— 
Z 
Dunc. 25, 1884.] 
aa i | les " — 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
42 
“To-day a man was brought here by two Frenchmen who 
found him in the woods, He is frozen very badly. He is 
from Pittsburgh [near Connecticut Second Lake] and we 
must get his friends to carry him out. He will lose both his 
feet lam sure. When I took his boots off, and [ cut them 
all I could, the flesh came with them, It is a herd sight to 
look at, His hands are bad, bui I guess they will not come 
off. He lay out two nights without any fire.” 
Gut to return to our subject, These Frenchmen come 
over the boundary from Cunda, and return the same way 
through the woods, ‘They can never be caught in nor near 
a Maine settlement. Screened by a dense forest blocked 
with impassable snow, they continue the work of slaughter 
among the trout and game year after year, and without the 
knowledge of any, except those who like Danforth, make 
the woods their home the year round, The remoteness and 
inaccessibility of the locality either prevents the approach 
of the officer of the law, or renders him powerless to enforce 
it in the face of such saperior force, and so far from aid, 
Tam not of those who would add one iota to the burden 
of any worthy public official (and such are the Maine Com- 
missioners), and then leave him tostruggle against an adverse 
ublic opinion so aroused, and to surmonnt the difficulty at 
his peril. Such knowledge as I have of the circumstances, 
leads me to believe that proper proof of the offense, to be 
followed by a raid on the lumber camps and the arrest of 
the leaders, is utterly impracticable. Could I see no other 
possible remedy, I should have preserved silence, crying as 
the evil is. 
The lnmber companies have their headquarters in Maine, 
From personal intercourse with the officers of one of these 
large corporations, I have little doubt that upon proper rep- 
resentations they could all be readily induced to co operate 
with the Commissioners, and to issue positive instructions to 
their agents who employ these men, that an agreement to 
abstuin from illegal hunting and fishing while in their em- 
ploy, should be 4 condition precedent to the hiring; and that 
a violation of the agreement should be followed by immedi- 
ate discharge. It may possibly be too late to apply this 
remedy during the present season, but unless a better method 
sugeests itself to the superior wisdom of the Commissioners, 
it might be tried next fall. 
As far as I can see, the remedy, if any, must be applied by 
those who hire these men, The Commissioners, aided solely 
by the authority of the law, are powerless under the circum- 
stances. The laws of nature confront those of man, with 
the usual result, A fair example is here presented of what 
IT endeavored to emphasize in my last communication—that 
is, how hopeless is a practically efficient enforcement of even 
the best of game Jaws in the face of a hostile public opinion. 
If the laws themselves, and the method in which they have 
been administered, command the approval of the officials of 
these Gumpanies, as 1 believe is the fact, this greatest of evils 
ean be reached, and promptly and easily brought to an end— 
otherwise I fear it is hopeless. Does it not then behoove 
every friend of game protection lo use caution, that he ad- 
vocate nothing that will not bear the closest scrutiny of cold 
and impartial common sense, 
Tothrow aman upon bis back, pinion hisarms and legs, hold 
his nose, and force a dose of medicine down his throat, may 
be for his good; but it is little likely to excite his gratitude, 
or make him a willing and efficient ally in the future, should 
his services be required. These, and similar considerations, 
have induced me to adyocate adding the month of Septem- 
ber to the open season In Maine, Personally 1 am quite in- 
different in the matter. Those dependent on that wilderness 
are practically a unit in advocating the change. They 
believe it will work no appreciable injury to any person or 
thing, while it will do them great good, 
As far as a somewhat extended personal experience per- 
mits me to judge, [ believe their position to be both reason- 
able and just. But however this may be, Iam convinced 
that it is politic to heed their request, and to accede to their 
wishes Wemay give an inch, but we will thereby gain a 
foot. The hearty co-operation of these people would ac- 
complish more toward enforcing the game laws, than all that 
the Commissioners can by any possibility accomplish. It 
would at once and permanently insure the detection and 
punishment of offenders. The prospective gain would then 
no longer warrant the risk incident to a violation of the law, 
and efforts in that direction would naturally almost wholly 
cease, Nor is this result altogether hupeless, since nature 
has not denied these people a fair share of common sense, 
nor are they blind to self interest. But it cannou be had by 
flouting what seems to them a reasonable request, nor by 
refusing concession for insufficient cause, Sound political 
wisdom demands that they receive a patient hearing; and 
that either their request be granted, or that reasons appeal- 
ing to their self interest, and which are satisfactory to their 
common sense, and nol in antagonism to facts with which 
they are so thoroughly familiar, be given for a refusal. The 
well known character of the Maine Legislature leaves littlc 
room to question that it will. act in this spirit, and 1o it, it 
seeins to me, we May as well leave the question without 
further discussion. . 
