A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1898. 
Terms, $i A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 
Six Months, f 
[ VOL. L.-No. T. 
i No. 846 Broadway, New York. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
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indignation will be all the more to the point if it shall 
take the form of an organized protest so powerful as in 
some way to discover and apply a remedy for the scan- 
dalous conditions which will prevail. 
r/I£ FISH COMMISSION- SCANDAL. 
Me. Livingston Stone's "Reminiscences of the Early 
Days of Fishculture," printed in another column, are 
written at an opportune moment. Read his tribute to 
Professor Spencer F. Baird, first United States Commis- 
sioner of Fish and Fisheries ; recall the rare endowments 
and attainments with which that great man was equipped, 
his rare mental vision, his large grasp, his marvelous 
capacity for hard work, his unselfishness, devotion and 
enthusiasm — all these miited with nobility of character 
and greatness of manhood — qualities which inspired, 
directed and controlled the work of the Commission in 
its formative stage; and then consider that on Tuesday'^ 
of last week, yielding to the dictation of a West Virginia 
Senator, President McKinley nominated for the place 
once held by a Baird the West Virginia politician and 
office-seeker, George M. Bowers, an individual unknown 
in scientific circles and the realm of fishculture alike, but^ 
vouched for by Mr. Elkins as "a bright man who will 
catch on." By as much as the early annals of the Com- 
mission afford a record of patriotic zeal and splendid 
public service by the first Commissioner, in like measure 
is this new stage in its history shameful and humiliating. 
The very fate apprehended by Professor Baird and which 
Professor Goode sought to provide against by statute — • 
the prostitution of the Commission to political purposes 
— has come upon it. 
Mr.' McKinley's action of last week had long been an- 
ticipated. It was known that he had promised the place 
to Senator Elkins, as a reward to Mr. Bowers for ser- 
vices which that individual had rendered in the last 
campaign; and although numerous friends of the Com- 
mission, stirred by a sense of public duty, have pro- 
tested in the strongest terms against the astonishing 
nomination, no one actually indulged a hope that the 
President would reconsider his expressed determination 
of handing over the place as spoils. 
For reasons already set forth in these columns, the 
selection of Mr. Bowers for this office is contrary to the 
public interests and in violation of the law governing 
the appointment of a Commissioner. It is contrary to 
the public interests because the West Virginia appointee 
lacks the qualifications essential to the administration of 
the affairs of the Commission intelligently; it is contrary 
to the law because the statute expressly declares that the 
Commissioner must be "a person having scientific and 
practical acquaintance with the fish and fisheries." Mr, 
Bowers has no such scientific and practical knowledge; 
the newspapers say that he has been studying up on fish 
and fishculture as a schoolboy crams for examination; 
and Mr. Elkins says that he "is bright and will catch on." 
It is charitable to assume that the President was ig- 
norant of the law when he promised the place to Senator 
Elkins for Bowers. But having been apprised of the 
explicit terms of the statute, and recognizing that the 
Bowers nomination would be in violation of these terms, 
he should have had the courage to obey the law; to re- 
consider his promise; to repulse the presumption of an 
incompetent and legally disqualified aspirant for the po- 
sition; and to protect the rights and interests of the 
people in the Commission by naming for its control a 
person legally qualified to administer it. Such a course 
might have meant for Mr. McKinley an unpleasant fif- 
teen minutes with the Senator from West Virginia, but 
it would also have assured for him great credit with the 
pubHc, and hearty popular indorsement of a righteous 
action. 
There is a possibility, although it appears to be ex- 
tremely slight, that the Senate may withhold confirma- 
tion of the nomination. If the President's selection of 
Bowers shall be approved, the event will mark the be- 
ginning of a new chapter in the history of the United 
States Fish Commission, and one which its friends may 
well view with apprehension and indignation. The 
HE WOULD NOT GO FISHING. 
It was the versatile, philosophical, reminiscent and 
statistical Podgers, if recollection be not at fault, who 
once figured out that the few paltry, immature, stunted 
and insignificant trout caught on an excursion to Can- 
ada had cost him somewhere near $5 a fin for every little 
fin on every little trout. That might be well enough 
counted expensive fishing if no allowance should be 
made for the priceless boon which comes with the fish, 
the contentment of sleeping on balsam boughs and being 
lulled to sleep by the murmur of the brook; but even 
so, a creel of trout at this figure would not begin to 
compare in expensiveness with the string of fish which 
were not caught by a bank official in this town, and 
which, not being caught, cost the neat little sum of 
$3931000, That was the amount of money loaned by the 
cashier of a New York bank foolishly on "rotten" se- 
curity. When the bank's officers found it out, one day 
last week, they charged the sum to profit and loss, and 
accounted for the expensive vagary of the cashjer by 
ascribing it to a breakdown caused by overwork and con- 
^tinuous, uninterrupted devotion to business, with never 
a vacation from one year's end to another. "He seemed 
incapable," said the president, "of getting away from 
his work, of putting it out of his mind and forgetting all 
about it. He could not be induced to take a summer 
vacation. Only last summer I personally urged him to 
go off for a vacation — not that I noticed in him any 
particular need of recuperation, but upon the general 
principle that every one should get a vacation during 
the year. He, however, declined all my urgings, and 
the only rest he could be induced to take was on Sat- 
urdays, when he pretty regularly absented himself from 
the bank," 
In other words, here was a man who would not go 
fishing when he could, and could not be induced to go 
fishing when he should; not even when to go fishing 
would be to clarify a muddled brain and renew the poor 
head, which for want of a fishing line and a tumbling, 
roaring, dashing, foaming mountain brook to wet it in, 
went awry, grew befogged and parted with $393,000 of 
other people's good money for wildcat collateral. 
