THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 



313 



\>ide from the question of the duty of a 

 League member it is the duty of every 

 good citizen to report to the proper au- 

 thorities every case of law breaking of any 

 kind that he may discover. Of course, few 

 of us do this except under some special ar- 

 rangement such as I have stated; but we 

 should do it in all cases. 



I am glad to know you will observe the 

 close seasons in future. 



Will you kindly tell me where you 

 bought your quails, greatly obliging, 

 Yours truly, 



G. O. Shields, Pres't. 



Mr. Hall replied that he did not know 

 where the quails in question were bought. 

 — Editor. 



chapters in various States that are doing 

 splendid work on these lines. 



I have taken the liberty of referring your 

 letter to Mr. C. Barlow, Santa Clara, who 

 is the Secretary Treasurer of the Cali- 

 fornia division of the League, and who 

 will communicate with you at once. — Edi- 

 tor. 



ENFORCE EXISTING LAWS. 

 While we have adequate game laws, the 

 enforcement is lacking. Kindly advise me 

 in this and send me some L. A. S. litera- 

 ture. The Supervisors have refused to 

 appoint game wardens on account of the 

 expense, but if we can organize a local 

 chapter of the League here they may ap- 

 point some member to act gratis. I rec- 

 ognize the necessity for the prevention of 

 ruthless slaughter of game in season and 

 the surreptitious killing out of season. 

 G. J. M., Santa Ana, Cal. 



It is true that your State, as well as 

 most of the others, has good game laws. 

 What all the States need are machinery and 

 appropriations for enforcing their laws. 

 Nearly all State Legislatures lack interest 

 in this subject, and the L. A. S. was or- 

 ganized for the express purpose of enforc- 

 ing the laws of the various States. 



As requested, I send you under separ- 

 ate cover 25 copies each of the various 

 documents explaining the nature and aims 

 of this League. I trust you will place these 

 where they will do the most good. 



You will see by reference to page 6 of 

 the constitution, that as soon as you have 

 25 members in your city or county we may 

 organize them into a local chapter. You 

 would then have an excellent machine for 

 enforcing your laws. One of your mem- 

 bers could be appointed a local warden 

 for the League, and your county commis- 

 sioners would no doubt be glad to invest 

 him with legal authority to make arrests. 

 This league offers a reward of $10 for each 

 conviction secured of a violation of a 

 game or fish law; and your people wou 1 d 

 no doubt be glad to add to this offer. Then 

 each of your members would become a de- 

 tective whose duty it would be to notify 

 the local warden of any violation of the 

 law, and aid him in securing the necessary 

 evidence to convict. We have many local 



REPORT VIOLATIONS OF LAW. 

 I have been contemplating plans for en- 

 forcing the Lacey law. There is no, pro- 

 vision in it as to who is to enforce it, and 

 no provision for compensation to inform- 

 ers or prosecutors. The shooting season 

 opened September 1 in a number of States, 

 and game has begun to circulate. There 

 is need of great vigilance to prevent vio- 

 lation of the non-export laws where they 

 exist. Here is a big field for members of 

 the L. A. S. to work. I am going to see 

 Mr. Lehle and arrange to have all the 

 railway companies and express companies 

 print the law and send copies to all their 

 agents. M. -R. Bortree, Chicago, 111. 



ANSWER. 



Your suggestion regarding the duties of 

 League members as to the enforcement of 

 non-export laws is good. We are getting 

 sportsmen stirred up on this subject every- 

 where. Convictions are becoming more and 

 more numerous in each State each year, 

 and there is plenty of trouble ahead for 

 market hunters and game dealers who un- 

 dertake to violate the laws. I have person- 

 ally sent a copy of the Lacey law to the 

 general freight agents of all important rail- 

 way companies in the United States, and 

 to the presidents of all the express com- 

 panies. Have written each of these offi- 

 cers a personal letter asking him to ac- 

 quaint all his employees with the provi- 

 sions of the Lacey law, and to take meas- 

 ures to have these provisions observe*! 

 Now, when we find any common carrier 

 violating the Lacey law there will be no 

 opportunity for the accused to plead ig- 

 norance of the law. Several of the officers 

 to whom notice of the law was sent have 

 already issued instructions to all employ- 

 ees in accordance therewith, and have sent 

 me copies of same. 



What League members should do is to 

 enforce the laws of their own States. The 

 Lacey law simply comes to our aid in this 

 when needed. — Editor. 



L. A. S. WORK IN VIRGINIA. 



In a recent issue of the Richmond Dis- 

 patch the following letter appeared: 



"In Sunday's issue I noticed an article 

 by Mr. M. D. Hart, State secretary of 

 the League of American Sportsmen, and I 

 wish to add a few words in praise of the 

 excellent work thus far achieved for the 

 protection of birds in this State by our 