I was induced to touch upon this subject at all only be- 
cause it appeared to me undesirable that a paper so widely 
read as is yours in that community, and so ivfluential for 
good, should take a position contrary to their interests upon 
what seemed to me, and I knew would seem to them, insuf- 
ficient grounds. The geneial principles which governed the 
action of the paper therein, are believed in there as firmly as 
here. But in this particular case peculiar loval circum- 
stances rendered them, as I thought and as | was certain 
they would think, inapplicable, Henry P. WELLE. 
New YorE, Dee, 17, 1884. 
MAINE GAME COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. 
Hiditoy Forest and Stream: 
Since writing the above I have read the report of the 
Maine Commissioners as it appears in your issue of the 18th, 
us well as ‘‘Penobscot’s” communication. 
The latter pleases me more than the former, and fully 
_accords with what I believe, and haye believed to be the 
facts, 
isee the Commissioners oppose any change in the open 
season, for two years longer at least. I do uot say they are 
wrovg; but 1 do wish they had assigned a little more reason, 
and a little less rhapsody as the basis of their action. May 
not the wicked allege this to be due to necessity, rather than 
-choice? I believe | amas firm a friend of protection in that 
Biate as either of these gentlemen. But it must not be for- 
gotten that protection isin the nature of missionary labor, 
where one ounce of persuasion is worth a ton of coercion, 
Moderation is good in all things, even in official reports, lest 
= eT 
-this connection the people of Maine, 
the lukewarm suspect fanaticism, and a possible friend be 
changed to an active enemy. 
Surely those who like myself have visited the Maine 
wilderness for years, cannot but view with extreme surprise 
and displeasure the wholsale manner in which they arc de- 
nounced in this report, knowing as they do how utterly 
unwarranted il is by the facts. To charge upon a class the 
misdeeds of a few, is about as reasonable as to call these 
Commissioners thieves and assassins, because an occasional 
robbery and murder is committed by some citizen of their 
State. We pay roundly, yet cheerfully, for all we get in 
Maine; and though it is true we pay for our own amuse- 
ment, that imparts no taint to the dollars we disburse, nor 
does it lessen the benefit the citizens of Maine receive there- 
by. It may be that the Commissioners, and possibly the 
residents of the more gettled portions of the State, despise 
this source of revenue, since their share therein is small; but 
so do not a very large and deserving class of Maine people, 
to whom if is literally as the manna in the wilderness. 
The report admits the importance of this revenue, stating 
that ‘it adds millions of dollars annually to the earnings of 
the people.” ‘‘ Millions of dollars!” ‘These be big words,” 
and imply enormous possibilities of comfort and happiness 
to the sparse population who reap this harvest. Has it ever 
occurred to these gentlemen that possibly some effort may 
be wise to retain this? Are they aware that other sections of 
the country are competing for the whole or part of this vast 
sum, with constantly increasing avidity? 
The Maine trip we all recognize is one of the most expen- 
sive a sportsman can take; and permit me to inform these 
gentlemen it is not so much the result in ihe way of sport 
that has retained our allegiance, as the assiduity and high 
personal character of the guides. Do these gentlemen real- 
ize the fact that trout ishing—the sole attraction during the 
only season when ninety-nine one hundreths of those who 
contribute to these ‘‘mi!lions” can be absent from their busi- 
ness—for the three seasons last past has greatly deteriorated 
throughout a large portion of the Maine wilderness? I as- 
sign no reason for this. 1 hope and believe the change is due 
merely to fortuitous, and not permanent causes. I but as- 
sert a fact recognized by all, guides and sportsmen alike. 
Ave they aware that anew fishing country to be visited at far 
less expense, and with less sacrifice of personal comfort, has 
been recently opened up—a virgin country where trout are 
much more abundant, and average considerably larger than 
in Maine? Zealis anexcellent thing, but a little business 
common sense has some good points about it too. 
The report bristles with antagonism to visiting sportsmen, 
This seems to me utterly gratuitous, certainly unless with 
great qualification; and 1 find none. In apparent answer to 
an imaginary challenge on their part, it. says ‘‘the State of 
Maine owns all the game of Maine, and alone has the power 
to legislate and give the right to kill.” True, most true! 
And has any one pad the hardihood to controvert this most 
self-evident proposition, or would he gain anything but ridi- 
cule if he did? The ‘‘State of Maine,” I take it, means in 
I say again, as I have 
said befure, no sanc visiting sportsman would claim for a 
moment that his wishes or interests were entitled as of right 
to the slightest weight in the matter. Butif their whims, 
their caprices, their ‘‘pure selfishness,” “the license they 
would not care to exhibit elsewhere,” if any folly or weak- 
ness you will on their part, sives offense neither to the citi- 
zen nor his property, and yet can be turned to the advantage 
of a large and deserving part of the ‘‘State of Maine” in good 
solid dollars—‘“‘the millions” added ‘‘annually to the earn- 
ings of the people’—may not some of these people (whose 
interest we suggest with the utmost humility itis the duty 
of these gentlemen to study and advance), think the matter 
worthy of a little more care in ils consideration, and consid- 
erably less acrimony in its determination. 
