EHTOHAL 



The readers of Recreation, and the public 

 in general, are to be congratulated upon the 

 improved sentiment in regard to the protec- 

 tion of our native animals and plants, and 

 also in regard to the improvement in effi- 

 ciency of the game wardens themselves, and 

 the respect with which the ordinary citizen 

 looks upon the laws and legislation for the 

 protection of wild creatures. Notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that in Ohio game wardens 

 have been fired upon, that down in Flor- 

 ida a man was deliberately murdered be- 

 cause he was a game warden, and stood in 

 the way of the plume-hunters, and in Cali- 

 fornia a game warden was badly beaten, and 

 in Wisconsin the deer have been ruthlessly 

 slaughtered out of season, these incidents do 

 not discourage us when reports coming from 

 all parts of the United States show such 

 marked improvement as they do this season. 

 We must remember that no outlaw, whether 

 he be a trust magnate, an illegal fisherman or 

 plume-hunter in Florida, will hesitate at mur- 

 der if any man seriously interferes with his 

 criminal career. When I say will not hesitate 

 at murder, I mean if there is a fair chance of 

 his escaping punishment upon the commission 

 of such a crime; and we know that in Flor- 

 ida human life is less sacred than in — well, 

 some other parts of the country. 



If illegal seiners and people who use dyna- 

 mite to kill fish do not commit murder it is not 

 because murder is not in their hearts, but be- 

 cause they hesitate to commit a crime which 

 would probably bring uncomfortable results 

 to themselves. If a law-breaking trust mag- 

 nate hesitates at murder it is for the same 

 reason. In other words, outlaws are outlaws, 

 and dangerous persons, and their acts should 

 not discourage law-abiding citizens or cause 

 us to be pessimistic about the morals of the 

 community, any more than the reports of 

 hold-ups and burglaries cause us to distrust 

 cur own neighbors. 



While speaking of the South, it is with 

 pleasure we notice the energetic and constant 

 work of Mr. Frank Miller, secretary of the 

 Audubon Society at New Orleans, and the 

 praiseworthy efforts of Game Warden Tren- 

 chard, in their efforts to protect game in 

 that locality, while down in Mobile Dr. D. J. 

 Spotswood has called upon the police and the 

 sheriff and local authorities, and given them 

 to understand that there is a state law pro- 

 hibiting the slaying of birds. The doctor in- 



sists upon the officers of the law putting a 

 stop to the shooting of swallows, bull bats, 

 and other very useful insectivorous birds. 

 This is particularly interesting, inasmuch as 

 the yellow fever which is now epidemic 

 among Mobile's neighbors in New Orleans is 

 more or less directly spread by mosquitoes, 

 upon which the bull bats, swallows and such 

 birds are said to feed voraciously. Until very 

 recently, it has been a notorious fact that in 

 the South all birds were considered as can- 

 didates for the pot, including even the mock- 

 ingbird, and all manner of songsters were of- 

 fered publicly for sale as game (?) at the 

 public markets. 



There has been a very interesting question 

 brought up in Colorado with regard to the 

 rights of a person to fish in streams stocked 

 by the state, and it is claimed by Mr. Mel- 

 ville, a lawyer, that the Constitution affirms 

 the public ownership of the water of the nat- 

 ural streams of the state and that the legis- 

 lature has publicly affirmed the public owner- 

 ship of the fish in the state. From early 

 times until the present, legislatures have ap- 

 propriated large sums of the public funds for 

 the purpose of stocking these waters with 

 the choicest of fish. The members of the 

 legislature appropriating such funds believe 

 that the public has the right to go into and 

 upon such streams and have the pleasure and 

 profit of such fish from such a stream. 



This seems to be good, sound, natural law, 

 and accords with Recreation's politics, for 

 Recreation has always claimed that the game 

 of a country belonged to the people of the 

 country and not to the landlords. The land- 

 lords do not create game. The landlord's 

 only right to the use of the land comes from 

 the public consent, inasmuch as he could 

 have no possible valid title originating from 

 any other source, consequently he can only 

 own the right to the use of the land which 

 the public agrees shall be under his control, 

 and as the public has never consented or 

 agreed that the game or fish should be the 

 private property of the landlord, it is evident 

 that he has no natural, legal, moral or eth- 

 ical right to the game as a landlord, but only 

 a general right as one individual of the public 

 which owns the game and fish of the country. 



This same idea has been lately incorporated 

 by the Michigan legislature in the preamble 

 of the game laws recently enacted, when it 

 says that "All wild animals and wild birds, 



