EDITOR'S CORNER. 



481 



the market; so that practically all these 

 birds that are sold in New York are sent 

 here from States that have laws prohibit- 

 ing the export of game. 



What about the tons of prairie chickens 

 sold in New York? Not one of these birds 

 can be legally shipped into this State, from 

 any State in the Union where they exist. 

 Consequently the game dealers of New 

 York are carrying on a wholesale system 

 of stealing from the people of neighboring 

 States. Now the law-making power of 

 the Empire State steps in and says to the 

 game dealers, "We will protect you in 

 holding your swag during the 10 months of 

 the year when it would not be wise to offer 

 it openly for sale." The Governor of New 

 York originated this measure, and the Fish 

 and Game Commission of New York 

 pushed it through the Legislature. 



What do the sportsmen of this State think 

 of their Governor and of their Fish and 

 Game Commission? 



LODGE OF ELKS IN TROUBLE. 



Certain members of the San Francisco 

 Lodge of Elks have got -themselves into a 

 cold box. They asked the park commis- 

 sioners for permission to kill one of the big 

 bull elk in the Golden Gate park in order 

 that they might hang its head in their lodge 

 room as a trophy. After due consideration 

 the park commissioners granted the re- 

 quest, and Mr. Ward, a member of the 

 lodge, asked permission to kill the elk. 

 This was also granted, and Mr. Ward 

 marched valiantly up to the paddock in 

 which the elk are enclosed, leveled his rifle 

 at one of the big bulls and shot him down. 

 Then he and Mr. Kohn, another member 

 of the lodge, stood up behind the carcass 

 of the fallen animal and had themselves 

 photographed. 



At this juncture Mr. A. T. Vogelsang, 

 executive officer of the State Board of 

 Fish and Game Commissioners, stepped in, 

 seized the elk and placed it in cold stor- 

 age. At last accounts he was planning 

 legal proceedings against Mr. Ward for 

 killing the elk. The killing was in direct 

 violation of the State law which prohibits 

 the killing of elk in California at any time 

 or under any circumstances, and it is likely 

 Mr. Ward will wish, before he gets 

 through with this case, that he had not 

 been so fresh. 



It is high time the Order of Elks should 

 change its method. The badge, or at least 

 one of the badges, of this order is an elk 

 tooth. As elk become more and more 

 scarce in the country, the members of this 

 order are offering higher and higher prices 

 for elk teeth, thus stimulating the un- 

 principled market hunters of the West to 

 pursue this noble animal and slaughter him 

 wherever and whenever found. 



The Colorado Springs Lodge of Elks 

 passed a resolution some years ago con- 

 demning the wearing of elk teeth. This 

 resolution was printed in the form of a cir- 

 cular, and sent to all the other lodges in 

 the United States, but it seems to have 

 had little effect. All the lodges of this ex- 

 cellent order should follow the example of 

 the Colorado Springs Lodge, and renounce 

 the wearing of elk teeth and the buying of 

 elk heads to hang in lodge rooms. 



Executive Agent Vogelsang is entitled to 

 the gratitude of every sportsman and 

 every naturalist in the United States for 

 his prompt and valiant action in the case 

 above recited, and it is earnestly hoped he 

 may succeed in making Mr. Ward pay a 

 heavy fine for his cold blooded slaughter 

 of this noble animal. If the park com- 

 missioners of San Francisco had more elk 

 than they needed in their park they could 

 no doubt have sold some of them to other 

 cities. If not, they could have given them 

 away. There are plenty of cities and pri- 

 vate individuals throughout the country 

 always ready to take any surplus wild ani- 

 mals that may be held in domestication and 

 provide proper homes for them. Mr. Vo- 

 gelsang is a hero and should have a monu- 

 ment. 



I printed in March Recreation a report 

 from a Chicago paper to the effect that the 

 game market of that city had been practi- 

 cally destroyed by the enactment and en- 

 forcement of the non-export laws of all the 

 Western States. There are but 5 States in 

 the Union that have not enacted such laws. 

 These are Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana and Montana. As everyone 

 knows, it is impossible for these States to 

 furnish even one-tenth of the game that is 

 handled and consumed in New York City 

 alone. If, therefore, statesmen throughout 

 the other States will take proper measures 

 to see that their non-export laws are strin- 

 gently enforced, the game market of New 

 York City can be destroyed even as that of 

 Chicago has been. Not only that, but the 

 markets of Cincinnati, St. Louis, Philadel- 

 phia and Boston can be broken up. Why 

 should not all sportsmen in the other 44 

 States get on the firing line and do their 

 duty? 



The Chicago Inter-Oeean reports that 

 Jacob Beck, a farmer living near Aurora, 

 111., recently saw a wolf near his barn. He 

 went for his gun, but the wolf took to the 

 woods. Then the farmer rang up several 

 of his neighbors, asking them to turn out. 

 They did so, and after an exciting chase 

 the wolf, or at least a wolf, was killed. 

 This is a new use for the telephone. We may 

 next expect to hear of telephone lines being 

 run into the forests of Maine, Canada, and 



