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RECREATION. 



Your State has a Fish Commission, and 

 this commission has money at its command 

 with which to enforce the fish laws. These 

 men could stop the manufacturing com- 

 pany from dumping refuse into the stream 

 in 10 days if they saw fit to act, but un- 

 fortunately they are politicians, and 

 as a rule ignore appeals made to 

 them by sportsmen, no matter from 

 what part of the State they come. The 

 only redress I can suggest is that a general 

 demand should be made on the Governor 

 for the removal of these men and for fill- 

 ing their places with live, energetic sports- 

 men It is not likely your fish laws 

 will be enforced to any considerable extent 

 until these men are forced to seek other 

 employment. — Editor. 



BIT OFF MORE THAN HE COULD 

 SWALLOW. 



I have been 

 buying Recrea- 

 tion at our lo- 

 cal news stands 

 nearly a year, 

 and I am heartily glad 

 to know there is such 

 a n organized effort 

 made by the L. A. S. 

 for the protection of 

 birds, game and fish. 

 I am 73 years old. 

 Have been a hunter, 

 trapper and angler 

 nearly all my life. I 

 am a lover of nature 

 all its phases, a 

 friend of the forest 

 songsters, z"i I never 

 killed game to waste. 

 Herewith I enclose a 

 photo of a kusk (ling) 

 which I picked up. He 

 was about 33 inches 

 Jong. I found him 

 May 26, 1901, floating 

 in Lake Chelan, appar- 

 ently choked to death 

 while trying to swal- 

 low a sucker about 16 

 inches long. 



H. N. Merritt, 

 Stehekin, Wash. 



PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK PLEASE 

 NOTICE. 



Last summer the city of Baltimore 

 passed an ordinance forbidding the sale of 

 striped bass under half a pound and white 

 perch under % pound in weight. The com- 

 mission fish dealers in Baltimore made an 

 arrangement with the local fish warden, by 

 which they were not to be fined if their 

 consignees shipped fish under weight, but 

 the fish were to be returned to their orig- 

 inal owner. The dealers then sent no- 

 tices to that effect to all our buyers and 

 shippers here. This is how it works : 

 Baltimore gets all the large, fine, eatable 

 fish, and New York and Philadelphia, our 

 other 2 principal markets, get all the scrap 

 fish and underweights. Boston, our other 

 fish market, gets nothing but extra choice 

 fish, as it is worse than useless to send 

 scrap fish there. The people will not buy 

 them at any price. Of course, in a small 

 place like Boston, it is easy to educate the 

 people to this standard, but in cities like 

 New York or Philadelphia it is too much 

 wprk. It seems to me, however, it would 

 be much easier to pass a city ordinance 

 than a State law. If an ordinance similar 

 to that of Baltimore were passed in Phila- 

 delphia and New York, and our shippers 

 notified it would be enforced, those cities 

 would then no longer get the worst end of 

 the deal, and the little fish would be turned 

 loose and allowed to reach maturity. This 

 would make it better both for fisherman 

 and consumer. The market is the place to 

 regulate all game and fish laws, and it is 

 almost useless to bother with anything 

 else. 



We are having a great fly of fowl now, 

 more than I have seen for several seasons. 

 Some, of course, stop with us ; but the 

 majority have gone farther South. 



A. S. Doane, Waterlily, N. C. 



LAW-BREAKING FARMERS. 



One night in October last Deputy Game 

 Warden Wallace Smith, of Logansport, 

 Ind., with 2 assistants, undertook to arrest 

 several farmers who were spearing fish in 

 the river a short distance below that city. 

 The warden found the men In canoes in the 

 middle of the stream and ordered them to 

 come ashore and surrender. The men 

 headed their canoes toward the shore at 

 once and started in, but when they neared 

 the shore one of the fishermen drew a re- 

 volver and fired at the warden. The offi- 

 cers returned the fire and several shots were 

 exchanged in rapid succession, but with- 

 out effect. Meantime the officers turned 

 to get under cover in the woods and were 

 met with a volley of bird shot and bullets 

 from several pals of the fishermen, who 

 were hiding among the trees. A lively skir- 

 mish ensued with the bushwhackers, and 



