Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Teems. $4 a Year. 10 Ots. a Copt. | 
Six Months, $2. j 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1895. 
j VOL. XLIV.— No. 2. 
| No. 318 Broadway, New York. 
For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page iii. 
The FOREST AND STREAM is put to 
press on Tuesdays. Correspondence intended 
for publication should reach us by Mondays 
and as much earlier as may be practicable. 
THE FOREST RESERVATION BILL. 
Attention is again called to the neglect of Congress 
to provide any system of protection for the forest pre- 
serves set apart within the last few years by Presiden- 
tial proclamation. As we have frequently shown, these 
are reservations in name only. They exist on paper, 
but there is no law governing their care or providing 
for their protection. Anyono is at liberty to go within 
their boundaries, and there commit any act of depreda- 
tion, and there is no federal law that can be enforced 
to punish him. 
The singular apathy with regard to forest preservation 
which has long been manifested at Washington has at 
length been broken by the passage of Mr. McRae's bill, 
H. R. 119, entitled, An Act to Protect Public Forest 
Reservations. The best that can be said of the measure 
is that it is perhaps better than no bill at all. Its pas- 
sage at least establishes a precedent for forestry legisla- 
tion and indicates that Congress is willing to take some 
slight interest in a matter which is vital to the nation's 
welfare, ^n its best form the measure was not a very 
strong one, and during its passage through the House 
it has been burdened with amendments, which, in large 
degree, render nugatory the benefits which it might 
otherwise have conferred. 
The measure places these forest reservations under the 
charge of the Secretary of the Interior, and directs him 
to make provision for their protection against fire and 
depredations, and to make such rules and regulations 
and establish such service as will insure their object. 
He is authorized under certain restrictions to sell dead 
or matured timber, and the proceeds of such sales are 
to be held as a special fund to be expended in the care 
and management of the reservations under the direction 
of the Secretary of the Interior, or as Congress may 
provide. But it is provided that nothing in the act shall 
be construed to prevent the Secretary of the Interior 
from permitting, under regulations, the use of the tim- 
ber and stone free of charge to setters, miners, residents 
and prospectors. 
The Secretary of War is authorized to furnish troops 
to act as a police for protecting these reservations on 
the requisition of the Secretary of the Interior. 
The Secretary of the Interior is authorizd to restore to 
the public domain any public lands embraced within 
the limits of any forest reservation which shall be found 
better adapted to agriculture than to forest uses and any 
lands which may be shown to carry mineral. 
Further, prospectors are given full liberty to prospect 
for mineral on such forest reservations. 
So long as the Secretary of the Interior is interested 
in the preservation of our forests this bill will be a use- 
ful measure. It throws the whole responsibiity of their 
care on that officer and will enable the present Secre- 
tary to set on foot a system of protection, which his 
successor may or may not feel inclined to carry out. 
On the other hand, any such system of protection is 
very much hampered by the invitation which the bill 
extends to settlers, miners and prospectors to go and 
come at will over the reservation, and to make free use 
of the timber for their purposes. 
The provision authorizing the return to the public 
domain of any lands that, on examination, may be 
found to be agricultural opens large opportunity fo revil, 
and its practical effect may be the absolute ruin of these 
forest reservations. One result of such a provision is 
likely to be an influx of settlers along the stream valleys 
in all the reservations, in some cases cutting them up 
into small strips, and everywhere increasing a hundred- 
fold the difficulties of forest administration. Thus, the 
bill, while professing to protect the forest reservations, 
really threatens their very existence by leaving the 
question of their integrity to depend not on the law 
but on the judgment of a single individual. 
The section of the bill which authorizes the employ- 
ment of troops to protect these reserves is a wise one, 
and practically this is all the bill gives to the friends of 
forest preservation. On the other hand, the bad features 
of the bill are very obvious. 
A Secretary of the Interior who cares little for the 
preservation of the forests may, in accordance with the 
provisions of this bill, practically destroy the forest 
reservations, which the wisdom of Secretaries Noble 
and Smith have set apart. 
In its present shape the bill can arouse no enthusiasm 
on any hand, and its inadequacy is apparent. 
A FLORIDA SILVER MINE. 
Those who have followed the fishing reports sent to 
us from Texas cannot have failed to note the warm but 
good natured rivalry between Texas and Florida as to 
which shall be esteemed to hold out superior attractions 
to tarpon fishermen Florida and tarpon have come to 
be synonymous. If one says that he is going South for 
fishing it is assumed quite as a matter of course that he 
is bound for Florida ; and in these times going to 
Florida for fishing means an expedition to the West 
Coast for tarpon. Texas is a tardy claimant for tarpon 
custom ; she has only her innate modesty to blame, that 
she has permitted Florida to take the lead and obtain 
the dollars of Northern and Western anglers. 
For this tarpon fishing is business, just as truly as 
orange growing or phosphate mining is business. 
Florida transportation managers and hotel men have 
long been alive to the financial profit of exploiting this 
big fish, and they have made the most of him. Tarpon 
angling is, from their point of view, commercial fishing. 
If the history of the name "silver king" were investi- 
gated probably Ave should find that the cognomen arose 
not from the splendor of his scales, but from some 
shrewd hotel man's recognition that if properly worked 
the fish was as good as a silver mine. If we had the data 
to compute the amount of money expended by tarpon fish - 
erman in Florida for railroad and steamboat fares, board 
at hotels, hire of guides and boats, sums paid for tackle 
and to taxidermists for mounting the fish, the aggregate 
would atonish people who have given little thought to 
the dollars and cents view of pleasure fishing. In 
Florida sport with the tarpon is confined to the West 
Coast. The fish are occasionally seen on the East Coast 
and are taken there after the tourist season, but they 
are not among the trophies entered on the hotel score 
books. The East Coast people would like nothing better 
in the way of fisherman r s luck than occasion to pro- 
claim to the world that a few tarpon had been taken 
in the waters of the Mananzas, Halifax, Indian River 
or Lake Worth. 
