SECOND ANNUAL MEETING— REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT. 



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DR. C. H. MERRIAM, 

 ist Vice-President. 



To the Officers and Members of the 



League of American Sportsmen: 



Gentlemen — A year ago to-day I had the 

 honor of reporting to you a total member- 

 ship of 1,376 distributed throughout 36 

 States. The membership has now grown 

 to 2,327, and to-day reaches into every 

 State and Territory 

 in the Union; and 

 we have 33 members 

 in Canada. We have 

 10 life members, each 

 of whom has paid 

 into the League 

 treasury $25, and 4 

 members have paid 

 their dues 10 years in 

 advance. 



A year ago I re- 

 ported to you that we 

 had organized 11 

 State divisions. I 

 now have pleasure in 

 informing you that 

 we have since organ- 

 ized 8 more, making a total of 19 now in 

 working order. 



The New York division is still at the 

 head of the list as to numerical strength. 

 A year ago it had 3JJ members, and Chief 

 Warden Pond had, up to that time, ap- 

 pointed 28 local wardens in as many coun- 

 ties. To-day the New York division has 

 700 members and 36 local wardens. Sev- 

 eral of the other States have over 100 

 members each. 



This growth is encouraging, yet it is not 

 at all what it should have been and what 

 it would be if sportsmen in general real- 

 ized the great need that exists of drastic 

 measures for the protection of our game, 

 our game fishes and our song, insectivor- 

 ous and other birds. I am astounded when 

 I realize how many sportsmen there are 

 in the United States who are willing to 

 spend hundreds and some of them thou- 

 sands of dollars each year in their efforts 

 to kill game, and who are not willing to 

 spend one dollar a year to preserve the 

 game or to increase the supply of it. I am 

 astonished when I think of the large num- 

 ber of ornithologists in the country who 

 are constantly writing prosy descriptions 

 of birds, their nests and their eggs, which 

 few people ever read, and who never say 

 a word or spend a dollar to save these 

 birds from destruction. 



. On the other hand, it is especially grati- 

 fying to note that many of the most prom- 

 inent sportsmen and naturalists in the 



United States have shown their approval 

 of this League by becoming mem- 

 bers of it. Among these may be men- 

 tioned the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Hon. 

 Jos. F. Johnston, Governor of Alabama; 

 Hon. Jos. E. Thropp, M. C. from Penn- 

 sylvania; Hon. W. D. Jenkins, Secretary 

 of the State of Washington; Hon. M. Pat- 

 rie, Secretary of the State of Idaho; Dr. 

 Seward Webb, Mr. Geo. L Carnegie, Hon. 

 Warner Miller, Hon. John S. Wise, Hon. 

 Bird S. Coler, Wm. Brookfield, Dr. David 

 Starr Jordan, President Stanford Univer- 

 sity; Dr. D. C. Gilman, President Johns 

 Hopkins University; Hon. John F. Lacy, 

 M. C. from Iowa; Hon. B. F. Caldwell, 

 M. C from Illinois, and W. B. Clark, 

 State Geologist, Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity. 



Many members seem not to be aware 

 that we have in our constitution a provi- 

 sion for the formation of local chapters 

 of the League. Only 4 of these have thus 

 far been organized. One of these is at 

 Kalispell, Mont.; one at The Dalles. Ore- 

 gon; one at Schenectady, and one at Perm 

 Yan, N. Y. All are doing noble work. 



Kalispell chapter has secured 4 con- 

 victions for violations of the game laws, 

 and has scared every would-be law breaker 

 in that county, red and white, to such an 

 extent that the game and fish laws are now 

 rarely transgressed. The Schenectady 

 chapter has planted several thousand fish 

 fry in the streams thereabout, has import- 

 ed a large number 

 of quail, which have 

 been turned out. and 

 is planning to buy 

 and liberate a lot of 

 English and Mongo- 

 lian pheasants. This 

 chapter, as well as 



the one at Penn Yan, 

 has put up our mus- 

 lin posters through- 

 out the adjacent 

 country, warning all 

 persons to observe 

 the game and fish 

 laws, and offering a 

 reward for eacli con- 

 viction for a viola- 

 tion thereof. The 

 amount of local discussion and int< 

 that grows otit of the formation of a local 

 chapter of this League is beyond computa- 

 tion. It can readily be understood that 

 no one is likely to break a game or a ti-h 

 law when it is known that 25 or 50 League 

 members are distributed throughout the 



WM. T. HORN A I>\Y, 



4th \ dent. 



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