A STEADY IMPROVEMENT. 



Notwithstanding that the reports still come 

 in of people with criminal instincts and self- 

 ish and cruel dispositions, who dynamite fish 

 in different sections of the country, and oth- 

 ers who break game laws in various ways, 

 the general reports from the whole of the 

 United States show a steady improvement, 

 due to the gradual education of the masses 

 on the question of the preservation of the 

 animal and vegetable life of our continent. 



In this line it is pleasant to know that 

 Tennessee has a game and fish protective 

 association which has issued an address 

 to the people, urging the importance of the 

 protection of our game and forests. The ob- 

 ject of the association is largely educational, 

 and this in itself shows wisdom on the part 

 of the members, for our editorial baskets are 

 full of accounts where justices of the peace 

 have discharged prisoners, acknowledged 

 guilty of infractions of the law, because these 

 justices were not themselves educated up to 

 the point of realizing the importance either 

 of the game laws or the importance of obey- 

 ing a law because it is a law. 



We have other incidents, and many of 

 them, where the game wardens consider 

 themselves in the light of makers of the law 

 instead of officials who are appointed to en- 

 force it, and who openly use their power ac- 

 cording to their personal inclinations ; but 

 we must expect these drawbacks, and they 

 are trivial when taken in connection with the 

 great progress made for game preservation. 



We would suggest to the Tennessee Game 

 and Fish Protective Association that they ad- 

 vocate sanctuaries to be located in the differ- 

 ent parts of the state, where all game, at all 

 times of the year, shall be protected. The 

 gradual growth of the population of this 

 country and the rapid exterision of farms and 

 villages is usurping the former ranges of the 

 wild creatures, and closed seasons and ordi- 

 nary protective laws will be of little service 

 in perpetuating the game animals unless 

 some such scheme as here suggested is put 

 in practice, not only by the United States, 

 but by the individual states. 



The success of the Yellowstone Park as a 

 game farm for producing animals for the 

 surrounding country should be and is a prac- 

 tical demonstration of what would happen 

 had we such sanctuaries located all over the 

 country as breeding places for 'birds and 



beasts. It is not intended that we shall be 

 understood to advocate a reservation in each 

 state of tracts as large as the Yellowstone 

 Park; but every state has land enough to 

 spare for small reservations or parks to be 

 distributed in the various counties. If there 

 are many of these reservations each one 

 could be but of a few acres in extent. Ten- 

 nessee, with its wild, mountainous country, 

 has land particularly adapted both for forest 

 preserves and for game preserves. 



The Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman Rcviezv 

 published a two and one-half column illus- 

 trated article on "An Appeal that Idaho's 

 Bitter Root Region be made a big game 

 preserve." This is another move in the right 

 direction and shows the effect of the educa- 

 tional campaign now carried on by Recrea- 

 tion, and we wish the game warden, Mack 

 H. Harbaugh, all success in his appeal, which 

 will be addressed to President Roosevelt, 

 asking that at least a large part, if not all, 

 of the Idaho Bitter Root Region be made a 

 game preserve, with laws governing it simi- 

 lar to those now governing the National Yel- 

 lowstone Park. 



We are informed that this section is 

 swarming with all kinds of game. As the re- 

 port puts it : 



With countless numbers of deer, bear and good 

 herds of elk and moose, not to mention the thousands 

 of smaller fur-bearing animals, this forest reserve 

 makes an ideal game resort, a natural home for wild 

 animals that are fast becoming extinct. The gov- 

 ernment rangers are building 15-foot trails over 

 this vast area that has hitherto been inaccessible, 

 even to the Indian, and unless some such action 

 is taken to protect the wild game it will be but 

 a matter of a few years till it becomes extinct in 

 this country. Deer and bear are so tame that 

 rangers have photographed them only 30 yards away. 



Mr. Harbaugh is supported in his position by 

 C. M. Day, superintendent of the Bitter Root re- 

 serve, and by Frank A. Fenn, superintendent of 

 forest reserves for Montana and Idaho. 



While not claiming geysers and other such at- 

 tractions as has Yellowstone Park, the Bitter Root 

 reserve is second to none in natural beauty and 

 grandeur. This vast territory, which includes with- 

 in its borders 4,000,000 acres, abounds in beautiful 

 mountain streams teeming with rainbow trout and 

 countless lakes as clear as crystal set in the very 

 heart of the rugged mountains. Hot springs may 

 be found in numerous places, and some of these are 

 hot enough to boil vegetables. On the Red River 

 is a hot spring that has already become famous as 

 a cure for rheumatism. 



WILD ANIMALS ABOUND. 



Nearly every conceivable kind of wild animal, 

 from the busy beaver, mountain sheep, mountain 

 goat and martin to the bear, can be found within 

 its borders. Magnificent forests of cedar, fir and 

 pine cover the entire area, while standing aloof, 



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