190 



RECREATION. 



thing that is difficult, and the more diffi- 

 cult a thing the greater pleasure there is in 

 doing it. 



we live for the pleasure of living, and to 

 the active mind, the keen intellectual Amer- 

 ican business man, one-half the pleasure of 

 automobiling, or motor boating, or shoot- 

 ing, or fishing is in operating and taking 

 care of his own machine, his own gun, or 

 his own tackle. 



BENNETT PRONOUNCES IT HARMLESS 



The president of the Winchester Arms 

 Co. has written a letter to a man in Mas- 

 sachusetts who protested against the pro- 

 posed automatic gun, which it is under- 

 stood the Winchester Co. still intends to 

 make and put on the market. The letter 

 contains some amusing statements, a few 

 of which I quote: 



"We have no automatic shot gun at pre- 

 sent. Such a gun we should imagine would 

 make execution in hunting more a matter 

 of skill and give less opportunity for 

 slaughter. For instance, if the boy cited 

 had used 2 barrels of a double gun on the 

 snow buntings, he would have killed more 

 than he could possibly kill if using the one 

 barrel of an automatic or repeating shot 

 gun. If he had skill he might shoot another 

 bird on the wing, probably; but we should 

 imagine no more. There is nothing that 

 can be done with the automatic gun that 

 might not be done with the ordinary double 

 barrel shot gun." 



As usual Mr. Bennett says his company 

 has no automatic shot gun, but he persists 

 in defending the automatic principle. He 

 says if the boy had skill he "might" have 

 fired a second shot at the birds on the wing, 

 "But we should imagine no more. There is 

 nothing that can be done with the automatic 

 gun that might not be done with the or- 

 dinary double barrel gun." 



If this is true, then why in the name of 

 heaven make a gun to carry 6 cartridges? 



On this same theory a repeating rifle is 

 no more effective in killing game than a 

 single shot rifle. According to Mr. Ben- 

 nett's reasoning an expert may possibly 

 fire a second shot from a Winchester rifle, 

 at a fleeing animal, but no more. 



Further on Mr. Bennett says : 



"We have mentioned above the fact that 

 we have no automatic shot gun. The pres- 

 ent agitation by a New York magazine was 

 got up, we think to injure us, and at the 

 same time to emphasize the immediate ne- 

 cessity of subscribing to a certain sports- 

 men's league which has, we think, a shad- 

 owy existence in a lot of officers, and of 

 whose members there is no catalogue." 



What do the 10,000 members of the L. A. 

 S. think of Mr. Bennett's assertion that it 

 has only a shadowy existence in a lot of 

 officers? I wish the men who have attended 



the 6 annual meetings of this League, and 

 who know exactly what it is doing, would 

 each write Mr. Bennett and enlighten him. 



What do Vice-Presidents Hornaday,Rich- 

 ards, Seton, Anderson and Secretary Rice 

 and Treasurer Corbin think of a man at the 

 head of a big gun factory who will assert 

 that the L. A. S. has only a shadowy ex- 

 istence? 



If the League has nothing more than a 

 shadowy existence in a lot of officers, why 

 did Mr. Bennett instruct his 22 traveling 

 men to join it, as shown by letters printed 

 in June Recreation, pages 448 and 449 ? 



If it has nothing more than a shadowy 

 existence in a lot of officers, why does Mr. 

 Bennett urge his traveling men to obtain 

 lists of^ the members of the League in the 

 States in which they travel? 



This League was not created for the pur- 

 pose of enabling the Winchester Arms Co. 

 to advertise its wares cheaply among the 

 leading sportsmen of the country. That is 

 why Mr. Bennett has not been able to ob- 

 tain a complete catalogue of the members. 



Bennett's assertion that my agitation 

 against the automatic gun was got up 

 to injure the Winchester Co. is more of 

 his silly rot. This crusade was started in 

 November, 1903, and in nearly every subse- 

 quent issue of Recreation may be found 

 commendations of Winchester goods. For 

 instance: Dec, 1903, page 459; Feb., 1904, 

 pages 134, 135, and 136; April, page 302; 

 June, page 450. If this agitation had been 

 got up to injure the Winchester Co. would 

 I be giving them all this free advertising? 



Whenever Mr. Bennett makes such a 

 statement, he lies and he knows it. 



TO INVESTIGATE COLD STORAGE MEATS. 



Dr. Wylie, of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, Washington, has instituted a thor- 

 ough course of study and investigation as 

 to the hygienic conditions of meats, fruits 

 and eggs kept in cold storage, and it is 

 hoped he may include in this investigation 

 game, birds and animals. I have printed 

 several articles in Recreation from well 

 known physicians who have become con- 

 vinced that cold storage game is unwhole- 

 some and unfit to eat, and I have no doubt 

 that should Dr. Wylie and his experts 

 make proper investigations on these lines 

 they would reach the same conclusions these 

 physicians have. 



Game has become too scarce to be fur- 

 ther made an article of commerce. Its sale 

 should be prohibited everywhere and at all 

 times, and if we could establish the fact, 

 by official tests and investigations, that cold 

 storage birds and animals are unfit for 

 food, it would aid us greatly in securing 

 the enactment of laws in the various States 

 to prohibit the possession of game in close 

 season. 



