Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1896. 



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j VOL. XLV.— No. 5. 



| No. 818 Bboadway New York. 



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THE SILLY SEASON WAR. 



Tee dispatches which have come from Jackson's Hole 

 and vicinity within the past week have consisted of ac- 

 counts of the massacre by the Bannocks of great numbers 

 of white people, followed on the succeeding day by 

 denials of these reports. As yet no one pretends to know 

 anything about what has happened in Jackson's Hole, 

 except that some Indians have been killed for attempting 

 to escape after their arrest for violation of the game laws. 

 This is the silly season and the dull season as well, and 

 the newspapers appear to be willing to print whatever 

 matter the imaginative reporter chooses to put on the 

 wires. One thing, however, seems clear, and that is that 

 the Indians are not disposed to be aggressive, and it is 

 altogether probable that before long they will return to 

 their reservations and the world will forget that there has 

 been an "Indian war." 



Among the extraordinary things printed about this 

 trouble perhaps the most remarkable is an interview with 

 Senator DuBois given in the papers of Tuesday last. Mr. 

 DuBois is quoted as saying that the white men are entirely 

 right in killing the Indians, for the Bannocks are the lazi- 

 est and most shiftless Indians that there are. Senator 

 DuBois may be quite right about this, but his proposition 

 should have a more general application. No doubt the 

 world would get on better if all the lazy and shiftless 

 people in "Washington, New York, Boise City and other 

 places in this country were killed; but to kill people for 

 being lazy and shiftless would certainly be an infraction 

 of the present laws, and such a course can hardly be 

 pursued until some general amendment of statutes shall 

 have been made in all the States. Senator DuBois is per- 

 haps the youngest member of the United States Senate, 

 and we know him to be an able man. It is a good thing 

 for the country when a young man such as he takes the 

 lead in a matter of this kind. By all means let us have 

 the necessary amendments of the law, and provide some 

 method for determining who the lazy and shiftless people 

 are and for then promptly removing them from the face 

 of the earth. 



The deep-seated indignation which burns in the breast 

 of the settlers at Jackson's Hole is gratifying evidence of 

 the progress which the game protective idea is making in 

 the West. To read these despatches one would scarcely 

 think that it is only a year or two since this was the 

 great ground for hunting elk for their hides, and for run- 

 ning down spring-poor elk on grain-fed horses for the 

 purpose of capturing them and selling them to owners of 

 game preserves in the East. It is satisfactory to learn 

 that the dwellers in this part of Wyomihg have experi- 

 enced a change of heart, but they should not be satisfied 

 simply with observing the game laws themselves L and 

 killing the Indians who do not. They should also do 

 missionary work on parties of Eastern hunters who may 

 visit their country. The despatches in the newspapers 

 say that the party of Princeton students, over whose sup- 

 posed capture or massacre such a wail went up 

 a few days since, Jiadjintended, exceo for the news of 



the Bannock "uprising," to stop in the mountains near 

 Jackson's Hole and spend three or four weeks hunting. 



This hunting would have been in clear violation of the 

 statutes of Wyoming in the case made and provided, and 

 if it had not been for the difficulty with the Bannocks, 

 the Princeton party might have hunted and broken the 

 game laws, and then the outraged citizens of Jackson's 

 Hole would no doubt have killed a few of them. On the 

 whole the loss of the Bannocks is less to be deplored than 

 would have been the death of a number of members of 

 one of our principal institutions of learning. What is the 

 Bannocks' loss is science's gain. 



NORTH DAKOTA NON-RESIDENTS. 



We are advised by the Secretary of State of North Da- 

 kota that the Supreme Court has held that the new game 

 code did not go into effect on July 1, and will not be in 

 force until December of this year. This is the law which 

 includes the requirement of a shooting license for non- 

 resident sportsmen ; and by the ruling of the court such a 

 license will not be demanded during the season of 1895. 



This changes the situation for scores and hundreds of 

 shooters who will go to the North Dakota prairie chicken 

 and wildfowl grounds. The local sportsmen had declared 

 that they intended to enforce the license law rigorously. If 

 they will maintain their good resolutions and expend their 

 energies in compelling compliance with the restrictions of 

 the old law they may yet secure practically the advantages 

 of the new measure. The law of 1887 now in force limits 

 to twenty-five the number of prairie chickens lawfully 

 killed in one day or had in possession at one time, and 

 entirely forbids the export of game from the State. 

 These restrictions have not prevented the shipment of 

 tons of game to the markets of Chicago, St, Louis, New 

 York and Boston, nor the taking home of other tons of 

 game by sportsmen. 



What North Dakota requires is not so much a law tax- 

 ing non-residents $25, as enforcement of this very wise and 

 sufficient law limiting killing and forbidding shipment. 



MAN AND BRUTE. 



In the mass of information which has come to us con- 

 cerning the Japanese since that wonderful nation engaged 

 in its recent war with China, and so drew upon itself the 

 critical scrutiny of the whole civilized world, there was a 

 special and voluminous description of their kindness and 

 consideration toward all the lower animals. While the 

 war evoked general surprise at the prowess and scientific 

 knowledge of this wonderful people, inquiry into their 

 domestic life brought forth the fact that they are enlight- 

 ened to a degree well up to a modern standpoint; and — 

 measured by the standard of the most enlightened 

 nations — in civil life are kind and courteous, instead of 

 being in the depths of barbarism, as by many people was 

 commonly supposed. That a nation until recently so iso- 

 lated from the higher civilization has inculcated such 

 just and kind usage in its treatment of the lower animals 

 should not be without its lesson to us. 



