152 



RECREATION. 



"My ground is that the fish of Lake 

 Champlain belong wholly to the people, 

 and that fish laws are immoral. In Lake 

 George, however, where the State propa- 

 gates fish the State has a right, and it is 

 its duty to protect. I would make it a 

 crime to shoot a deer, or a pigeon for 

 sport. These innocent creatures have as 

 much right to life as we humans; and 

 they are generally better than most men, 

 and women, too." 



In an editorial, this same man refers to 

 the members of the State Legislature as 

 "boodlers and bums." In another editorial 

 he refers to a League warden who has 

 been making a lot of trouble for the afore- 

 said fish pirates as "a crank." 



It goes without saying that 'the Fort 

 Ann Republic is a weakling and has not 

 circulation enough to do any serious 

 harm. It could never have a large circu- 

 lation under the management of any man 

 who is fool enough to take sides with hab- 

 itual law breakers and to condemn the 

 people's representatives who make game 

 and fish protective laws, at the request of 

 a majority of the people. 



SPORTING GOODS TRADE ACTIVE. 



The gun, ammunition and fishing tackle 

 business of this country has never been 

 so prosperous as at present. There is 

 scarcely a factory in the United States, in 

 any of these lines, that is able to fill its 

 orders for goods, though many factories 

 have doubled or even quadrupled their 

 plants within the past 2 or 3 years. A 

 prominent gun manufacturer told me a 

 few days ago he was refusing orders all 

 the time and that 2 davs before our talk 

 he had declined an order for 1,000 guns, 

 where the jobber had offered to give him 

 a check in advance for the full amount 

 of the bill. Similar conditions obtain al- 

 most everywhere. A reel maker told me 

 2 months ago that if I would furnish him 

 10 expert workmen in his line, men ca- 

 pable of making and assembling reels, he 

 would give me $1,000. He had all he could 

 get of such men, yet he could not keep 

 in sight of the. demand for his goods; 

 hence his need of additional expert help. 



This great consumption of sportsmen's 

 goods indicates the trend of public taste 

 and sentiment toward outdoor sports. It 

 also suggests hard lines for the game and 

 fish supply. Still, with proper enforce- 

 ment of the wholesome laws now obtained 

 in nearly all States and Territories, it is 

 possible to keep the supply up to the 

 demand. 



useful in hunting burglars at night, as 

 the searchlight will enable the hunter to 

 find a man in a dark room, and whenever 

 the light shines on him the pistol is 

 properly aimed so the bullet is likely to 

 find the bull's eye. 



It would be a great scheme for some 

 one to attach a searchlight to, say, a 4 

 gauge double gun. Such an outfit would 

 enable Babcock and the other Otay Dam 

 duck hogs to continue their work of 

 slaughter even after dark. The ducks 

 would be blinded by the light, and would, 

 no doubt, bunch beautifully on the water. 

 The punter could push the swine close up 

 to the birds, and the shooter could cut a 

 swathe through them. It should be an 

 easy matter for even such ill bred butchers 

 as Babcock and his herd to load up a 

 boat in a few hours with a searchlight gun. 



AN EDITOR'S ADVICE TO CONTRIBUTORS. 



"In promulgating your esoteric cogita- 

 tions or in articulating superficial senti- 

 mentalities and philosophical or psycholog- 

 ical observations, beware of platitudinous 

 ponderosity. Let your conversation pos- 

 sess clarified conciseness, compacted com- 

 prehensibleness, coalescent consistency, 

 and concatinated cogency. Eschew all 

 conglomerations, flatulent garrulity, jejune 

 babblement, and asinine affectations. Let 

 your extemporaneous descantations and 

 unpremeditated expatiations have intelli- 

 gibility, without rhodomontade or thra- 

 sonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all 

 polysyllabical profundity, pompous prolix- 

 ity, and ventriloquial verbosity. Shun 

 double entendre and prurient jocosity, 

 whether obscure or apparent. In other 

 words, speak truthfully, naturally, clearly, 

 purely. Don't use big words." 



A GUN FOR BABCOCK. 



A revolver has been invented and pat- 

 ented which has an electric searchlight at- 

 tached. It is claimed that this will be 



Some of my readers have heard of the 

 Pecos valley of New Mexico. Some years 

 ago it was famous, but later the bottom 

 dropped out of it and the public has not 

 thirsted for knowledge of it since. Still 

 there are a few people scattered over the 

 country who occasionally inquire what has 

 become of the great irrigation works and 

 of the great real estate boom these people 

 attempted to create some years ago. It is 

 sleeping beneath the mesquite. Eddy, the 

 principal town in the Pecos valley, has 

 changed its name to Carlsbad. The village 

 of Hagerman should now change its name 

 to Sleepwell, and we may expect to hear 

 the name of the Pecos river has been 

 changed to Sweetwater. But a skunk by 

 any other name would smell as bad. 



The Governor-General of Canada has is- 

 sued the following order: 



