly and of the Senate that it 

 would be impossible to pass the bill as 

 originally drafted, but that if we consented 

 to the elimination of the words "quails and 

 woodcock" we could pass the bill as to 

 ruffed grouse, and that the Governor 

 would sign it. We accepted these pledges 

 on the theory that half a loaf is better than 

 no bread. We pushed the bill through and 

 Governor Odell vetoed it. 



The League of American Sportsmen 

 asked for hearings before the Governor on 

 both of these bills, and both requests were 

 denied. Furthermore, we asked for hear- 

 ings before the Fish and Game Committees 

 of the Senate, and of the Assembly, on the 

 cold storage bill and were denied there. 



It is now time for the sportsmen of the 

 State of New York to look elsewhere 

 for help in protecting the birds and 

 the wild animals of this State. The 

 Republican party, through Governor 

 Odell, has shown that it is opposed 

 to the best interests of this great cause. 

 The League of American Sportsmen is not 

 a political organization in any sense, and 

 we have hoped it might be able to keep out 

 of politics at all times. It does not go into 

 the present fight as a political organization, 

 but as simp'y what it is : A game protec- 

 tive organization. I do not know the poli- 

 tical preferences of a dozen members of the 

 League. Neither do I care to know. I do 

 know, however, that all of them are game 

 protectionists, and while I do not speak 



for all I have no doubt 90 per cent of the 

 New York members will cast their votes 

 and use their influence in the present cam- 

 paign against Governor Odell. At this 

 writing we have -no pledges from the 

 Democratic party as to what it will do for 

 the game and the song birds of the State 

 if placed in power ; but we are certain 

 these wild creatures could not fare worse 

 at the hands of any party than they have 

 fared during the past 2 years, under the 

 administration of B. B. Odell. We shall do 

 everything in our power to prevent his re- 

 election. 



A GREAT GAME PRESERVE. 

 Mr. L. A. Tillinghast, of 275 Westmin- 

 ster street, Providence, Rhode Island, is 

 organizing a club of sportsmen with a 

 view to buying some 20,000 acres of land 

 lying 20 or 25 miles from that city. He 

 requested me to carry an advertisement 

 soliciting subscriptions to the proposed 

 club. In accordance with my rule never 

 to endorse any such enterprise without 

 first knowing its value, I visited the prop- 

 erty which Mr. Tillinghast proposes to 

 buy for the use of the club. I drove over 

 a large portion of it, examined it care- 

 fully, and can say without hesitation that 

 it is admirably adapted to the purpose 

 named. 



The tract as outlined measures about 5 

 miles in width by 7 miles in length. There 

 are within its limits 5 natural trout 

 streams and 16 small lakes, or ponds. 

 Eleven of these ponds and all the streams 

 have always yielded fair numbers of trout. 

 The brooks aggregate in length 15 to 20 

 miles. It would take a man 2 days to fish 

 the longest stream, and at least one day 

 each to fish the others. One of the ponds 

 is about a mile long and half a mile wide. 

 This and one of the others are well stocked 

 with pickerel and black bass. The tract 

 includes about 50 old farms, several of 

 which have been abandoned, and most of 

 the others are producing so poorly that 

 their owners are tired of paying taxes on 

 them and will be glad to sell them at almost 

 any price they can get. Mr. Tillinghast es- 

 timates that the entire tract of about 20,- 

 000 acres can be bought at an average price 

 of $3 an acre. Some of these farms have 

 houses on them that cost $3,000 to $5,000 

 each, and that are as good to-day as when 

 they were built. Others of the houses 

 were built 50 to ico years ago, and are 

 now almost ready to tumble down. 



On the other hand, there are large areas 

 of forest land that have never been cleared. 

 It has all been logged or cut off for tim- 

 ber, fuel, railway ties, telegraph poles, of- 

 fence posts, at various times. Some of 

 the pine lands have been logged 3 time? 



