EDITOR'S CORNER. 



265 



to convict a man of a violation of a 

 game or fish law anywhere in the 

 rural districts. 



I have received many thousands of 

 letters from men who frankly admit 

 that they had for years made a prac- 

 tice of killing all the game they could 

 find, in season and out of season, and 

 that they never stopped to think 

 whether or not they were doing wrong 

 until they began to read Recreation ; 

 that since imbibing the wholesome 

 ideas put forth by this magazine they 

 have reformed ; that they now quit 

 when they get enough, and insist on 

 their friends and neighbors doing like- 

 wise. 



On account of the fearless and ag- 

 gressive manner in which I have al- 

 ways assailed game and fish destroy- 

 ers I have made thousands of enemies. 

 I have on file the names of over 50,000 

 men who have at one time or another 

 been subscribers to Recreation and 

 who have dropped it because I have 

 rebuked them for slaughtering game. 

 These men have not only quit reading 

 Recreation themselves, but they have 

 caused thousands of others to ignore 

 it. 



I am entirely conservative, there- 

 fore, in saying that if I had adopted a 

 quiet, inoffensive course in this mat- 

 ter I could to-day have had a circula- 

 tion of 200,000 copies instead of 65,- 

 000. Of course, manv men who have 

 been my enemies at one time or an- 

 other have since learned that they 

 were in the wrong, and that I was in 

 the right, and they have come back 

 into the fold. 



On the other hand, I have made 

 thousands of warm friends among 

 the better class of sportsmen and 

 nature lovers becaase of my pol- 

 icy; and the fact that Recreation is 

 to-day read by 330,000 people, esti- 

 mating that each copv reaches 5 peo- 

 ple, means that it is wielding a greater 

 influence for good along its chosen 

 lines than any other journal of its 

 class has ever done. My object has 

 been, and still is, to reform the 



game butchers, and as long as I, am 

 accomplishing that I am content, 

 whether I get their money or not. The 

 time will yet come when more of these 

 ex-game butchers will admit their 

 errors and will come my way. 



There are many thousands of good 

 people who are not yet acquainted 

 with Recreation. Millions of tons 

 of reading matter are put on the mar- 

 ket each month, and it takes a long 

 time for 76,000,000 people to learn the 

 good qualities of any magazine. 



Friends of Recreation, and this 

 means friends of the birds, the wild 

 animals and the forests, can greatly 

 aid in the preservation of these ob- 

 jects by extending the circulation of 

 this magazine. If you believe in what 

 I am doing you should improve every 

 opportunity of saying so to your 

 friends and of placing sample copies 

 of this magazine in their hands. One 

 man can not reform the world. He 

 must have help, and every one of my 

 thousands of readers can render inval- 

 uable aid in this direction if he will. 

 Send me the names and addresses of 

 your friends, and I will do the rest. 



another shy at the figures. 



I buy Recreation every month and like 

 it. The gun and ammunition,- and the photo 

 departments are especially good. Your 

 stories and editorials are also interestipg, 

 as well as the poundings you give the game 

 and fish butchers. 



There is one feature of Recreation, 

 however, which I think offsets all the good 

 points. Let me quote a passage from this 

 month's issue, to show you what I mean. 



"The animal is about 11 or 12 inches 

 long. It has 4 teeth, 2 above and 2 below, 

 the upper ones "-having a ridge in them, mak- 

 ing them look like 4 teeth." 



Don't you think the appearance and value 

 of the magazine would be increased if you 

 would use a little more space and print 

 "eleven," "twelve," "four," "two," etc., and 

 save the figures to number the game hogs 

 with? 



Clarence W. Carroll, Rochester, N. Y. 



ANSWER. 



I thoroughly appreciate your friendly 

 criticism and regret I can not agree with 

 you as to the propriety of spelling out 

 numerals. I notice your letter is dated 



