THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 



387 



they get, goes at the nearest saloon for bad 

 whiskey. One of the worst of these men 

 hires by the day, another (quite as bad as 

 himself) to fish for him, and boasts that 

 when he visits a trout stream, he " skins " 

 it, and that there is little use for any one to 

 try it after he has been over it. 



If there is any way to stop this sort of 

 thing, I think nearly all people would rejoice 

 — even those who now buy of them. 



Another thing not usually thought of as 

 necessary for the protection of game, is very 

 important. That is the protection of the 

 forests. We all read in the daily press of the 

 danger of the extermination of American 

 forests, but few really think of it as any 

 thing but in a remote future. Come into the 

 Adirondacks, and every day, one hears blast- 

 ing at frequent intervals, and from all points 

 of the compass. This is done by the pulp 

 men. Everywhere the streams are being 

 blasted for the better running of pulp wood. 

 In the Au Sable river, below here, many 

 dead trout have been taken out. One rain- 

 bow trout was found recently, killed by rock 

 blasting, that measured 24 inches long. It 

 is not only the trout that are so killed, but 

 in many places the streams are completely 

 ruined. One noble trout stream that emp- 

 ties into the Au Sable, is to be made a 

 " public highway," by the legislature at its 

 next session. That means, that the pulp men 

 can have the right to blast as they please, on 

 public or private property, through which it 

 runs. This pulp business is doing more to 

 destroy the woods than lumbering could do 

 in a century. These men take nearly every- 

 thing. The few hardwood trees that are 

 spared by them, will blow down, when the 

 protecting spruces are cut. Fires will 

 quickly do the rest. At the rate the forests 

 have gone in 2 or 3 years, it can scarcely 

 take 10 years to destroy all. 



This is going on more if anything inside 

 the lines of our State park, than out. It is 

 pleasant to read of our beautiful State park, 

 and its wonderful scenery, and value as a 

 health resort; but by the time it is actually 

 a State park it will be a desolate and God 

 forsaken region. 



I did not intend writing of all this when 

 I began, but living here in the woods, I 

 realize that there will soon be little space left 

 for either deer or trout. The suffering that 

 will come to mankind when these moun- 

 tains are stripped of their verdure isn't 

 worth talking about, for man has brought 

 the ruin and will deserve the suffering. 



Roswell M. Shurtlefr. 



Brother Shurtlefr cannot have read the 

 L. A. S. Department of Recreation close- 

 ly, or he would have seen that the League 

 has done a great deal of important work. 

 The first and most important victory it 

 achieved was in securing the repeal of Sec- 

 tion 249 of the Game Laws of New York, 



which allowed the sale of game in this State 

 all the year round, on condition that the 

 dealer would show the game came from 

 some point outside of the State. This priv- 

 ilege was of course abused and game killed 

 in this State was sold all the year round, un- 

 der false representations as to where it came 

 from. The repeal of this law is of itself glory 

 enough for the League, for 5 years. 



However, we did not rest on our laurels 

 when we accomplished that piece of work. 

 We have been working day and night ever 

 since. We have built the membership to 

 979 and have organized 8 State divisions. 

 The New York Division now numbers 293 

 members and Chief Warden Pond has ap- 

 pointed 26 game wardens in as many coun- 

 ties. Some of these men have not been so 

 energetic or so industrious as they should 

 have been in watching for violations of 

 the law, but one — Mr. E. P. Dorr, of Buf- 

 falo — within 10 days after his appointment, 

 secured the conviction of a man who was 

 trapping song birds, and his reward for this 

 conviction was promptly paid. We have 

 convicted Harris Wells, a wealthy business 

 man in Friendship, N. Y., of killing robins 

 and have made him pay a fine of $50. We 

 have a case pending against another man in 

 this state for having a ruffed grouse in his 

 possession. The money is ready for the pay- 

 ment of rewards for any number of con- 

 victions that local wardens or other mem- 

 bers of the League may be able to secure 

 in this State. 



The war has retarded our work a great 

 deal. We should have had 2,000 members 

 by this time if this calamity had not come 

 upon the country. But now that the trouble 

 is over and the people have returned to their 

 usual avocations, the work of the League is 

 going forward and we hope to be able to 

 make much better reports within the next 6 

 months than we have thus far. 



Mr. Shurtleff has encountered the same 

 difficulty that every friend of game protec- 

 tion encounters everywhere. That is, he 

 finds it difficult to designate a man for the 

 local wardenship in his county, whom he 

 can recommend as a fearless and aggressive 

 officer. Such men are scarce, but as fast as 

 they can be found we are putting them on 

 guard and we hope in time to have every 

 state in the Union and every county in each 

 state patrolled by vigilant and fearless game 

 wardens. 



Most of the members of the League are 

 heartily in favor of laws to prevent the sale 

 of game at all times, and will work for 

 such laws when the time comes. We shall 

 also take vigorous measures to aid in the 

 protection of our forests, at every oppor- 

 tunity. 



NOTES. 

 The L. A. S. is sure to do good work. 

 There is one department, however, that has 

 been ignored, and that is the dry goods 



