THE LEAGUE DID IT. 



6? 



THE LEAGUE DID IT, 

 And every member of Congress and 

 every Senator who voted for the Lacey bill 

 will tell you so. They will tell you that 

 never in their official life has any measure 

 come before them that has prompted such 

 a widespread public demand for favorable 

 action. They will tell you they have re- 

 ceived letters not only from their own con- 

 stituents, but from every county and every 

 school district in the land, begging them to 

 vote for the Lacey bill. It is entirely mod- 

 est and conservative to estimate that 10,000 

 letters have been written to Senators and 

 Representatives by League members and at 

 the instigation of League member's pray- 

 ing for speedy and favorable action on the 

 Lacey bill. Long ago Mr. Lacey wrote, 

 "The work done by the League has made a 

 profound impression on the House," but 

 the members did not stop at that. They 

 continued to beseech their representatives 

 and the representatives of other States to 

 vote for this bill. The fact that but 23 

 votes out of 3^6 in the House were polled 

 against this bill, and that not a single one 

 of the 86 Senators voted against it, shows 

 how thoroughly the League members have 

 done their work. The fact that the Senate 

 Interstate Commerce Commission reported 

 the bill favorably without amendment, and 

 that it was adopted by the Senate without 

 an amendment being offered, shows how 

 thoroughly and how cleanly the League has 

 done its work. 



Now if sportsmen who are not yet in 

 the League will do their duty, the member- 

 ship of this grand organization will go to 

 50,000 within a few months. If we had 

 never before done a single thing to merit 

 the support and co-operation of sportsmen 

 and naturalists, this one achievement 

 should bring them all into our ranks. If we 

 never did another commendable thing in 

 the whole course of our existence this one 

 record — the simple fact that we have se- 

 cured the passage of the Lacey bill — should 

 cause every friend of game protection and 

 of song bird protection, in the United 

 States and Canada, to join the Leasrue for 

 life. 



It should now be the work of but an hour 

 for any member of the League who lives in 

 any town or village to secure 5 or 10 appli- 

 cations for membership. It should be the 

 work of but an hour for any man who 

 lives in any city to secure 25 applications 

 for membership. Let us strike while the 

 iron is hot. Let us corral our friends 

 while thier enthusiasm can be stirred. 



I have devoted almost my entire time for 

 the past 6 months to aiding Mr. Lacey and 

 to exhorting you gentlemen to work for 

 this bill. Now will you not do your part 

 by way of making the victory a still more 

 glorious one? 



One more suggestion and I have done. 



Mr. Lacey is the hero of the hour. He 

 has done a greater thing for the country 

 than Schley did before Santiago, or than 

 Grant did before Shiloh. Let us reward 

 our deliverer in a fitting manner. 



I propose a popular subscription for the 

 purpose of buying a gold watch to be pre- 

 sented to Mr. Lacey in the name of the 

 League of American Sportsmen, commem- 

 orative of his great achievement. No one 

 need give more than 25 cents. Let no one 

 fail to give at least 10 cents. Remit in 

 postage stamps. If all the members will 

 respond in this measure, we shall have a 

 fund of $300 or more. This will procure a 

 memorial of which the old war horse will 

 be p-roud to the last day of his life; yes, 

 of which his children and his grandchil- 

 dren will be proud. 



The name of every member who sub- 

 scribes 10 cents or more to this fund will 

 be printed in Recreation, in order that 

 each may know his money reached this 

 office. A committee will be appointed to 

 buy the watch, to have it properly en- 

 graved, and to make the presentation. 



Now let us make this a test of our 

 strength, a proot of our gratitude to the 

 best friend the birds ever had ; an evidence 

 to the world at large that whoever in fu- 

 ture shall do his duty to the cause of game 

 protection, as Mr. Lacey has done his, will 

 be properly appreciated by the members of 

 the League of American Sportsmen. 

 Yours fraternally, 



G. O. Shields, President. 



"You keep me waiting so long!" com- 

 plained the customer. 



"Madam," said the worried grocer, who 

 was economizing in his business by em- 

 ploying only one clerk, "ain't you the 

 woman that was in here yesterday kicking 

 about short weights?" — Chicago Tribune. 



SEND IN 25 CENTS FOR THE LACEY WATCH FUND, 



