Fores tz 
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Terms, $4 A Yeab. 10 Cts. a Copy. | 
Six Months, $2. | 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1895. 
| VOL. XLIV.— No. 1. 
\ No. 318 Bboadway, New Yokk. 
For Prospectus and Advertising Redes see. Page in. 
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. 
A FOURTH DEED OF GIFT. 
A careful study of the existing situation in inter- 
national yacht racing leads us to the opinion 
that if a race for the America's cup shall be sailed in 
1895 it will be under neither of the three deeds of gift 
which we published last week, but under a fourth deed ; 
which has been for some time in process of construction, 
and is now practically completed. Until quite recently 
it appeared that the position of the New York Y. C. in 
the present negotiations was the same as that in the 
Valkyrie- Vigilant match, of accepting a challenge with 
but one dimension given, but insisting rigidly on every 
other provision of the new deed. Such a position was 
bad enough, the acceptance of a challenge without the 
four specified dimensions was, we believe, clearly illegal 
in itself, and the abandonment of this demand by the 
very men who made it was the" strongest possible proof 
of the truth of the charges we have made against it. 
"While the whole document was in a measure weak- 
ened by this repudiation of one of its vital requirements 
the club was still able, with no serious degree of incon- 
sistency, to insist on the legality and force of the new 
deed as a whole. The developments of the last three 
weeks, however, have carried matters to such an extreme 
that all the other demands and limitations of the 
new deed have practically followed the demand 
for the dimensions, being wiped out entirely 
by the latest interpretations of the new deed, and the 
rapid expansion of the mutual agreement clause to cover 
every possible contingency of future Cup matches. In 
order to secure a challenge under the new deed from the 
Royal Yacht Squadron, the New York Yacht Club, or 
its accredited representatives in the negotiations, have 
first agreed to accept a challenge giving but one dimen- 
sion, in spite of the wording of clause 5 ; they have 
offered to sail a match in November, though such action 
is explicitly prohibited by the same clause ; and they 
have even admitted that the holder has the power to 
accept a challenge without name of owner, name of 
yacht, dimensions or Custom House registry. Further 
than this, they have insisted most [strenuously, as a 
justification for their violation of the requirements of 
the deed, that the provisions of clause 6, recognizing a 
mutual agreement, cover every possible point of the 
Cup racing. 
The challenger has not been slow to appreciate the 
effect of this wholesale misinterpretation of the stringent 
and exacting document to which he once objected, and 
he is very likely to profit by it. We look to see the 
Royal Yacht Squadron, at its meeting next week, con- 
sent to challenge and to hold the Cup if won^under the 
new deed of gift— but only with a formal and written 
explanation from the New York Yacht Club that, in its 
opinion, the mutual agreement clause covers every pos- 
sible condition and limitation contained in the whole 
deed. Such an interpretation has already been made by 
the Cup committee in its various letters, but we look 
for a demand from the R. Y. S. for an official statement 
from the New York Y. C. confirming it beyond question 
Should the New York Y. C. finally indorse the action 
of Com m odore Smith and his committee in carrying out 
this sorry farce of upholding the new deed, such action 
will be practically equivalent to the nullification of the 
third deed and the recognition of still another deed of 
gift, which, while no more legal than the third, would 
be quite as loose and indefinite as the original deed was 
said to be. This new document would contain clauses 
1 and 2 of the third deed, Jiie first second and third 
lines of clause 6, as printed last week, and clauses 7, 8, 
10 and 11 ; with the honored names of Commodore 
Eldridge T. Gerry and John T. Bird still left intact. 
The portions omitted include everything relating to the 
qualifications of clubs^ entitled to challenge, the limits 
of size and other general limitations of yachts eligibl 
as challengers and the definition of a "challenge in due 
form. ' ' 
Under such a broad and sweeping interpretation of 
the mutual agreement clause it could no longer be 
claimed that any of the provisions of clauses 3, 4, 5 and 
9 are binding, or that they may not all be waived at the 
will of a future holder. 
The Field last week made a suggestion which may 
seem absurd, but it is none the less true under the latest 
construction of the Cup committee ; that a holder may 
agree with a challenger to race for the America's Cup 
with boats of 20ft. water line and carried across the 
ocean on a steamer ; and if the Cup should be won by a 
British club, there is notning to prevent it from accept- 
ing a challenge from some small continental club whose 
sailing ground is a river or mill pond. 
There are two possible interpretations of the new 
deed ; one, which we have urged repeatedly as the only 
legal one, is to construe literally the fifth clause, defin- 
ing a challenge, in the light of the established precedent 
of the club, and of the known intent of the framers of 
the deed to hamper and restrict a challenger. By this 
interpretation, the mutual agreement clause No. 6 is 
limited, as it was intended to be, to the secondary con- 
ditions, "as to dates, courses, number of trials, rules 
and sailing regulations, ' 5 and, by special mention, the 
ten months' notice. 
The other interpretation, that of Com. Smith, delib- 
erately ignores each provision of clause 5 and makes 
every possible contingency of racing subject to clause 6 
by virtue of the words "and any and all other condi- 
tions of the match. ' ' 
The first interpretation maintains the new deed 'in 
its integrity, as the New York Y. C. professes that it 
always intends to do. The second interpretation is but 
a cowardly way of avoiding the charges- against the 
deed; and if it is followed, the America's Cup is left 
with absolutely no restrictions, but may be raced for by 
any one and in any way. 
The loss of prestige, the discrediting of the America's 
Cup as the great yachting trophy, and the cessation of 
racing, all began with the motion of Commodore Smith 
at the meeting of Oct. 4, 1887, that the New York Y. 
