EDITORIAL WANDERINGS 



411 



Game Protective Association, Minister Pre- 

 fontaine declined to prohibit the issue of spring 

 seining licenses to Canadian fishermen. The 

 matter was then taken up with President 

 Roosevelt, who was understood to be willing 

 to see what influence he could bring to bear 

 upon the Canadian authorities so long as Ver- 

 mont and New York had agreed to stop 

 spring seining on their part, and it is believed 

 that this new decision of Minister Prefontaine 

 is the result of negotiations from Washington. 



EFFECTIVE SUPERVISION. 

 The Commissioner of Game and Fish 

 of Indiana proceeds with his work in a 

 thoroughly business-like way. Unfortunately, 

 spring shooting is still allowed in Indiana, 

 but the limit bag of twenty-four ducks is 

 strictly enforced. To see that the provisions 

 of the law are carried out the commissioner, 

 during the flight of the ducks, patrolled all of 

 the shooting territory in the state, the deputy 

 game warden being kept on duty continu- 

 ously. Few violations were reported in con- 

 sequence. 



NO HUNTERS ALLOWED. 

 The Commissioner of Indian Affairs is tak- 

 ing active steps to prevent hunting parties 

 from invading Indian Territory. Instructions 

 have recently been issued to the marshals of 

 the territory to confiscate all guns, ammuni- 

 tion, buggies, cooking utensils and other par- 

 aphernalia belonging to hunting parties. The 

 Chickasaw nation, the nation which has been 

 foremost of all the Indian tribes in carrying 

 out the provisions of the law, has suffered 

 severely from the encroachment of hunters 

 from the neighboring states. This new ac- 

 tion will, undoubtedly, result in protecting 

 the game for the Indians. 



"ARBITRARY" POWER. 

 "The Victoria (B. C.) Times is much per- 

 turbed over a section of one of the recently 

 proposed measures for the protection of game 

 in the province which provides that any per- 

 son found committing an offense under the 

 act in question may be apprehended without 

 a warrant by any game warden, constable or 

 officer of the peace and may therefore be 

 taken before any justice of the peace to be 

 dealt with according to lav*. The Times 

 argues that this measure places arbitrary 

 power in the hands of the officers — a power 

 which may be distorted and exercised to a 

 mischievous extent We call the attention 

 of the Times to the fact that there is nothing 

 arbitrary in this, for even a private citizen 

 may arrest anyone caught in the commission 

 of crime or law-breaking; and we do not 

 agree with the editor in his strictures upon 

 the intent of the provision in question. Game 



wardens and peace officers must be clothed 

 with power to arrest when violations of the 

 law occur within their jurisdiction, for many 

 of the violations occur thousands of miles 

 from the nearest court, and if such delay 

 must be observed before arrests are to be 

 made, the guilty parties will have plenty of 

 time to escape. 



The proper way in which to protect the 

 public is to enforce the severest penalties for 

 officials found guilty of using their powers 

 to a mischievous extent. 



THE HEIGHT OF SELFISHNESS. 



In an editorial on the slaughter of robins 

 in Virginia, the editor of the Newport, Vir- 

 ginia, Press gives vent to some of the most 

 selfish, unsportsmanlike, and narrow-minded 

 utterances we have ever read from the pen 

 of a Southern editor. He says : "The robins 

 certainly can not be of any material benefit to 

 the farms of Virginia, for they do not remain 

 in this section long enough to kill any of the 

 insects which prey upon the growing crops. 

 We see no reason why the robin should be 

 protected in Virginia." 



According to the text of this editor, any- 

 thing which does not benefit Virginia must be 

 destroyed, irrespective of the fact that two 

 score states to the north and south will be 

 injured thereby. We believe that this editor's 

 own argument is sufficient to condemn him 

 among his thinking constituency. 



BOOKS. 



"Miss Badsworth, M.F.H.," is the title of a 

 book by Eyre Hussey, illustrated with some 

 very good pictures by G. D. Armour. The 

 book is English and all about hunting. It is 

 strenuous, but its strenuosity is of a foreign 

 kind, all about the fox chase, artificial hunts 

 which do not appeal to the American except 

 in old and thickly settled districts like Long 

 Island and Virginia. Don't misunderstand 

 me, the fox chase, or even the merry run 

 after a scent bag dragged over the fields is 

 exhilarating and exciting outdoor sport, but 

 it is a sport where "pink" coats and proper 

 dress play a more important part than the 

 fox or even the anise seed bag. The latter 

 are only the excuse to wear the clothes. 



The book is "sporty" and will appeal to 

 "sporty" people. The heroine rides astride 

 as all women should. 



The book is dedicated by permission to His 

 Grace the Duke of Beaufort, and one cannot 

 help wondering if the Duke is really grace- 

 ful. These titles are funny old things but 

 useful in their way as life preservers, which 

 often serve to keep a person's head above 

 the social tide who might otherwise sink to 

 the plebeian bottom. Published by Long- 

 mans, Green & Co. 



