Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1893. \ 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page viii. 



BALLOT BOX AND MOOSE HEADS. 



As we all know, there has been excitement over the 

 doings of certain political "bosses" in the vicinity of New 

 York on Election Day; and public-spirited and patriotic 

 citizens have come to the front with commendable 

 activity and determination to insist that the purity of the 

 ballot must be preserved. Among others, whose names 

 are in print as taking part in the movement to enforce 

 the election laws, is an individual of wealth and stand- 

 ing, who, by reason of his present and past services in 

 this line, is held up to the rising generation as a shining 

 example of what a good citizen should be. And yet this 

 same man, so solicitous that certain statutes shall be 

 respected, has a record of numerous moose kUled in the 

 summer months in Maine, in open, bold, impudent and 

 contumacious defiance of the game laws of that State. 



We would not pretend to say that the protection of 

 game and the purity of the ballot are of equal import- 

 ance; but we defy any one to show us why it is not the 

 part of a good citizen to respect and abide by the statutes 

 relating to them both, and we defy any one to tell us how 

 a man, who shouts for the purity of the ballot in New 

 York and slaughters moose out of season in Maine, can 

 claim to be better than those Scribes and Pharisees, who 

 make broad their phylacteries, and love the uppermost 

 rooms at feasts and chief seats in the synagogue and 

 greetings in the market, and of whom it was declared 

 that they were Uke unto whited sepulchres. 



The fact is that it is a poor brand of citizenship that 

 cannot stand crossing a State line, and a very fragile 

 conscience that must needs be left at home in a safe-de- 

 posit vault when its possessor goes into the woods. 



THE RED FLAG AND THE PARK. 



With eyes starting from their sockets and hair on end, 

 a correspondent rushes madly into the columns of a con- 

 temporary and advocates the building of a railroad 

 through the Yellowstone National Park. A great fear 

 has fallen on him. The Park is in danger, he [wishes 

 to save it, and this can be done only by building 

 a raih'oad through the reservation. Many schemes have 

 been broached for protecting the National Park, but 

 never,[,we think, one so novel as this. 



This correspondent, a Mr. Brackett, describes the Park, 

 as has been done so many hundred times before, and 

 declares that he heartUy desires its protection, and above 

 all the preservation of its forests and its great game. 

 He wants it protected, but he is in deadly fear of its 

 destruction by the miners of Cooke City and the citi- 

 zens of Montana in general. 



The burden of his statement is that while the people of 

 Montana are fond and proud of the Yellowstone Park and 

 of the great game of their mountains, they have lately 

 determined to burn the Park forests and to slaughter its 

 herds of game. These methods of showing pride and 

 affection are unusual, but Mr. Brackett — who appears to 

 think that the shrewd and sensible people of Montana 

 have suddenly gone mad — solemnly and repeatedly warns 

 us that unless a railroad is allowed to be built through the 

 Park or the northeastern corner of the reservation is cut 

 oli", the " desperate" citizens of Montana will rise in their 

 affection and their pride, burn the Park and kill all the 

 big game within its boundaries. 



This would be a dreadful state of things were it true. 

 But it is not. The alarm felt by Mr. Brackett is un- 

 necessary. Old mountain men delight in relating hair- 

 raising stories to frighten the pilgrim who will beUeve 

 them, and the typical "bad man" hugely enjoys bluster- 

 ing and threatening and telling what a terrible fellow he 

 is, and how many men he is accustomed to eat for break- 

 fast. Such talk dues not count for much with those who 

 understand the peojile who live in Montana's mountains, 

 but their stories are likely to scare the inexperienced . 



Even if what Mr. Brackett states were true — even if the 

 people of Montana were determined to rebel against 

 United States law and to destroy the Park and all that it 

 contains — they, with all other sensible men, should know 

 that it is not by thi-eats of anarchy and rebellion that they 

 can accomplish what they wish. Threats do not move 

 the American people. 



It was by threats and dynamite and blood and fire that 

 the anarchists of Chicago strove to coerce the citizens of 

 Illinois, but such efforts did not succeed, and never will, 



until the character of the American people and of Ameri- 

 can institutions shall have wholly changed. To say that 

 the honest and industrious men of Montana will become 

 anarchists and outlaws unless they can have their way is 

 not only the sheerest nonsense, but is to circulate as foul 

 and evil a slander as was ever penned against a great 

 State and a class of citizens as worthy and as law-abiding 

 as any within the borders of this broad country. 



