AROUND OUR CAMP FIRE 



Here We Talk More About Ourselves 

 Than We Should, Perhaps 



NE of the most famous of living 

 Americans recently said to Mr. 

 Beard, "The finest thing Rec- 

 reation is doing is the careful 

 manner in which it is instilling 

 into the minds of the young 

 people of the country the love 

 of Nature and the open air." 

 Our editor has appreciated this 

 for some time, and the formation of "The 

 Sons of Daniel Boone" is hut the central- 

 ization of his work in this direction. In 

 this organization of youngsters he has been 

 governed by two ideas. The youths of to- 

 day are the powers of tomorrow. To them 

 future generations must look for the preser- 

 vation of game, fish and forest. To care- 

 fully educate and guide the young minds 

 aright in this direction is and will be his 

 principal object. 



Learned medical men of the day have 

 said that the gradual growth of population 

 from the country to the town is develop- 

 ing unnatural physical conditions, and these 

 conditions have a tendency toward moral 

 degeneracy. 



Mr. Beard hopes to make "The Sons of 

 Daniel Boone" an agency by which these 

 conditions may be lessened in their force. 

 By directing the attention of the members 

 of this organization to the lives of the 

 sturdy pioneers of America, the men who 

 made the first trails across our great, country, 

 taking them back to the days when a man's 

 or boy's standing in the 

 community depended 

 wholly upon the manner 

 in which he treated his 

 fellows, and when life 

 itself was dependent up- 

 on individual human en- 

 deavor, he hopes to 

 strengthen the love all 

 boys have for the out- 

 of-doors ; to promote a 

 better understanding be- 

 tween the boys of the 

 country and of the city, 

 to strengthen them 

 morally and mentally, 

 as well as physically, 

 and by concert of ac- 

 tion, compel the atten- 

 tion of the country to 

 be directed to the active 

 lives of our ancestors. 



TiECT^EATION'S 

 PLATFORM 



An uncompromising fight for 

 the protection, preservation and 

 propagation of all game ; placing 

 a sane limit on the hag that can 

 he taken in a day or season; the 

 prevention of the shipment or 

 transportation of game, except 

 in limited quantities, and then 

 only when accompanied by the 

 party who killed it; the prohi- 

 bition of the sale of game. These 

 are Recreation's" slogans now 

 and forever. 



How We Grow 



The only manner by which we can judge 

 the popularity of the work we are doing 

 in the magazine is through the increased 

 subscription list and the growth in our 

 news-stand sales. 



Since we took charge of the magazine, 

 our circulation has made three progressive 

 steps of ten thousand each, that is, ten 

 thousand additional copies of the magazine 

 were printed in April, twenty thousand in 

 May, and thirty thousand in June. 



Recreation already had the largest cir- 

 culation of any of the sportsman's maga- 

 zines, and this increase passed us safely 

 beyond the fear of active competition. 



Very little circulation advertising has been 

 done during the past three months, and little, 

 if any effort has been made to secure new 

 subscriptions; this apparent lack of effort 

 being caused by our desire to perfect the 

 Magazine itself before beginning an active 

 circulation campaign. 



But, in spite of this splendid increase, we 

 are not satisfied that we are doing "all that 

 we should toward pleasing our readers. 

 Therefore, we again beg you to express 

 your opinion openly. Let us know what 

 you think of the present issue and what you 

 would like in the issues that are to come. 

 We know that most of our readers are busy 

 men, and that it requires some effort to 

 break away from conventional letter-writing 

 and to devote time to- 

 ward expressing your 

 opinion of other peo- 

 ple's business even when 

 the product of that 

 business is designed to 

 interest and amuse you. 

 Now, a ro u n d the 

 camp fire, it would not 

 be proper for us to offer 

 a money prize for the 

 best letter containing 

 suggestion:;, but we can, 

 with perfect propriety, 

 offer a box of fine Ha- 

 vana cigars each month 

 to the person making 

 the best suggestion, 

 looking toward the bet- 

 terment of the maga- 

 zine. We feel that our 

 readers need no induce- 