It is better to go fishing, even if the fish cost a small 
fortune when figured by ounces caught and dollars ex- 
pended in the taking. The human make-up calls for a 
restful interval of vacation in the round of the twelve 
months, just as it does for a restful interval of sleep in 
the round of the twenty-four hours. The most pro- 
digious fortune any man ever made at the cost of his 
health he would give to the poor or cast into the bottom 
of the sea, if only he might regain health once more. 
This is a mighty truth of which to thousands and tens 
of thousands the knowledge has come too late, and 
with it remorse and unavailing regret. With other 
thousands and tens of thousands, an annual vacation 
time, whether spent in fishing or shooting or yachting or 
wheeling or travel or what not, has its appointed place 
in a well-ordered life. The multitude of those who go 
afield, live in tents, sleep under the stars, constitutes a 
constantly increasing proportion of the community. We 
are not among those who would begrudge to the simple 
"vacationist," so called, the privilege of going into the 
woods. The forest wilds are wide and free and ample 
for the delectation of all who will prove their delights 
and rewards. One need not look along the rib of a shot- 
gun nor through the sights of a rifle to see the beauties of 
nature. Rod and gun are, after all, means rather than 
ends. Their highest value is that they are agencies which 
lure us out into the open air, the green fields, the depths 
of the wilderness, leading us away from office, counter, 
shop, farm, for a play spell and a change, to find lighten- 
ing of spirit, elasticity of step, brighter views of life, 
cheerier disposition; and if we happen to be bank cash- 
iers, a keener judgment, which shall prevent us from 
putting $393,000 in a lump sum into the profit and loss 
account. 
There are men without number to-day going about 
their business, who, if interrogated, would testify that 
they owe their health and strength, perhaps even life 
itself, to the days they have spent with the rifle, the rod 
and the gun, the wheel, the camera and the alpenstock. 
Every such a one, wherever yoit may meet him, is a 
living exemplification of the value of the vacation break 
Jn the round of business and labor. Gather these vaca- 
tion hosts by squads and companies, mass them by bat- 
talions and brigades, and they would muster an army 
such as never was marshaled on the war plains of the 
earth, an army with banners, and on every banner the 
motto: "It is better to go fishing." 
OHIO FARMERS AND GAME LA WS. 
A MEASURE has been introduced into the Ohio Legis- 
lature entitled "A bill to protect the rights of the farmers 
and the game and the birds of the State from the 
gunners and gun club exterminators of the game and 
birds." The provisions of the bill are that "owners of 
land are given property rights in all birds, game, fish 
and game animals upon their land, and each hunter is 
required to secure the permission of the farmer upon 
whose land he hunts in order to proceed with the chase. 
The hunter is further required to inform the farmer who 
grants him permission to proceed with the chase what 
birds, fish or animals he intends to capture or kill, and 
as an evidence of good faith he must return after the 
hunt and exhibit to the farmer the result of his sport." 
Failure to comply with the law is punishable by for- 
feiture of gun or rod to the farmer. 
The clause giving a landowner property rights in the 
game on his land is in conflict with the accepted prin- 
ciples of game legislation, and manifestly would involve 
all parties in interest in the tangles of inextricable com- 
plications. But as for the requirements that a person 
must obtain permission before entering upon land 
for shooting or fishing, that he must declare his pur- 
poses as to the kind of game he is seeking, and must 
report his luck and exhibit his game or fish, this is to 
demand no more than one who is duly considerate of 
the rights of others should be perfectly willing to do 
of his own volition. Hunting or fishing on private prop- 
erty is a privilege, not a right. The privilege is one to 
be asked for and granted; there is no right to be de- 
manded and enforced. If the privilege be not accorded 
freely and willingly, in nine cases out of ten the reason 
of this will prove to be that other privileges have been 
abused. 
There are old curmudgeons and dogs-in-the-manger 
who will not have any fun in their own fields nqr allow 
any one else to have it; but as any sportsinan tourist who 
enjoys a wide acquaintance with the American land- 
owner will willingly testify, such individuals are the ex- 
ception and not the rule. If there be found a community 
of them, the phenomenon has some reasonable explana- 
tion. It probably means that the people of that par- 
ticular section have suft'ered beyond further endurance 
at the hands of gunners or fishermen who have lawlessly 
invaded their lands, betrayed their hospitality, taken 
advantage of their good nature, and at the last aroused 
their animosity. If the farmers in Ohio or in other dis- 
tricts are up in arms against the sportsmen and are ap- 
pealing to the Legislatures to enact cast-iron laws for 
their relief, . they doubtless have good cause for this. 
If we sincerely desire to discover the underlying agencies 
that have prompted such a hostile attitude, we may find 
them not in the "freakish ness of the fapmer," but rather 
in the impositions put upon him by hoodlum gunners 
and riotous marauders from the towns, who under the 
guise of sportsmanship have played the ruffian in his 
fields. If, then, the well-behaved sportsman finds his 
privileges restricted, let him put the blame where it be- 
longs — not on the landowner, but on the lawless hordes 
who have incited him to devise more severe anti-trespass 
laws as measures of self-defense. 
It is reported that a further provision of the proposed 
Ohio law constitutes the landowner constable, judge and 
jury to apprehend violators of the game laws on his 
lands, arrest them, try them and seize their hunting and 
fishing paraphernalia as forfeited. This provision also 
is in conflict with accepted principles of law and juris- 
prudence; as a remedy, however, for the "sooners," one 
might almost wish that whether or not just in accord- 
ance with sound principles of law. it might actually be 
put in working order. 