C. return the Cup to him and his fellows, empowering 
them to make a new deed of gift. The trouble that has 
followed this action is small compared to the probable 
results of the adoption of Com. Smith's interpretation 
of this same new deed. The mistake of 1887 cannot be 
retrieved by anything short of an . open and honorable 
repudiation of the new deed by the New York Y. C. , 
such a devious and doubtful coiu-se as that now proposed 
is certain to lead to further trouble. 
A BETRAYAL OF PUBLIC TRUST. 
The Forestry Commission of New York has signalized 
the close of the year with an action which appears to 
be a gross betrayal of public trust. 
The new constitution adopted last November to take 
effect with the new year provides that none of the 
public wild lands owned by the State shall be sold or 
granted to private parties but shall always remain in 
the possession of the people of New York. 
On Thursday of last week, when there remained but 
four short days for the consummation of public lands 
jobbery before the going into effect of the new consti- 
tution, which should render it forever after impractic- 
able, there appeared before the Land Board representative 
of the wood pulp and kindred interests, with an impu- 
dent lie on their lips that were acting in behalf of 
pleasure seekers and sportsmen, and with an impudent 
demand for a right of way for the Adirondack Railroad 
over seven miles of State land. Foiled here by an 
injunction restraining the Land Board from acting, the 
timber grabbers then had recourse to the Forestry 
Commission. There were present in Albany of this 
Board Messrs. Tilden and Weed; and Commissioner 
Shuyler was brought by a special train to make the 
quorum. They convened in secret session behind closed 
doors, and with incontinent and indecent haste gave 
the wood pulp schemers all that they asked for. In this 
they violated the spirit of the new constitution, which 
if not actually in force should, nevertheless, have been 
regarded as binding on them as trustees of the public 
interests ; and at the same time they gave us as fine an 
example of callous disregard of public trust and subser- 
viency to the demands of private greed as we have had 
during the past year of revelations of incompetence and 
worse in public office. 
There is reason to believe that the action of the 
Forestry Commission will not stand [the test of the 
courts. They assumed to act under that section of the 
law which gives them power to construct roads or paths. 
Authority to lay out roads is not authority to hand over 
a slice of the public domain to wood pulp and railroad 
land grabbers. Captain Anderson of the Yellowstone 
Park is empowered to lay out roads, but he would j not 
be likely to assume that such an authorization gave him 
power to grant a railway right of way through the park 
to Cooke City. The assumption on which the New 
York Forestry Commission has acted is quite as ridicu- 
lous an usurpation of power. When it shall come to the 
test the "grant" will be revoked. 
SNAP-SHOTS. 
In a paper read before the American Folk-Lore 
Society last week, Rev. J. Owens Dorsey related that 
the Elk gens or family of the Wapa Indians are not 
permitted to eat elk meat if it be so called, but if spoken 
of as venison it may be eaten with impunity. Some 
such notion sometimes prevails among white men, at 
certain Adirondack hotels; for example, when if deer 
meat comes to the table as venison it is tabooed ; but if 
it is down on the bill of fare as "mountain mutton," 
no one dreams of making any bones about it. 
T The tarpon has inspired many columns of capital 
reading and the literature of the subject is constantly 
growing. Some entertaining chapters are added in Mr 
Alfred C. Harmsworth's long promised story of his 
experiences in Florida last winter. The account has 
added charm because it gives us the impressions of an 
entire stranger in the country, to whom many things 
appears novel which would be to Americans common- 
place, but take on a surprising interest when seen 
through the eyes of another. From Florida Mr. Harms- 
worth went home with enthusiastic stories of Florida's 
attractions for European fishermen, and the West 
Coast may look for an increased number of anglers from 
abroad. 
A small item in the Sundry Civil Service Appropri- 
ation bill, now in the hands of the committee of the 
House of Representatives should receive the support of 
every member of Congress. The amount involved is 
small— only $1, 800 — to provide for the pay of four scouts 
in the Yellowstone National Park for six months in the 
year. Last spring the Forest and Stream published Mr. 
Hough's ghastly story of buffalo destruction in the 
park, and a result of that publication was the passage 
by Congress of a law which, if enforced, will protect 
the few remaining buffalo and enable them slowly to 
increase. But to be effective the law must be enforced, 
and it cannot be enforced without an increase in the 
number of scouts employed. At present there is only a 
single man to cover 3, 600 square miles of territory. 
Experts who studied the game question in the park 
last autumn had the conviction forced upon them that 
without such protection as this item will provide the 
buffalo in the park can not last ten years. The struggle 
for existence in those high mountains is hard enough to 
make their preservation at best uncertain and the work 
of the poacher will turn the scales and insure extinc- 
t:on. If it was worth while to pass the law providing 
a government for the park — if it has been worth while 
at any time during the past twenty years and more to 
make appropriations for its care — it is worth while now 
to appropriate this ridiculously small sum for the better 
protection of the game. 
P The matter has been so long neglected that the 
breeding stock of buffalo has ran dangerously low and 
the last and largest surviving herd stands in urgent 
need of protection. Every Representative and every 
Senator ought to vote for this item. 
In the Willow Brook ponds of the Minnesota State 
fish hatchery at St. Paul are some hybrid trout produced 
by a cross of the lake trout with the brook trout. The fish 
are large, beautiful and exceedingly gamy. The com- 
missioners intend to secure a large number of them and 
to put them out for a trial plant in some particular 
waters. If this initial planting shall prove a success, a 
general distribution of the hybrids _win follow 