Mr. Brackett's letter voices the sentiments only of a 

 little clique of local speculators who believe that the 

 passage of a bill to permit a railway to pass through the 

 Park would enable them to sell out their holdings of land 

 at a profit. The v^st majority of Montana's citizens be- 

 lieve that no radroad should be built within the Park 

 borders. 



We do not believe that the Park needs Mr. Brackett's 

 remedy, and we entreat him to calm himself. 



WORLD'S FAIR AQUARIUM. 



The aquarium at the World's Fair will not be main- 

 tained in Chicago after all. The contents of the tanks 

 were transferred by the U. S. Fish Commission to the 

 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History at the close 

 of the Exposition. On the next day the South Park Com- 

 missioners asked to have the aquarium put in their charge, 

 promising to assume the expenses from that date. 



The State Laboratory consented to turn over the prop- 

 erty on condition that the aquarium should be managed 

 as a biological station as well as a living museum for the 

 people. On November 8 the Commisssion reconsidered 

 their action and decided that no money was available for 

 maintaining an exhibit of the kind. Therefore the State 

 Laboratory wiU take such parts of the collection as can 

 be utilized for alcoholic preparations to be divided among 

 schools and museums, and the remainder will be distrib- 

 uted by the U. S. Fish Commission. 



The loss to the Chicago public will be felt when it is 

 beyond repair. 



Some idea of the extent of the work required to main- 

 tain a great aquarium may be gathered from the fact that 

 nearly fifty loads of specimens were brought to the Ex- 

 position by the cars of the Fish Commission, about 50,000 

 gallons of salt water were circulated in the marine sec- 

 tion, and in the fresh- water section as much as 38,000 

 gallons of water were used in one hour, the cost of the 

 water at current rates having been nearly $100 daily. 



The marine section, contrary to all expectation, was 

 managed very successfully and Math scarcely any trouble. 

 The fresh water of the city is so charged with fungus and 

 fish parasites as to make the care of this section a great 

 bm-den. If any man, scientific or unscientific, will pub- 

 lish a satisfactory method of destroying fungus without 

 injury to fish, he will be regarded as a benefactor by 

 aquarium directors. In spite of all difiiculties, however, 

 the number of species of animals in the Aquarium when 

 the Fair closed was about 130, and aU of them were in 

 fine condition. 



SIDE-HUNTS. 



Now, NOT to take a one-sided view of the side-hunt, 

 here are some considerations on both sides. 



For the side-hunt it may be said that it gives a play-day 

 for a large number of participants— the more the merrier. 

 It is thoroughly democratic; every man-jack who can 

 muster a shooting-iron is entitled to a place in the skir- 

 mish line; and whatever may be his individual score, the 

 participant who finds himself on the winning side may 

 claim some share in achieving the result, and an equal 

 participation in the feast which crowns the victory. 

 Taken all in all the side-hunt supphes an occasion for a 

 crowd of jolly fellows to have a jolly time. 



Against the side-hunt it may be urged that its essence 

 is competitive, and that this shooting for count and to 

 outscore the other fellows is not a high grade of sport 

 in the field; that it encourages the inordinate killing of 

 game and the destruction of much wild life which is in 

 no sense legitimate game; that it breeds the kill-e very- 

 thing spirit, which is ixnworthy and baneful; and that, in 

 a word, it lowers the tone of field sportsmanship in the 

 community. 



Side-hunting will last probably as long as birds fly and 

 the competitive spirit endures in human nature; but it is 

 a tremendous pity that Yankee ingenuity cannot devise 

 something in the way of outdoor wildwoods contests more 

 reasonable than rivahnes in wholesale and indiscriminate 

 destruction of animal life, 



MANSLAUGHTER AND SUICIDE. 

