Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Terms, $4 A Year. 10 Cts. a Copt, i 
Srx Months, $2. ; 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1896 
VOL. XLVI.— No. 2. 
No. 818 Broadway, Nkw York. 
For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page v. 
Forest and StreamWater Colors 
We have prepared as premiums a series of four artistic 
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subjects are outdoor scenes: 
Jacksnipe Coming: In. "He's Got Them" (Quail Shooting-). 
Vigilant and Valkyrie. Bass Fishing; at Block Island. 
SEE REDUCED HALF-TONES IN OUR ADVT. COLUMNS. 
The plates are for frames 1 4 x 1 9 in. They are done in 
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to old or new subscribers on the following terms: 
Forest and Stream one year and the set of four pictures, $5. 
Forest and Stream 6 months and any two of the pictures, $3. 
Price of the pictures alone, $1.50 each j $6 for the <et> 
Remit by express money order 01 postal money orde* 
Make orders payable to 
FOREST AND STREAM PUB. CO., N§w York. 
THE POLICE SCHOOL OF SHOOTING. 
Of the reforms which have found favor and adoption 
with the authorities of the New York Police Department, 
none are of more practical utility than the school of re- 
volver practice which has been instituted as the result of 
the plans submitted to the Department by the Forest 
and Stream in July of last year. 
Through the lack of the needed skill in pistol shooting 
the police have been subjects of ridicule for many years, 
holding equal place with the mother-in-law, the spring 
poet, etc., in the esteem of comic illustrators, caricatur- 
ists and joke constructors. The absurdities of shooting 
at a so-called mad dog on the street and killing an on- 
looker in a second story window, or of shooting at a 
criminal and killing or wounding two or three innocent 
persons, afforded endless material for the caricaturist and 
the satirist. 
Although there are men on the force who are skillful 
marksmen — who know how to shoot and how not to 
shoot — their numbers relatively are small. The majority 
are unskillful, and a few do not know how to shoot at all. 
Their unskillfulness being constantly in evidence, with sad 
mishaps frequently occurring, which gives them notori- 
ety, they thereby make the reputation of the whole force 
for unskillful marksmanship. 
The same dangers which beset the public directly from 
unskillful police shooting indirectly affect the policemen 
themselves, for they are not properly trained for attack and 
defense in coping with the trained criminals. They often 
personally surfer severely from their unskillfulness. Thus 
the policeman who knows not how to handle his pistol, or 
who knows not its deadly powers, is not properly qualified 
to fill the position of police officer. "When shooting be- 
gins in public places he is often more dangerous to society 
than is the criminal whom he sought to arrest; indeed, 
much more so, for every hand is raised to suppress the 
criminal, while the officer, be he skillful or otherwise, is 
allowed full liberty and discretion in using his weapons, as 
he represents the law. 
The value of an officer is greatly enhanced if he be a 
good pistol shot, for the moral effect of his skill will deter 
even hardened criminals from the commission of crime 
within the territory which he patrols. The moral effect 
is even more beneficial than the material use of the 
weapon, since it is all-pervading and constant for peace 
and repressive of crime. 
In actual battle the skillful shooter knows how and 
when to shoot. He knows the range and force of his 
weapon. Less shooting is necessary, for with precision 
comes quick victory. Precision also avoids the killing or 
wounding of peaceable citizens, or the alarming of a 
whole neighborhood by wild bullets. In short, it is quite 
as necessary that the policeman, armed with weapons to 
maintain the laws of society, should know how to use 
them as does the soldier armed for warfare against the 
enemies of his country. In either instance when in action 
the untrained man is a harm and hindrance. 
The police school of shooting in New York is therefore 
a much needed institution, and will accomplish inestima- 
ble benefits in enlarging the efficiency of the police force 
it should, moreover, add greatly to their prestige and 
dignity, by raising them above the ridicule which has so 
long attached to their marksmanship. Anything that is 
ridiculous seldom commands respect. 
What is useful in this respect to the police force of New 
York is fully as useful to the force of all other cities. Any 
city which places pistols in the hands of its policemen 
should see that they know how to use them. A policeman 
ignorant in the use of a pistol is not a fit person to carry 
it, for then he is a menace to society instead of a protector. 
Thus every city in the Union should have a permanent 
school to instruct its police in the art of pistol shooting. 
From an economical standpoint, the expense of it to the 
departments would be but trifling, as there are always a 
number of skillful policemen who could act as instructors 
to their fellow officers. The expense of gallery and am- 
munition is but trifling at the most, and insignificant in 
comparison with the benefits which are derived from it 
when used to promote usefulness. In case of riots or 
great dangerous disturbances, the fame of a police force 
for good marksmanship would add to its efficiency beyond 
computation, as a reputation for poor marksmanship 
depreciates it. This is well illustrated when a squad of 
regular troops is sent out for the suppression of disorder, 
their undoubtable reputation inspiring awe. 
REPEAL THE LAW, RIGHT THE WRONG. 
The most important step the New York Legislature can 
take in respect to game protection is to repeal that section 
of the law which permits the sale of game all the year 
through. 
The reasons demanding such action are two. First, the 
sale of game the year around means an increased destruc- 
tion for market in the open shooting season and a continu- 
ous destruction for market during the closed shooting 
season. Second, the open market in New York encour- 
ages in other States the destruction of game which finds 
market in New York at times when in those other States 
sale is forbidden. 
The working of the law is destructive of the game of 
New York and of the game of New York's sister States. 
It is a wrong which should be righted, and righted at 
once. The remedy should be provided without the delay 
of a day. The Legislature should repeal Section 249 at 
once. 
EDWARD JACK. 