Statutory laws prohibiting cruelty are at best but a 

 mitigation of the evil. They are a preventive only of the 

 grosser and more public forms of cruelty ; they put a stop 

 to cruelty only when the cause for action has legal proof, 

 but they do not lead to that kind and considerate treat- 

 ment which should be bestowed on all the lower animals 

 for the humane reasons that they are inferior, dependent 

 and defenseless, aside from the main reason that man 

 owes it to his own nobility to treat humanely the creatures 

 which were created by the same Supreme Being who 

 created him. 



There are many societies for the prevention of cruelty 

 to animals in this country, and it goes without saying 

 that they do a needful and beneficent work. But a better 

 work yet would be to thoroughly instil humane senti- 

 ments as a matter of regular education during all the 

 years of youth. Many boys are cruel from thoughtless- 

 ness, and not infrequently from ignorance. Without 

 having had any prior teaching, boys can have no knowl- 

 edge that to rob a bird's nest, or tie a tin can to a dog's 

 tail, is cruelty, for the minds of boys are immature. If 

 there is but a spirit of adventure or novel excitement in 

 their acts, they discern not their cruelty. 



A humane man is rarely an unpleasant one, and rarely 

 indeed is he a criminal. Out of 7,000 boys, says the Ore- 

 gonian, carefully taught kindness to animals in a public 

 school in London, not one has ever been charged with a 

 criminal offense in any court; and after I introduced the 

 teaching of kindness to animals into my schools, said an 



eminent French master (De Sailly), "I found the children 

 not only kinder to animals, but kinder to each other, and 

 I am convinced that kindness to animals is the beginning 

 of moral perfection." 



There is no doubt that acts of cruelty to the lower ani- 

 mals may become habitual, and so harden the hearts of 

 people that they will be cruel to each other. There is, 

 moreover, no doubt but what kindly acts to the lower 

 animals develop amiability and benevolence of disposition 

 in man. The commencement should be in early youth. 

 The ill treatment of dogs or other animals should never 

 be countenanced as an amusement. Our treatment of 

 our dumb animals should be an example of the highest 

 humanity. No country should be ahead of us in these 

 matters, for it is within the compass of all to be kind. 



DEFENDER AND CHALLENGER. 

 The two important events of last week were the actual 

 trial of Defender in a race and the sailing of Valkyrie III. 

 for New York. The trial of Defender, which up to the 

 time of writing includes three light weather races with 

 Vigilant, is in a large measure satisfactory, in that it has 

 shown her to possess many good qualities, and apparently 

 no serious defects; but it has by no means shown that 

 great gain in speed over Vigilant which has been confi- 

 dently predicted by some. That she is faster than her 

 allowance is quite plain, but how much faster she may 

 finally prove, five, ten or fifteen minutes, no one can say 

 positively. The time records of her performance here 

 and Valkyrie's on the Clyde show nothing of the least 

 value. 



The cruise of the New York Y. C. now under way, 

 with the additional races at Newport, should result in 

 some eight or ten races between Defender and Vigilant, 

 with possibly Volunteer and Jubilee at times, both boats 

 presumably improving with the continued racing, while 

 their relative merits should be very truthfully disclosed. 

 Defender has yet to be tried under a larger sail plan, 

 which may or may not improve her. Her only tests 

 thus far have been in light winds and smooth water, but 

 there is every reason to believe that she will be particu- 

 larly fast and easy in rough water. 



The new challenger, now well on her way toward 

 New York, is largely an untried boat, her four races 

 serving, if reports be true, to show certain defects as well 

 as to prove her speed under light weather conditions. 

 With a fair passage, she should have at least three weeks 

 for preparation, in which time, aided by past experience, 

 much may be done to refit her properly after the ocean 

 voyage and put her into proper trim. 



The unfavorable reports concerning her amount to very 

 little thus far; they may or may not be true, and if true 

 the defects may be capable of remedy; at least, it would 

 be very unsafe to rely on these alleged faults of the chal- 

 lenger for the retention of the Cup. The two dangerous 

 points about her are that she has an excess of both beam 

 and sail area over the American boats, with as low lead 

 and almost as easy a form, and that she is evidently very 

 fast in light weather. The conditions this year are quite 

 different from those of previous Cup races, and much 

 more favorable than ever before for the challenger. 



THE THOUSAND ISLANDS PARK. 



There is a project to make the St. Lawrence River, 

 from Cape Vincent to Ogdensburg on the American side, 

 and from Kingston to Prescott on the Canadian side, an 

 international park, to be known as the Thousand Islands 

 International Park. The plan contemplates uniform 

 fishing laws to govern the territory under both flags, and 

 other provisions intended to add to the amenities of sum- 

 mer life in that charming country. 



The scheme will be discussed at the annual meeting of 

 the Anglers' Association of St. Lawrence, which will be 

 held in Clayton next Wednesday, Aug. 7. A delegation 

 of Canadians will probably be there. Later, the New 

 York Senate committee, which will leave New York 

 Aug. 15, will confer with Hon. W. M. Wakeham, who 

 has been chosen to represent the Minister of Marine and 

 Fisheries. 



A great run of striped bass is reported from the New 

 Jersey coast. It is not so long ago that the fishermen 

 there were complaining that the pound nets had forever 

 ruined the bass fishing. The pounds are still in opera- 

 tion, and the bass fishing of 18U5 is declared to be the 

 best for ten years. These are facts worthy of record. No 

 one knows it all yet about the sea coast fisheries 



