EDITOR'S CORNER. 



RECREATION IS TEN YEARS OLD. 



This is the ioth anniversary num- 

 ber of Recreation, and as many peo- 

 ple who are now readers of this mag- 

 azine have not always been, it seems 

 proper to state a few facts here, for 

 their information. 



The first number of Recreation 

 was issued in October, 1894, and con- 

 tained 60 pages. There were 41 pages 

 of reading matter and 18 pages of ad- 

 vertisements, including cover. 



During the first year Recreation 

 was printed at 216 William street, and 

 I had a small desk in one corner of 

 the printing loft, among the presses 

 and type cases. I had one stenog- 

 rapher, and not even an office boy. I 

 ran all my own errands, wrote the 

 wrappers, put up my own packages of 

 sample copies and subscription copies, 

 carried them to the post office and, in 

 fact, did all the work except the let- 

 ter writing and bookkeeping. 



At the end of the first year I movea 

 up town, had my printing done at 126 

 West 24th street, and located my desk 

 in the printing office there. Six 

 months later I opened an office of my 

 own at 19 West 24th street, where I 

 lived and worked about 4 years. Then 

 I moved into my present quarters. 



The first edition of Recreation 

 was 5,000 copies, the American News 

 Company taking 2,000 of these. The 

 greater part of their supply was, of 

 course, returned at the end of the first 

 month, and these copies were sent out 

 again in the course of my promotion 

 work. The news stand sales and the 

 subscription lists grew rapidly, and 

 the output gradually increased from 

 month to month, until it reached 

 the present standard of 65,000 copies 

 a month. My subscription books to- 

 day contain about 32,000 names, and 

 the American News Company han- 

 dles, during each of the winter 

 months, 30,000 to 32,000 copies. 



In keeping with the growth of cir- 



culation I increased the size of the 

 magazine, until to-day I am printing 

 70 pages of reading matter and 74 

 pages of advertisements, a total of 

 144 pages. 



I now employ during the summer 

 months 15 to 17 people, and during 

 the winter months, 18 to 22. 



It is not my fault that Recreation 

 has proved a phenomenal success. 

 It largely is due to the faithful ser- 

 vice rendered by all my employes, 

 several of whom have been with me 

 5 to 8 years. Another large share of 

 the credit- is due to the thousands of 

 good sportsmen who have stood by 

 me through thick and thin and who 

 still keep. their shoulder to the wheel. 



Recreation has never been con- 

 ducted as a money making venture. 

 It was established for another and 

 broader purpose, that of preserving 

 the game, the game fishes, the song 

 birds and the forests. No one outside 

 of this office can possibly know the 

 good this magazine has accomplished 

 along these lines. This magazine cre- 

 ated the League of American Sports- 

 men, which was organized in 1898, 

 and has built it without a particle of 

 assistance from any other sportsmen's 

 journal, until to-day it has a member- 

 ship of over 10,000, with working di- 

 visions in all the States of the Union 

 except one, and in 2 of the Provinces 

 of Canada. 



ThisLeague,with the assistance and 

 influence of its official organ, secured 

 the passage of the Lacey law, the 

 greatest bird-protective measure ever 

 enacted in any country. These com- 

 bined forces have also secured the en- 

 actment of laws in a majority of the 

 States for the better protection of 

 game and of song birds and fishes, 

 and have created and built up a public 

 sentiment that renders it possible to 

 enforce such laws in nearly all parts 

 of the country, whereas 10 years ago 

 it was almost impossible to get a jury 



364 



