ANOTHER WARNING TO FLORIDA. 



I have read with great interest the graphic 

 and accurate paper of- Dr. Curtis in your 

 December number, entitled "A Warning to 

 Florida," and can testify to its truthfulness 

 from personal observation* 



I wish through your magazine to sound 

 another warning in behalf of the fish and 

 game of Florida. When I first began to go 

 to that State, in the winter of 1875, the fish- 

 ing was excellent, thought as I was told, 

 not nearly so good as it had once been. 

 Since that time I have visited Florida every 

 winter, staying 3 weeks to 3 months, and 

 have seen the game and fish gradually 

 diminish in numbers, till now the 

 fishing, from a sportsman's standpoint, is 

 poor, except for tarpon late in the season, 

 say in June or July. 



Even so late in the season as July, in 

 1904, I was unable in Sarosota bay to catch 

 more than 2 or 3 fish in several hours, 

 though I tried it' repeatedly. 



The cause for this is apparent to the most 

 superficial observer. It is due to the fact 

 that the fish have practically no protection 

 from rapacious fishermen, who catch great 

 and small fishes in nets, often a mile or so 

 long. I have seen seines run entirely 

 around a small island and then drawn up to 

 shore, killing everything within their com- 

 pass, great and small. 



It is a common practice to run a seine, 

 there called a stop net, across the mouth of 

 a bayou at high tide and then catch practi- 

 cally all the fish in the bayou when they 

 emerge as the tide ebbs. 



It is astonishing that the people of Flo- 

 rida do not see how inimical these practices 



are to their real interests. So soon as it is 

 once understood that the legitimate sport 

 of fishing can not be advantageously pur- 

 sued in Florida, many tourists and all the 

 fishermen who fish for sport and not for 

 profit will go elsewhere where the fish 

 are protected. This - policy, I fear, will 

 awaken the people of Florida to their 

 danger too late to remedy the loss, and after 

 the State is no longer visited by seekers 

 for legitimate sport. Interested parties may 

 deny the facts above stated, but so far as 

 it relates to the places I have visited, 

 notably Sarocota bay, they can not be suc- 

 cessfully controverted. 



The same remarks will apply to game 

 and birds of plumage. There is much bet- 

 ter sport farther North, and birds of plum- 

 age are notable by their absence. Even the 

 pelicans and alligators are becoming, rela- 

 tively, few in numbers, and I am sorry to 

 say that Northern tourists are not free 

 from blame for this condition. The brutal 

 lust for blood is so universal that these 

 birds and reptiles are killed merely for 

 sport, though they are worthless as food 

 and rarely bought for their plumage or 

 skins. The people of Florida should at 

 once enact a strict law for the protection of 

 their fish, game and birds and enforce it by 

 severe penalties against residents and tour- 

 ists alike. If this is done soon, conditions 

 will improve in the course of a few years ; 

 if it is not done, not only will the State 

 lose some of its principal attractions, but 

 an important source of revenue will be for- 

 ever lost. 



M. D. Ewell, M.D., Chicago. 



WITH A STOCK COMPANY. 



It was a proud and happy day 

 When Russell Crane Salvini Gray 



Joined a flock 

 Of actor folk, a real stock troupe ; 

 Yes, he was taken in the group 

 With the stock. 



They started West without delay, 

 And Russell Crane Salvini Gray 



Wore a frock — 

 A lovely coat — with conscious air, 

 Rejoicing greatly to be there 



With the stock. 



They busted out near Santa Fe 

 And Russell Crane Salvini Gray, 



Who couldn't hock 

 His clothes at anything like par, 

 Came home inside a cattle car 



With the stock. 



— Louisville Courier- Journal 



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