To dismiss ‘‘millions” with a wave of the hand in a spirit 
of firm adherence to principle, especially when that prin- 
ciple involves a question of expediency merely, reaches a 
height of sublimity as great as itis unusual. But of what 
kind is this sublimity? ‘‘Ay, there’s the rub!” Will those 
whose pockets suffer in the process find consolation in its 
contemplation, be it never So monumental? 
“From the prominent men of our State, of all parts and 
professions, comes the request for a close time for all our 
venison for five years.” So this is the source of your in- 
spiration. 1 admit, as will all, that infew of the affairs of 
life could you haye anywhere found a safer guide. But is 
it so in this ense? Let us see. 
Though the one has the right and the power to be heard 
ani the other has not, do not sportsmen, whether from 
Portland or New York, all stand on pretty much the same 
footing in many aspects of this matter? Whether the hunt- 
ing of either be attended with greater or less success, their 
hearth-stones glow with ano less hospitable welcome, and 
the happy greeting of their wives and children brings 
with it no taint of diminished comfort or opportunity to 
these loved ones. It is purely a question of amusement, 
more important than a disappointment at the theatre, only 
in that it has cost more of time and money. 
Turn now to the little clearing torn with how much bitter 
toil from the grasp of the wilderness. Look upon the 
humble cabin half buried in the winter snow, the sule pro- 
tection of the owner and his little ones from ithe pitiless 
cold. The facts which should form the basis of action 
herein, are a part of this man’s every day experience. To 
him this is no mere matler of amusement, but an important 
factor in the bitter struggle for life. He has considered the 
matter long and carefully, weighing every phase of the case, 
as his narrow resources aud great necessities compel him to 
do those of every possible means of income. What does 
thisman say? Youware silent—you do not know? Forif you 
did know you could not have the heart to ignore his appeal 
without at least a kind and encouraging word. True he 
knows not how to assert himself in the arena of political 
strife; but he is none the less a man, none the less one of 
your constituents. And though fortune has bestowed its 
bounty upon him with but a niggard hand, still the little 
that he has is dear to him, The margin for loss is small; 
and the prospect of such an eyent cannot but entail a pang 
at least as bilter fo him as that felt by ‘‘the prominent men 
of our State,” as they sit by their happy firesides, and relate 
Be a hunt has not been quite as successful ,as they had 
oped, 
Listen then to what one of them says to me, a man whose 
superior in courage, fortitude, energy, sound discretion, 
personal honor, a generosity that uever spares himself to 
succor another.—in every quality which goes to make a 
man, except money, a city-tailor, and the polish of the 
dancing muster,—I have yet to meet; and also one of your 
constituents, gentlemen. _ 
He writes me, “If 1 could talk in public what I know on 
this subject I would be there and explain matters, but as I 
cannot, I must like the patient ox submit to the yoke.” 
“For they bind heavy burdens and grieyous to be borne, 
and Jay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will 
not move them with one of their fingers.” When the in- 
clinations of the rich and powerful encounter the interests of 
the poor and lowly, we may all take this lesson to heart, lest 
through inadvertence we fall into the condemnation of the 
pharisee. 
When you pose, gentlemen, as the sole barrier between 
the people of your State, and a horde of vandals swooping 
down like yultures to destroy the possessions of your con- 
stituents, the great tribunal of public opinion, to which you 
have appealed, will not grant you the honor you claim solely 
upon your own plea. It will weigh your title by the light 
of no single candle, but under the broad glare of day wherein 
the illumination proceeds from every side. No one will ac- 
cuse you of willful wrong doing, I least of any. But if the 
stern eye of impartial justice finds that through inadyert- 
ence you haye done those things you ought not to have 
done, and left undone those things you ought to have done, 
it may deny you that commendation which should be the 
dearest wish of every public official. 
“Get the present Jaw, asa modified close time, remain 
untouched, in full force for two years longer, That will 
five us time to correct our Jaws understandingly, and take 
the position we intend to hold in the future.” 
This has a strangely familiar sound. Am I deceived in 
thinking I heard something in the same key at the last 
session of the Legislature? 
Did you ever read that remarkable book ‘‘Alice in Won- 
derland?” Here is 4 scene from it: 
“Tm sure I'll take you with pleasure!” the Queen said, 
“Two pence a week, and jam every other day.” 
