EDITOR’S CORNER. 
the automatic guns used in modern 
warfare. It is provided with a maga- 
zine amd is equipped with a contrivance 
by which the recoil of one shot throws 
out the first cartridge and automatically 
replaces it with another. In this way 
the gun may be fired as rapidly as the 
holder can pull the trigger, 6 shots in 2 
seconds being made possible. Armed 
with such a weapon a hunter could turn 
loose on a flock of birds and slaughter 
the game at will. RECREATION appeals 
to all true sportsmen to refuse to use 
the automatic gun and to try to induce 
the manufacturers to withdraw it from 
the market. Men who have the best 
interests of real sport at heart will be 
- quick to see the force of the appeal. 
There used to be an idea that the 
only test of a sportsman’s ability was 
the size of the bag he secured. It was 
in consequence of this idea that the 
repeating rifle and repeating shot gun 
came into vogue. The use of these more 
destructive weapons brought about 2 
important results. They greatly in- 
creased the handicap under which the 
game birds were competing, and they 
taught the sportsman that big bags 
were no longer a test Of sportsman- 
ship. Generosity and selfishness both 
played a part in the learning of this 
lesson. The shooter ascertained that 
the element of difficulty cut a large 
share in the enjoyment of game shoot- 
ing. He found that ease of killing did 
not furnish an excuse for wholesale 
slaughter. Moreover, he discovered 
that, with all sportsmen taking all the 
birds they could secure, the supply was 
being so depleted that there was immi- 
nent danger of total extinction. 
Thus it was that a new code of ethics 
was established. The better class of 
sportsment no longer consider it good 
form to take everything in sight merely 
because opportunity is presented. After 
securing a reasonable quantity of game 
they prefer to leave some for others. 
Also they are found in hearty co-opera- 
tion with the authorities in the enforc- 
ment of laws for the protection of 
game. The game hog and the pot 
hunter are now equally in disfavor 
among legitimate sportsmen. 
It is to this policy of enlightened self- 
ishness that the argument against the 
automatic shot gun will appeal. If the 
new weapon shall come into general 
use not many open seasons of the pres- 
ent length will be required for the ex- 
tinction of the limited number of game 
birds now remaining. If necessary the 
use of such destructive weapons could 
be prohibited by law, just as the use of 
devices for the wholesale slaughter of 
161 
game fishes is prohibited. It would be 
more creditable to sportsmanship, how- 
ever, if its devotees would of their own 
accord refuse to countenance the use 
of the weapon and compel the manu- 
facturers to cease making it because of 
lack of demand. The automatic gun 
should be tabooed by every organiza- 
tion of self-respecting sportsmen. 

TO PROHIBIT AUTOMATIC AND PUMP 
GUNS. 
When there were no other guns than 
muzzle loaders in use game was abundant 
all over this continent. The wild pigeon 
swarmed through the Southern and Middle 
States; buffalo and antelope covered the 
Western plains; the elk and the mule deer 
were almost congested in the Rocky moun- 
tains and in the Cascades; and the river 
valleys were alive with them far out on the 
plains. 
Then came the breech loading rifle. This 
made it possible to kill game so fast that 
it paid men to kill and skin buffalo and 
other large animals for the market. Soon 
after the beginning of this commercial 
slaughter game of all kinds began to de- 
crease in numbers. Closely following the 
single shot breech loader came the repeat- 
ing rifle and the breech loading shot gun. 
Later the repeating shot gun followed, and 
every man and woman who reads knows 
the sequel. The wild pigeon and the buf- 
falo are gone. The antelope is nearly ex- 
tinct. The elk is entirely wiped out of 
Arizona and New Mexico. There are 
scarcely more than 50 remaining in Col- 
orado, where Io years ago they could be 
counted by thousands. They are cleaned 
out of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, ex- 
cept in the vicinity of Yellowstone Park. 
They are practically extinct in Oregon, 
though a few stragglers may still be found 
in the high mountains of that State. 
The mule deer is also being rapidly killed 
off. Twenty years ago the Virginia deer 
was abundant in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Iowa and Kansas, but not a single wild 
deer could be found in any one of these 
States to-day. There are not 10 per cent of 
the deer in Pennsylvania that were there 
20 years ago. All this is due to the so- 
called improvement in hunting rifles. 
Birds of all kinds have disappeared rap- 
idly and several important species of game 
birds are verging on extinction. 
In spite of this tragic condition of af- 
fairs, we are now confronted with an au- 
tomatic repeating shot gun. It is generally 
conceded that no decent sportsman will 
use one, but there are thousands of game 
hogs who will use them if permitted. Near- 
ly all the market hunters now use pump 
guns. They will discard them and buy auto- 
matic guns, because they can kill more game 