 We have alluded more than once to the suggestive fact 

 that of recorded accidents with sporting; firearms a large 

 proportion may be credited to the ignorance or foolish- 

 ness or recklessness of shooters who are at the moment 

 in the act of violating the game laws. It often hap- 

 pens that the man, who is so hungry for venison that 

 he cannot wait for the open deer season, is likewise so 

 eager to get meat that he cannot stay his hand long 

 enough to determine whether what he is about to shoot 

 at is a wild animal or a human being. So, too, the 

 gunner, who is not sportsman enough to observe the ap- 

 pointed times and seasons, is not sportsman enough to 

 observe the rules of carrying a gun in a proper manner, 

 and brings woe upon himself or his comrades in conse- 

 quence. 



If this theory be well fotmded, game wardens would do 

 well to be vigilant out of season, and fore-handed in the 

 apprehension of transgressors, to the end that the life of 

 the game and of the unlawful gunner as well may be 

 preserved. It is certain, for instance, that if the game 

 wardens of Staten Island had pounced down upon a cer- 

 tain untimely robin shooter in their district one day last 

 week, and had arrested him in time, they would have 

 rescued the life which he threw away, when in crossing a 

 fence he pulled his gun muzzle foremost toward his own 

 devoted head. 



In some States, as in Michigan, it is declared an offense 

 to point a firearm at a human being, even in play; and 

 certain penal codes, as that of New York, punish a futile 

 attempt at suicide as a crime. If these killings of one 

 another and of themselves by game law breakers shall 

 continue, it will be in order to lock up every out of season 

 gunner as intent on manslaughter if he shall be found 

 with others in the field, or as contemplating suicide if 

 alone. 



A WOLF STORY. 



In his interesting notes from Manitoba Mr. Ernest E. 

 Thompson quotes from the Canadian Sportsman a story 

 of a human skeleton and near by it the skeletons of five 

 wolves, found "on the south side of the Lake of the 

 Woods," in 1890. Near the human skeleton was a revol- 

 ver; and seven empty cartridge shells told the story of a 

 desperate fight for life. 



Mr. H. W. Munson, of South Dakota, sent us the other 

 day, clipped from the Minneapolis Journal, a special dis- 

 patch from. West Superior, Wis., dated Oct. 24, 1893, 

 which reads as follows: 



West Superior, Wis., Oct. 24. — A very startling: story has just been 

 brought from the Rainy Lake gold country by R C. Emmons, an ex- 

 plorer who has been quietly investigating the deposits there for Chi- 

 cago capitalists. While following up a small stream tributary to 

 Rainy Rirer, Mr. Emmons came upon a deserted log cabin. Curiosity 

 lead him to following a trail leading into the forest south of the cabin, 

 when he came upon the skeleton of a large man. Near by was a rifle 

 with a broken stock, and close beside the skeleton was a broadax 

 with a rusty blade, and within a radius of 60ft. lay the skeletons o£ 

 nine large timber wolves. 



Now the Rainy Lake gold country is in Manitoba, south 

 of the Lake of the Woods; and the Eainy River flows 

 north into the Lake of the Woods. The region to which 

 was assigned the location of the wolf story of 1890 is the 

 region to which is assigned the woK story of 1893. Who 

 may doubt that the one is only a new version of the 

 other? And no one knows how ancient the first tale may 

 have been before it came to Mr. Thompson's attention; 

 for this Canadian Sportsman, to which it is credited, is 

 not only a most diligent hterary thief, but never hesitates 

 to steal a good yarn, even though it has been lying out in 

 the woods a long time and is weatherbeaten with the sun 

 an d rain of years^ 



Here is a bit of prognostication. The beagle is a com- 

 ing dog. And here are some reasons which back up the 

 prognostication: (1) Because he is cheap, so that any one 

 may afford to possess a well-bred specimen. (2) Because 

 he is easily trained. The veriest know-nothing may take 

 a beagle out into the field, put him on a track and see him 

 go. (3) Because he makes music while at work; and 

 most hunters having heard the music once want to hear 

 it again. (4) Because his game is commonly abundant, 

 and is found in regions where there is no use for bird 

 dogs or deerhounds. (5) Because the newly devised field 

 trials have given an impulse to beagle interests in this 

 country. (6) Because Forest and Stream here and now 

 says a good word for the breed. If you do not believe that 

 this has anything to do with it, just keep your eye QJ^ 

 I beagles for the next fiv e years. 