Alice could not help laughing, as she said, “I don’t want 
you to hire me—and I don’t care for jam.” 
“Tt's very good jam,” said the Queen. 
“Well, I don’t want any to-day, at any rate.” 
“You couldn't have it to-day if you did want it,” the Queen 
said. “The ruleis, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday —but 
never jam to-day.” 
“It must come some time to ‘jam-to-day,’” Alice objected. 
“No it can’t,” said the Queen. “‘It’s jam every other day; 
to-day isn’t any other day, you know.” 
Jack-hunting occupies but a low place in my esteem, still 
there are many to whom it affords excitement and pleasure. 
Tf they are willing to pay freely for the privilege to the citi- 
zens of Maine, may they not at least be tolerated in the 
open season? <A jack-hunter isnot necessarily on a par with 
him who robs the widow and orphan; and the judicious 
may possibly regard with distrust any conclusion or recom- 
mendation of one, who characterizes both even in approxi- 
mately the same terms. The deer isa noble animal; but 
whether aman, who by the utmost diligence can scratch 
but a precarious subsistence from an ungrateful soil, shall be — 
able to clothe and educate his children in decency, or be 
compelled to raise them in squalor and force them to manual 
labor at the earliest possible moment, is also worthy of some 
consideration. 
I have always supposed that hunting was sraded somewhat 
by the skill, patience, courage and endurance it required. 
Tf in addition the incident destruction fell solely upon the 
males, I have supposed all these entitled the method to some 
little respect. But I now shrink with horror from the abyss 
of my ignorance, when I see the Maine Commissioners 
(regard for whom, and for whose work, long habit has in- 
grained within my nature), declare that moose-calling ‘‘is 
as fair and noble and sportsmanlike as to spear fish on their 
spawning-beds.” 
Well we live and learn! We never know how totally 
depraved we are, until some kind friend holds the mirror 
up before us, and dwells upon the hideous deformity which 
appears therein. Would that zeal too’ would learn that 
there is an intemperance other than that which emanates 
from the whishy bottle; and that if the eye be oceasionally 
raised from the narrow groove of duty and a conmyprehensive 
view of the whole horizen be taken, its subsequent useful- 
ness will not thereby be impaired. 
Permit me again to say that whether the recommendations 
of this extraordinary document are followed or not, is to me 
personally a matter of absolute indifference, For reasons 
which ao alteration of the law would effect, I have been in 
the habit of doing my hunting without the borders of that 
State—a custom I should not change in any possible event 
connected therewith, short of forbidding non-residents accéss 
to New Hampshire and Canada through its territory, But 
should it be followed, I shall regret it for the sake of a large 
number of friends and acquaintances, citizens of Maine, who, 
whether their wishes were heeded or not, deserved, as it 
seemed to me, something a little better than to be totally 
ignored in a matter, in which they had more at stake many 
times over than all the rest of the inhabitants of that State 
added together. 
The report goes on to say, “‘there is no Jaw that our Legis- 
lature will enact that resolute men cannot enforce.” It is 
well! Considering the unbridled. license not unfrequently 
exhibited on the annual drive by the lumbermen within the 
confines of the settlements themselves, [had thought that it 
was unreasonable to expect an officer of the law to intrude 
into their midst with hostile intent, when they were banded 
together in the wilderness, and he was far from succor. For 
my part I would about as soon venture into a den of tigers. ~ 
But Lam gled the Commis:ioners view the matter in a difter- 
ent light—or is this another flower of rhetoric? There is the 
nut tocrack gentlemen, go for it! Ishould smile to see the 
effort, but sol fear would not the unhappy man who made it. 
I began this in anger, 1 admit. It was doubtless wrong; 
but I plead in extenuation the sentiments which the follow- 
ing words of the report could hardly fail to excite: ‘“‘Eyery 
penny expended by our visitors is upon themselves, in pure 
selfishness, and im an indulgence of license they would not 
care to exhibit elsewhere.” The italics are my own. 
But if I began in anger, I conclude in sorrow. I recall 
the thousand kindnesses and attentions I have so long and 
so frequently reccived from so many of those whose inter- 
ests [ have adyocated,—kindnesses and attentions for which 
no money return was asked or expected, and rendered in a 
spirit of which no pecuniary reeompense could wipe out the 
memory of the obligation. The still small voice of these 
people, unheeded by their natural and legal protectors, falls 
upon my ear, and 1 picture to myself the bitter disappoint- 
ment which threatens them, 
Gentlemen of the Maine Legislature, forgetting all that is 
distasteful in the report of your Commissioners, and with 
no personal interest whatever in view, 1 appeal to you. 
May not some measure of relief, not inconsistent with their 
future welfare, be granted to these poor people? 
NEw Yor, Dec. 20, 1884, Henry P. Waits, 
