THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 



59 



PLEADS LACK OF AUTHORITY. 

 At its last annual meeting the L. A. S. 

 adopted a resolution, which has already 

 been printed in Recreation, requesting 

 the Secretary of the Interior to forbid 

 hunting on the forest reservations. The 

 Secretary of War was also requested to co- 

 operate with the Secretary of the Interior 

 to this end. Copies of the resolution were 

 duly transmitted to both departments and 

 I have received this letter in reply: 



Sir:— 



Through departmental reference I am in 

 receipt of yours of the 18th ultimo, ad- 

 dressed to the Honorable Secretary of 

 War, enclosing a copy of a resolution 

 adopted by the League of American 

 Sportsmen at its annual meeting held in 

 New York on the 13th ultimo, requesting 

 the Honorable Secretary of the Interior to 

 issue instructions to the various rangers 

 to prohibit all hunting on the several gov- 

 ernment forest reservations at all times. 



In reply I have the honor to advise you 

 that there is no law of Congress prohibit- 

 ing hunting on government forest reserva- 

 tions; consequently the Secretary of the 

 Interior is without authority to issue the 

 instructions requested by said resolution. 



The sundry civil act of March 3, 1899 

 (30 Stat. 1095), provides: 



"That forest agents, superintendents, su- 

 pervisors and all other persons employed 

 in connection with the administration and 

 protection of forest reservations shall in 

 all ways that are practicable, aid in the 

 enforcement of the laws of the State or 

 Territory in which said forest reservation 

 is situated, in relation to the protection of 

 fish and game." 



Since the passage of said act it has been 

 the policy of this office to aid the State 

 or Territorial Game and Fish Warden in 

 all ways that are practicable in the enforce- 

 ment of the laws of the State or Territory 

 in the respective forest reservations in re- 

 lation to the protection of fish and game, 

 and to this end has urged, in many cases, 

 the appointment of rangers as deputy game 

 wardens, and up to the present time a 

 number of them have been so appointed. 

 The States have generally, by act of their 

 respective Legislatures, favored such ap- 

 pointments. In the State of Wyoming an 

 act, which was approved Feb. 15, 1899, 

 provides: 



"That persons employed in this State 

 by the Federal Government for the protec- 

 tion of the various reserves, and known as 

 'Forest Rangers' may be employed as as- 

 sistant game wardens without petition, and 

 at the pleasure of the State game warden; 

 and such forest rangers shall not be re- 

 quired to give a bond to the State, when 

 serving as assistant game wardens. And it 

 is hereby declared by the Legislature of 



the State of Wyoming that the offices of 

 forest rangers under the Department of 

 the Interior of the United States shall not 

 be incompatible with the office of assist- 

 ant State game warden within the mean- 

 ing of Section 19 of Article VI of the Con- 

 stitution of the State of Wyoming, and 

 provided, that such forest rangers shall 

 not receive more than one dollar a day 

 from State game fund when serving as 

 assistant State game wardens." 



In the Yellowstone National Park au- 

 thority is given the department by Section 

 2475 Revised Statutes and the act of Con- 

 gress approved May 4, 1894 ( 2 8 Stat. 72), 

 to prevent hunting and carrying of fire- 

 arms within said park. Unless Congress 

 gives the department similar authority in 

 the Government Forest Reservations noth- 

 ing can be done toward the protection of 

 the game except under the State and Ter- 

 ritorial laws. 



Very respectfully, 



Binge Hermann, 

 Commissioner. 



So it seems the only way to stop hunt- 

 ing on these reservations is to get Con- 

 gress to pass a law forbidding it. This 

 would make all these reservations national 

 game preserves, as the Yellowstone park 

 is. Everyone conversant with the subject 

 knows that unless a number of such 

 refuges are provided the elk, the antelope 

 and the mountain sheep will disappear for- 

 ever within a very few years. 



We must, therefore, urge Congress to 

 pass such a law as indicated, at its next 

 session. — Editor. 



INDIANA A MODEL. 

 The Indiana Legislature has recently 

 passed as good a system of game and fish 

 laws as any State in the Union has to- 

 day. The two bills which comprise these 

 enactments were drafted by the Hon. 

 Frank L. Littleton, chief warden of the 

 Indiana division of the League, and it is 

 due largely to his untiring labors, aided 

 by the 225 other members of the League 

 in Indiana, that the bills were passed 

 and have been signed by the Governor. 

 Great credit is also due to Mr. E. E. 

 Earle, deputy commissioner of fisheries 

 and game for the passage of this bill. 

 Briefly, these laws provide an open sea- 

 son on quails, ruffed grouse, prairie 

 chickens, and pinnated grouse from Nov. 

 10 to Jan. 1. The number of quails which 

 any man may kill in a day is limited to 

 24. The sale of quails and the shipment 

 of these, or of deer, ruffed grouse, pin- 

 nated grouse, prairie chicken, woodcock, 

 wild turkey, and pheasants of any 

 kind from the State is prohibited at all 

 times under heavy penalties. Hunting of 

 all kind, except for ducks and squirrels by 



