EDITOR'S CORNER. 



HANSON IS ON THE WARPATH. 

 Mr. G. O. Shields, New York, 



Dear Sir — Mr. Hanson, of Worcester, 

 has placed in my hands a claim against 

 you for damage done him by an article ap- 

 pearing in your magazine, April, 1903, 

 issue. I have found that this article was 

 inspired by malice and with a purpose to 

 injure Mr. Hanson. Unless this matter is 

 adjusted forthwith I am instructed by Mr. 

 Hanson to bring suit in the premises. 



Chas. O. Engstrom. 



Mr. C. O. Engstrom, Boston, Mass., 



Dear Sir — If you have learned that my 

 criticism of S. E. Hanson was inspired by 

 malice, you know more about me than I 

 know about myself. I never saw the man 

 and never heard of him until this matter 

 came up, and you will certainly claim in 

 court, if the matter should go so far, that 

 he has done nothing in this connection to 

 excite my anger. 



For 8 years past I have been criticising 

 and rebuking men who slaughter game and 

 fish, and I can show you hundreds of arti- 

 cles in Recreation equally as severe as the 

 one relating to Mr. Hanson. I have been 

 actuated in all these cases simply by my 

 deep interest in the subject of game and 

 fish protection. I consider that in taking so 

 large a number of fish at one time and 

 place, and in the manner described, and 

 then in publishing this exploit as credit- 

 able, Hanson showed an utter lack of the 

 true spirit of sportsmanship and made him- 

 self what is known throughout the entire 

 country to-day as a fish hog. Such slaugh- 

 ter, if indulged in by fishermen generally 

 and countenanced by the public, would soon 

 result in the destruction of the entire fish 

 supply of this country, and thus work an 

 irreparable damage to the community. As 

 the president of the League of American 

 Sportsmen, and as the editor of a magazine 

 devoted to shooting, fishing and nature 

 study, I deem it not only my right, but my 

 duty to characterize such conduct as that 

 of Hanson in a way to arouse public sen- 

 timent against it, and I insist that my 

 criticism of Mr. Hanson was made without 

 malice and entirely within legitimate 

 bounds. It is not, therefore, subject to the 

 action you propose bringing. 



It may interest you to know that my 

 efforts in this direction have proven gener- 

 ally successful. I have on file thousands 

 of letters from men who say frankly that 

 they have been game or fish hogs all their 

 lives and never stopped to think of the 

 harm they were doing until I inaugurated 

 this warfare against such work, and that 



they have now reformed; that they quit 

 when they get enough and advise then- 

 friends to do likewise. If after consider- 

 ing this matter from my point of view, 

 you still persist in bringing an action 

 against me, I can not, of course, prevent 

 vou from doing so. 



G. O. Shields. 



THE ODELL GOLD STORAGE LAW. 



Governor Odell has already had several 

 opportunities to see how gloriously his cold 

 storage game law is working. The Arctic 

 Freezing Co., against which an action has 

 been pending some 2 years for having had 

 over 50,000 birds in possession, in violation 

 of law, has again been investigated by a 

 State game warden, who found in the pos- 

 session of this company more than 10,000 

 ducks, snipe and plover that had been 

 placed in cold storage without bonding and 

 sealing as provided by law. 



The manager of a cold storage plant in 

 Jersey City came to me a few days ago 

 and asked me if he would be allowed to 

 keep game in cold storage in that State in 

 close season. I told him he would cer- 

 tainly be subject to arrest and punishment 

 if any game were found in his place after 

 the close of the legal selling season. He 

 explained that a New York game dealer 

 had asked him to accept several barrels of 

 ducks which he had in possession at that 

 time," explaining that he did not care to 

 store them on this side of the Hudson be- 

 cause of the law which required that game 

 held in storage here in close season should 

 be bonded and sealed. Every man who 

 has had anything to do with the enforce- 

 ment of the game laws in this city knew 

 when the Odell cold storage bill was passed 

 that it would be violated, and this is being 

 done. It would be interesting to see a list 

 from the State game and fish commission 

 of the names and addresses of dealers who 

 have complied with the bonding law by 

 placing game in cold storage under bond. 

 Will not the governor have such a state- 

 ment published? 



I find by consulting the files of Recrea- 

 tion that, up to and including the June 

 issue, 876 men and women have been re- 

 buked for slaughtering game, song birds 

 or fish. I deeply regret the necessity of 

 saying "and women," but must tell the 

 truth. 



Therefore, beginning with this, the July 

 issue, each man and each woman who may 

 come into the pen in future will be given a 

 serial number. 



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