THE CUP CHALLENGE. 
In default of more detailed and positive information 
than that furnished in the brief cable report of the R. 
Y. S. meeting, it is impossible to say just yet what 
action the Squadron has taken, or how much further 
negotiation may be necessary before a race is finally 
arranged for 1895. The recognition of the new deed is 
qualified by Sec'y Grant's telegram, "Having regard 
to the construction * * * by the New York Y. C. , " 
and just what this may mean is yet to be seen. 
Thus far the Squadron has only the unofficial state- 
ment of Commodore Smith that the onerous demands of 
the new deed are a dead letter, and may all be disre- 
garded under the mutual agreement clause. We doubt 
very much whether even the Royal Yacht Squadron will 
be satisfied with such an unofficial statement, which 
may be repudiated at any time in the future by the 
New York Y. C. 
It is probable that a race will not be assured until the 
New York Y. C. shall have made an official and bind- 
ing statement of its interpretaiton of the new deed. 
The basis of the present agreement may be briefly 
stated thus : If the New York Yacht Club will declare 
invalid all of the distinctive parts of the new deed, the 
Royal Yacht Squadron will recognize the deed as valid. 
Such an agreement, if finally ratified, must obliterate 
the dimension cause, the ten months limit, the limita- 
tion of all races to dates between May 1 and Nov. 1, the 
limits of over 65 and not over 90 feet, and the require- 
ment that vessels must sail to the site of the races on 
their own bottoms. If the present interpretation of the 
new deed, under which the R. Y. S. has agreed to 
recognize it, be indorsed by the New York Y. C. , a 
future holder of the Cup can agree to a challenge from 
any club aud in any size of yacht. 
In an interview on Jan. 7, Gen. Paine is quoted a 
saying: "The fairness of the new deed has now been 
acknowledged. ' ' Apart from the question of the right 
of the New York Y. C. to make any change of the trust 
conditions, and of the action of the club in hurriedly 
making such a change after it had received a challenge, 
the charges of unfairness in the conditions of the new 
deed rest first of all on the demand for the four dimen- 
sions. This demand was largely the work of Gen. 
Paine, a member of the famous committee of 1887. For 
five years it put a bar to all racing, and a challenge was 
only obtained by the distinct repudiation of ttrs demand 
by the New York Y. C. 
It was through Gen. Paine as much as any other 
member of the com mi tee that Clause 5 was formed, com- 
pelling a challenger to place himself absolutely in the 
hands of the holder ten months before a race, compelling 
him to reveal the beam and draft of his vessel, and 
binding him to the dimensions registered in the 
challenge ; before he could ask for a mutual agreement 
" as to dates, courses, number of trials, rules and sailing 
regulations. ' ' 
In order to obtain a challenge, the New York Y. C. 
has been forced to abandon the demand for the dimen- 
sions and for ten months' notice, and to recognize fully 
and completely that right of a Challenger to a mutual 
agreement as to any and all conditions, which it has 
denied to every challenger, and in particuar to the Royal 
Clyde Y. C. 
In making the new deed of gift Commodore Smith 
and the committee sought to surround the America's 
Cup with such safeguards and restrictions as would 
make the winning of it by a challenger almost an im- 
possibility. After seven years these same gentlemen 
have been forced to abandon every restriction, and to 
throw the Cup open to competition on fairer terms than 
they have ever granted in the past. 
If this is a victory for them, and a vindication of the 
new deed, they are welcome to it. In the face of Gen. 
Paine 's assertion, as quoted above, we maintain most 
emphatically that the present position of the America's 
Cup committee, as represented by its chairman, in 
abandoning all the requirements of the new deed, is an 
open admission of the charges of unfairness made 
against them. 
THE CAUSE OF PROTECTION. 
The year 1895 promises to be an important one for 
game and fish protection. The cause is one that is 
growing rapidly in popular appreciation, and this will 
be a year of activity. We mean to make The Forest and 
Stream more than ever a journal of protection. With 
this issue we have instituted a special department 
devoted to the subject. 
It will be a department of news, of suggestion, of 
practical helps and hints for club and association and 
individual effort. Secretaries and other members of 
clubs are invited to communicate to us for publication 
reports of the progress of their work, with its failures 
and its successes. By such an interchange of practical 
experience one may learn from one another. 
There is promise of much legislation as to fish and 
game this year. New Jersey sportsmen are asking for 
numerous changes. The Michigan Game and Fish 
League met in Lansing the other day and determined 
to ask the Legislature to make the open season for deer 
throughout the State from Oct. 10 to 31 inclusive ; to 
forbid the transportation of venison unaccompanied by 
the owner, and to limit each hunter to two deer in a 
season. 
The New York law has been codified by the Senate 
Committee and the proposed form will shortly be sub- 
mitted at Albany. It is understood that as to the fish 
commission a reduction in the number will be recom- 
mended from the present five to three or one. The draft 
of the new law was to be discussed at the Syracuse 
meeting of the State Association at Syracuse last Thurs- 
day. A report of the convention will be given in our 
next issue. 
Does it cost money to go fishing? One might think 
so form the $500 price mark on a rod in a Broadway 
show window. But some rods do not cost so much as 
that, one may get off much more cheaply. Fishing is 
like most other necessities — or luxuries — costly or inex- 
pensive as one may care to make. it. 
