470 



RECREATION. 



STAY IN THE FIGHT. 



Savannah, Ga. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I am in receipt of a letter dated March 

 1st, asking my aid in behalf of the Hon. 

 John F. Lacey's bill to protect the game of 

 Alaska. While I am still a friend of the 

 birds and game of America, I am not for 

 the last 2 years a member of the League. 

 Nevertheless I shall write my Congress- 

 man and the 2 Senators from this State and 

 request their favorable action on the meas- 

 ure when it shall come up ; 



You will recall that at one time I was a 

 hard worker for the establishment of a 

 chapter of the League in this State, but 

 after more than a year of unsuccessful and 

 disheartening labor, I gave up the project, 

 and concluded that the task of civilizing the 

 game hogs in this vicinity was a hopeless 

 undertaking. Since that time I have done 

 nothing toward protecting our feathery 

 tribe and wild game. 



During a residence in New Mexico, 

 where there are strict laws for the protec- 

 tion of game, I saw on more than one oc- 

 casion deer and antelope sold in the beef 

 markets contrary to the law, and the au- 

 thorities evidently winked at the violation. 

 I have concluded that, in view of open viola- 

 tions where stringent game laws exist, there 

 is little use in establishing laws for the pro- 

 tection of game anywhere if the officers of 

 the law will not enforce them without fear 

 or favor. In this country, where I am 

 again living, we now have some excellent 

 laws for the protection of game, but there 

 is no attempt on the part of the officers 

 of the law to enforce them. 



If I were a man of wealth and leisure I 

 could keep myself busy prosecuting game 

 law violators, and nothing would give me 

 more pleasure than to be able to keep hot 

 on their trails. As it is, I am thoroughly 

 •disgusted and have decided that there is no 

 other way than to let the game hogs and 

 pot hunters kill out all the game ; which 

 they will have succeeded in doing in the 

 next 5 years, unless the game hogs and 

 pot hunters should themselves be provi- 

 dentially killed out at an early date. 



James S. Estill. 



On receiot of the foregoing letter I 

 wrote Mr. Estill as follows : 



Did vou ever know a reform move- 

 ment of any kind that was successful from 

 the start? I do not know your sentiments 

 on the question of temperance, but what- 

 ever they may be, you will, doubtless, ap- 

 prove at least some good things which tem- 

 perance people have accomplished. You 

 are aware that in the middle ages it was an 

 almost universal custom of good people in 

 both city and country throughout England, 

 Scotland and Ireland, to get drunk every 



afternoon or night, and then to boast of it. 

 Eventually a certain class of thinking 

 people decided that this habit was shameful 

 and degrading. They went to work to 

 create a public sentiment against it. It 

 took them 50 years to get the masses 

 of the people to thinking their way. 

 And to-day to see a drunken man is 

 the exception in England as in America. 

 The bibulous habit which prevailed in 

 England at the time I speak of took strong 

 root here, though it never became quite so 

 general. To-day the masses of people in 

 all walks of life condemn the man who gets 

 drunk and makes an exhibition of him- 

 self. Suppose that after a year of hard 

 work these temperance reformers had be- 

 come disgusted and quit. The English 

 people would still have been a nation of 

 drunkards, and probably the Americans 

 would, too. 



Suppose that after a year of hard work 

 all the pioneers in the organization of this 

 League had become disgusted and quit. 

 The slaughter of game would have gone on 

 just as it was going oh up to '98; but we 

 have kept at work, and shall keep at it as 

 long as we live. The results are already 

 noticeable in many places. If you have 

 been reading Recreation you have noticed 

 every month many reports of convictions of 

 violators of game or fish laws in various 

 States. If I had room to print all these 

 reports that come to me you would realize 

 that many thousands of men are convicted 

 every year of law breaking and compelled 

 to pay fines or serve out their sentences in 

 jail. The League has been directly re- 

 sponsible for convictions of 853 men in its 

 4 years of work. Our members have con- 

 tributed evidence and assistance that have 

 resulted in the conviction of probably 

 3,000 other law breakers. Do you realize 

 what it means to have aman convicted of 

 such an offence in a small town? Well I 

 do. I frequently hear from certain locali- 

 ties where we prosecuted a man 2 or 3 

 years ago, that neither that man nor any 

 of his neighbors has dared to fire a gun 

 in close season from that day to this, and 

 that as a consequence of our work in such 

 places game is increasing. In other cases 

 where we have convicted one man who 

 sold game in violation of law I am in- 

 formed that from that day to this not a 

 piece of game has been sold or offered for 

 sale in that town or in any of the surround- 

 ing towns. Can you realize what this 

 means in the matter of protecting game in 

 the aggregate? I started in to advocate 

 the enactment and enforcement of game 

 laws 30 years ago. Suppose I had grown 

 disgusted and quit at the end of the first 

 year. There would have been no League 

 to-day and no Recreation magazine. I 

 kept at it and shall keep at it as long as 



