144 



RECREA TION. 



At the next session of court a fellow was 

 brought up and indicted by the Grand Jury 

 for dynamiting fish. The evidence was 

 most conclusive that he did so and that he 

 sold them by the hundred pounds, yet the 

 intelligent (?) jury believing (?) a cock 

 and bull story told by the defendant, and 

 entirely unsupported by any evidence, re- 

 turned a verdict of not guilty! 



In 1890 I caught a man doing the same 

 thing. I swore a warrant and gave it to 

 the county attorney, but the man was not 

 even arrested. This was in Gallatin county. 

 We have good laws in this state, but they 

 are badly administered. What is needed 

 is more solidity in the institutions of the 

 country. In the United States it is not the 

 best read and most scientific man that gets 

 an office; but the best wire puller, and as 

 public servants know their tenure of office 

 may not exceed one term they give more 

 thought to filling their pockets than to es- 

 tablishing a reputation for honesty and 

 integrity. Let us have judges appointed 

 purely on account of their fitness and then 

 let them hold their positions forjife. Then 

 we shall have laws administered without 

 fear or favor and the noble profession of 

 law will be elevated, by the gentlemen on 

 the bench not having to curry favor to get 

 votes from every savage. 



The little attention paid to game laws in 

 this section is something astonishing. 

 During my studies in Europe I had an 

 opportunity of observing the attention 

 paid to them there and of comparing the 

 customs of that country with our own. A 

 person who shoots a bird out of season in 

 Europe is ostracized. Here he regards it 

 as a joke on the law makers. 



I fear it will take a hundred years yet to 

 educate our people up to a proper respect 

 for animal (or even human) life, and for a 

 proper respect for the laws; but I shall do 

 all I can to aid in the work. 



E. F. Conyngham, M.D. 



No, it won't take nearly so long, Doctor. 

 At the rate the League membership is 

 growing its power will soon be felt every- 

 where. With your business men, ranch- 

 men, guides, miners and prospectors as 

 members of the League, all wearing badges, 

 all talking game protection and all watch- 

 ing for game law violators it will be but a 

 year or 2 till these same pot hunters will 

 find their trail a mighty rocky one. Busi- 

 ness men who now think it funny to break 

 the laws will wake up to find themselves 

 in the jug and then the smile will be on 

 the other fellow's mouth. The time will 

 soon come, even in Montana, when it will 

 be just as black a disgrace to kill a deer or 

 a prairie chicken out of season, as it is 

 now to kill your neighbor's cow or steal 

 his chickens. — Editor. 



ANOTHER MONTANA HUSTLER. 



Hon. L. A. Huffman has undertaken the task of 

 obtaining members for the League of American 

 Sportsmen. * So far he has been very successful, 

 having obtained a large number of signatures of 

 those who are interested in the matter of preserv- 

 ing the game, fishes and song and other harmless 

 or useful birds. 



The headquarters of the league are in New York 

 City, where the parent organization was first con- 

 ceived. 



The necessity of such an organization has long 

 been felt by sportsmen all over the country, but 

 until recently no effort has ever been made to 

 bring it about, reliance for prosecution of " game 

 hogs " having been placed on the gun clubs ex- 

 isting in various and often widely separated lo- 

 calities. With a national organization to take hold 

 of and direct matters much good is bound to result. 

 The success of mutual aid and assistance, where 

 the interests of one particular class are at stake, 

 is amply illustrated in the case of the wheelmen, 

 who since the organization of their league have 

 obtained greater recognition and concessions than 

 could have been obtained through any other than 

 a national organization with practically unlimited 

 capital behind it. 



Nothing short of an universal movement, such as 

 that being made by the L. A. S., will save our 

 wild animals from total destruction. — Miles City 

 (Mont.) Journal. 



Mr. Huffman has sent in 12 applications 

 for membership, accompanied by the neces- 

 sary dollars. If all the members of the 

 League would put on and go among their 

 friends with as much earnestness as Mr. 

 Huffman always puts into his work the 

 question of game preservation would be 

 speedily solved. 



LEAGUE WORK NEEDED IN 

 CONNECTICUT. 



Lanesville, Conn. 



Editor Recreation: The League is what 

 we need to assist State Fish and Game 

 Commissioners in their duties. The State 

 of Connecticut furnishes, this year, brook 

 trout or rainbow trout for public and un- 

 posted streams, charging $12 for delivery 

 of 2,500 fingerlings. The messenger de- 

 livers at nearest R. R. station. Individuals 

 are allotted 250 trout each. 



Lake trout are for our deep lakes and 

 come in 3,000 lots, at same rates. 



At Lanesville we have ordered 2,500 

 brook trout for our small streams. At 

 New Milford we have ordered 2,500 rain- 

 bow for the Housatonic river and 3,000 

 lake trout for lake Wasamang. 



I succeeded in getting the orders. Not 

 a man asked refused to subscribe for his 

 quota. 



The prospect for the L. A. S. is good 

 and I shall work for it. We must have 

 combined interest and protection for game 

 and fish or have none to protect. 



As State Fish and Game Protector I find 

 it difficult to get proof of violations, and 

 if they are extensive the violators work on 

 the sly. S. L. Warner. 



