EDITORIAL 
kind, by the generally hostile attitude 
of the public and the daily press toward 
the game wardens and their work. It 
may not be that harm is meant by the 
majority of persons who defame the 
game wardens, or by the newspapers 
that seek popular approval by “roast- 
ing’ them whenever the opportunity 
occurs, but it is a fact that every such 
utterance tends to incite crime. A 
good many “sportsmen” there are in 
Massachusetts, as there are elsewhere, 
who are guilty of contributing to the 
crime for which Patrick Cahill must 
stand trial. 
As supplementing what we said on 
this subject last month, we submit the 
following, which is from 
To Protect a letter received from 
the Warden the Massachusetts De- 
partment of Fisheries 
and Game in answer to a letter from 
the editor of RECREATION asking an ex- 
pression of opinion from the chairman 
of the commissioners. We quote :— 
There is no question that a properly 
authorized, responsible paid deputy should 
have every safeguard which surrounds the 
regular police or constable. For the proper 
enforcement of the law it is necessary that 
they should have some means of ascertain- 
ing what game or useful birds the man 
suspected has in his possession, and this can- 
not usually be done without a right of search. 
We feel that the act that we recommended 
last year, copy of which is inclosed,* was 
warranted by the facts and conditions, and 
would greatly strengthen the position of the 
honest hunter, and make the law-breaker 
much more liable to apprehension. 
* A commissioner of. fisheries and game, or any 
duly authorized deputy thereof, may demand of any 
person who is, in the opinion of such commissioner 
or deputy, engaged in the taking, killing, hunting, 
trapping or snaring of fish, birds or mammals con- 
trary to law, that such person shall forthwith dis- 
play for the inspection of such commissioner or 
deputy any and all fish, birds or mammals then in 
his possession; and the refusal to comply with such 
demand shall be prima facie evidence that the person 
so refusing is engaged in the taking, killing, hunt- 
ing, trapping or snaring of fish, birds or mammals 
in violation of law. The said commissioners and 
their deputies may call upon any person or persons 
in the name of the commonwealth to assist them in 
the execution of their duty in the enforcement of 
the fish and game laws; and whoever, being so 
required, neglects or refuses such assistance shall 
be punished by imprisonment for not more than 
one month 
dollars. 
This act shall take effect upon its passage. 
or by a fine of not more than fifty 
_ posed act upon the statutes. 
aga 
We trust that, with the added 
strength of their position from de- 
velopments during the past year, such 
as the shooting of Deputy Commis- 
sioner (Warden) Rausch, the Massa- 
chusetts Department of Fisheries and 
Game will succeed in getting the pro- 
And that 
the commissioners may show _ their 
recommendation has the approval of 
representative citizens and sportsmen, 
we ask every reader of this magazine 
who lives in Massachusetts to cut out 
the copy of the act which appears in 
small type on the bottom of this page; 
paste it on a sheet of letter paper, in- 
dorse it and send it to George W. 
Field, Chairman of Commissioners of 
Fisheries and Game, Room 158, State 
House, Boston, Mass. And further- 
more, we urge the various game and 
fish protective associations throughout 
the state to give the act their official 
indorsement. These associations have 
great power, and the president of one 
of them only recently wrote to RECREA- 
TION saying, “We have never failed to 
get any law enacted that we have 
recommended to the legislature.” Sure- 
ly, here is a chance for his association 
to exert its influence in a good cause. 
The matter of divorcing politics from 
game and fish protection is not one to 
be disposed of by one is- 
Politics sue of a magazine such as 
and Game ReEcreaATION. It calls for 
Protection the united efforts of every 
sportsmen’s journal in the 
country, and of every sportsman who 
is not making his living out of politics. 
That there is a crying need for shut- 
ting the door of appointment against 
all political heelers, and practicing the 
straightforward methods of Commis- 
sioner H. G. Thomas of Vermont, no 
honest man who reads these pages will 
deny. So long as politics cuts a figure 
in the appointment and the work of 
game and fish commissioners and their 
wardens, just so long must game and 
fish protection and propagation suffer 
(and unnecessarily) a terrible handicap. 