We learn with sincere sorrow of the death of our con- 
tributor Edward Jack, of Fredericton, New Brunswick. 
Mr. Jack died at his home on Tuesday, Dec. 31, aged 70 
years. In early manhood Mr. Jack was led by his tastes 
for woods life to abandon the practice of the law for civil 
engineering and forestry. Years of service first as timber 
cruiser and afterward in charge of the stumpage depart- 
ment of the Crown Lands office gained for him the reputa- 
tion of being the best posted man in New Brunswick on the 
natural resources of the Province. More than this, he was 
esteemed as an honorable, high-minded and kind-hearted 
man. His life in the forests gave him much lore of 
the woods and he was an entertaining writer on these 
subjects; his contributions to the Forest and Stream 
began with the first numbers and were frequent almost 
to the day of his death; for our Christmas number he 
sent an interesting note of the Maliseet traditions of the 
Mohawks. Mr. Jack was a person of much literary cul- 
ture; he found time to master several foreign languages 
—Hebrew, Greek, Italian, French and German; and he 
made extensive translations from these tongues. We 
have in hand a story which he translated from the French 
for the Forest and Stream of early hardships in a 
Canadian winter. 
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AND ITS EGGS. 
We print elsewhere Secretary Lakey's announcement 
of a postponed meeting of the National Game, Bird and 
Fish Protective Association, and his accompanying appeal 
for light on some seventeen subjects which range in im- 
portance from the long standing problem of what consti- 
tutes a true sportsman to a fantastic and impossible 
scheme of National game wardens. These questions are 
deserving of attention chiefly because they indicate that 
the officers of the Association are themselves at a loss to 
know where they are at, or what there is for them to do, 
or how they are to do it. Mr. Lakey invites you to lend 
the Association your influence, your voice, your presence 
and your money. Voice is the one great essential to the 
success of a National Association; voice is needed and a 
lot of it, but we should think that Mr. Lakey might find 
a sufficient supply in stock among the home talent of 
Kalamazoo, without appealing to the country at large. 
Before the National Game, Bird and Fish Protective 
Association can expect any body to lend it money, it must 
show that it is entitled to the confidence of the people it 
asks to put up the funds. Money is not loaned without 
good security. The sportsmen of the country are not 
going to hand over their money to a self-constituted 
national association, for the sake of getting in poor 
return any more such preposterous fakes as the National 
Game, Bird and Fish Protective Association's Alaska duck 
egg story. Nor are thinking and prudent men going 
to lend the concern their voice or influence or respect 
until the managers shall have relieved themselves from 
the contempt which the public now entertains for them 
as f oisters of foolish alarms. The most important thing the 
officers have before them for their Chicago meeting is to 
show that they had some reasonable ground for the vast 
amount of noise they made over this fabulous Alaska 
albumen industry. Failing to do this, they cannot ex- 
pect the public — fooled by them once so thoroughly— to 
attach much importance to their Association or to give 
much attention to their proceedings. 
TAKE CARE OF THE BIRDS. 
Every sportsman who is so situated as to be able to 
observe the needs of the birds should bear in mind that 
a little care for them during the cold spells of winter may 
be productive of beneficial results to himself and to sports- 
men in general, not to mention the direct benefits to the 
birds in lessening their sufferings or preserving their 
lives. Food in the stormy cold winter days is often very 
difficult for the birds to secure. A few handfuls of food 
scattered in their haunts e\ery few days is of material 
benefit to them and not much trouble to the sports- 
man. A rude but efficient shelter can be made of dead 
branches and leaves in a few moments' time. With a 
sheltered place to live in and a little extra food given 
them in addition to what they can secure themselves, the 
birds will have many more chances of surviving the rigors 
of winter. A little forethought in such matters is worth 
a great deal more than much afterthought. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
The Board of Education of New York city is carrying 
on a notable work in the series of free lectures to the 
people, which are delivered each winter in certain of the 
public schools and such additional places as the Cooper 
Union Institute and the American Museum of Natural 
History. These lectures are a potent educational force, 
and at the same time are made as entertaining as is com- 
patible with their subjects. Many are illustrated with 
stereopticon views, and they cover a wide and liberal 
range of subjects, patriotic, scientific, historical, and of 
travel, art and economics. During the second course, 
which begins Jan. 9, Mr. J. B. Burnham, of Forest and 
Stream, will deliver a lecture upon "Camp Life and 
Hunting in the United States." As indicating the popu- 
larity of these lectures, it may be mentioned that the 
attendance last winter numbered 224,000, while the indi- 
cations are that a much larger figure will be attained 
this season. Much of the success of the course is due to 
the enterprise and good judgment of Dr. Henry M. Leip- 
siger, superintendent in charge. 
We print to-day as the best available information re- 
specting the game qualities of the capercailzie a chapter 
from ex-Minister Thomas's work on Sweden, detailing 
his own experience with the game in its native land. 
Mr. Thomas is convinced that the birds might be intro- 
duced with success into America. The failures which so 
far have attended enterprises in this field have been due 
to improper management rather than to any inherent 
obstacles. 
Mr. J. Henry Phair died at his home in Fredericton, 
New Brunswick, on Jan. 3. Mr. Phair was for many 
years fishery inspector for the Province. He was an ac- 
complished angler and an artist who delighted to picture 
woodland scenes. It was Mr. Phair who some years ago 
fought to a successful issue the question of riparian rights 
in the Province against the claims of the Dominion Gov- 
ernment. 
Information Wanted — Concerning a lost man. For 
further particulars see our issues of Dec. 14, Jan. 4 and 
to-day. Who can tell us something more of him and of 
his fate? 
