Forest and Stream, 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Tekms, $i A Ye >r. 10 Cts. a Coi'Y. ) 
Six Months, $2. f 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1898 
i VOL. L.— No. 14. 
I No. 340 Broadway, New York. 
The Forest and Strfam is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
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garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
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particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iv. 
SECTIO.V 24g REPEALED. 
The New York Legislature has repealed that iniqui- 
tous provision of the game, law contained in Sec. 249, 
which permitted the sale of game at alKseasons. When 
the bill to put the section oh the statute books was before 
Go'v. jMortnn m 189s it was charae-tmrii&d^, m these , colt, 
umns as _ "such a blow to- the mtercsts -of game, pro- 
tection as we ha-- ciiDt bad' m a quarter centwry. , T In- 
experience of the years inter\'ening . Irolii 1-895 Uo . the 
present has amply demonstrated the. accuiac\ nf tli.it 
characterization. The section has provoked, eiicuui 
aged and promoted the destruction of game for ntarketx- 
of 'nilmature game ni the-spriiig. and summer before the 
seSson'has opened, and of game helpless. m the siiiows 
of winter after the s?;asoh has closed; it has ,paek,^<i- 
to market m close time vast quarit;ities^Qt;:gurilawfully 
killed game of New \ ork Stat?;" and - has provided -a 
market for the disposition of unlawiully kilk-d •and 
shipped game from many other States. Its piaclieal 
operation has been to make a farce -of protection in so 
far as the market side 4ias been concerned.' In the vast 
city of -New York there has been for years no game pro- 
tector. Sec. 240 wo-ulfl have defied and, bkiSed him, 
and made altogetl^r futile anything he ..flight have at- 
tempted. '.The effect of the law has been felt all oyer, 
the State. The Fisheries. Game and Fdi^st Commission 
has now on hand over hftv cases against, offenders in 
various counties,' who have been sending birds illegally 
to New !fork citv cold storage warehouses. The game 
has- been shipped as chestnuts,-».'vegetables, frulirs^- ' and 
what-not; 1,300 birds" were sent from one .point in 
another case a man crossed the line into Pennsylvania 
and' sent the game, thence by express, . StlBterfuges, 
tricks and devices of variotis sorts were resorted -1:0,..?^^ 
the consignors;, but once in.^the dealers hands the birds 
were covered '%y' foreign ship,pj.ng, tags as by an aegis, 
and the traffic went merrily on xjjithout molestation. 
How much game destruction in other States Sec. 249 
has provoked can never be computed; it is enough that 
New York's ofhce as a receiver of goods stolen from her 
sister States was keenly felt by upright citizens to be 
a lasting disgrace. 
By as much as the enactment of the section was a 
blow to protection, by so much is the repeal of the pro- 
vision a triumph for game interests. By its action in 
righting this grossest abuse in New York's game pro- 
tectlA'-e annals the Legislature has performed the highest 
service possible in -this line. It will now be practicable 
to read a meaning into the game law; the restrictions 
as to times of killing, of possession and of selling will 
amount to something. The statutes to protect may be 
made to protect. A game protector may now be, pro- 
vided for New York city, and may accomplish something, 
if he be honest and intelligent and possessed of common 
everyday gumption. We trust that the Commission Will 
jose no time iii assigning to the place a man equipped to 
fill it. The field is white for the harvest. 
The repeal was carried only by the most dogged fight- 
■ ing for it, against tremendous odds, by Commissioner 
Chas. H. Babcock, of Rochester. There is peculiar satis- 
faction in chronicling this fact and putting on record Mr. 
Babcock's part as representative of the attitude of the 
Commission; because when the original Wilks bill em- 
bodying the provisions of Sec. 249 was before the Legis- 
lature in 1895, President Barnet H. Davis, of the Com- 
mission, and Secretary Doyle fraternized with the New 
York game dealer Gilman, who was in Albany lobbying 
for the measure, and worked with him for its passage. 
Although his attitude doubtless helped the enactment of 
tlie measure, our recollection is that President Davis 
had neither the sympathy nor the support of his asso- 
ciates at that time; and it is certain that the Commission 
soon came to realize the true nature of the provision as 
a block to their work. In their report of Jan. 20, 1897, 
they urged that it ''should be repealed, as it puts a pre- 
mium upon crime in sister States that have non-export 
game laws, as most of them have, and is a menace to the 
game of our own State, and makes it difficult to convict 
game law violators who kill our game out of season." 
And again in tli-eir' report submitted on Jan. 20, 1:898, they' 
-reiterated, their plea in this emphatic language: 
iast j'ear -sve vigoro.usly urged lhal .Section 249 be re'pcdled, as 
it pennlls! the wale of game tlie year around, and while that law 
remains unrepealed it is a hopeless task to protect the game of 
the Slate from destruction. We again urge that this section be 
.stricken from the game law, that all of our game animals and 
birds may not suffer from ifs blighting inflnericc. We have 
found -it almost impos.sible to obtain a conviction for killing our 
own. game birds at any time of the year with this section in 
force, and the law is. as we have already pointed out, unjust to 
sistsr States that have non-export laws. Theoretically, the' law 
mayJae all that it.?, sponsors claim for it, but m practice it is 
slowly but surely woi-king the greatest injury to our native game. 
Early thi-s_year CoiU-lilissi&'ner Babcac.k entered upon a 
■•■vigorous campaign to secure the repeal of the law. He 
recognized, as did his associates, that unless Sec. 249 
was rescinded the Commission might as well abandon 
Its game protective, activities. The measure, was. put 
thro-u-gh' the Aj^sserably without difficulty. In the Senate 
Conimittee it was held up by Senator FTigbie, who is now, 
as he always has been, a stone wall in the way of right 
.gairte legislation. Through the personal efforts of Mr. 
Babcock the bill was finally reported out of committee, 
...j^to^be recommitted for a hearing. The contest that fol- 
io wj.^ was, one of the most stubbornly fought in the an- 
nals ol Albany game legislation. 
The New York. city, game dealers were represented, 
as m 1.895, by_ the law firm of Tracy, Boardman '& PlatL. 
Senator Thomas C. Piatt -himself by wire -and telephone 
ordered the defeat of the bill. In spite of these odds, by 
dint of unfaltering determination and personal work, Mr. 
Babcock set in to win the . fight. He got the bill out 
of committee on the recommitment, by a vote of three 
to two-; and by canvassing votes in the Senate', enlist- 
ing the services of his personal friends, he won over all 
opposition, so that when put to vote the measure went 
through by a unanimous vote of forty-three to nothing. 
%_The repeal is now in the Governors hands. Up to 
'the hour of going to, press it had not received his sig- 
natpre; but it is not to be doubted that by his approval 
Governor Black will crown with final victory the strug- 
gle which the friends of game protection have been car- 
rying on for the past three years. 
• ' HANDS' OFF 'THE AQUARIUM. 
All persons of feeling who are cognizant of the highly 
creditable administration of the affairs of the New York 
Aquarium under the present superintendent, Dr. Tarle- 
ton H. Bean, must have sympathy for President Clausen, 
of the Park Board, in the very unenviable position that 
gentleman now occupies in public attention by reason of 
his oflicial action in calling for Dr. Bean's resignation. 
Under Dr. Bean's direction the Aquarium has been ad- 
mirably well managed. All competent observers know 
this. President Clausen- knows it. He has freciuently 
and freely borne testimony to his appreciation of the fact. 
He knows cjuite as well too that the public interests de- 
mand that the Aquarium should continue under the same 
capable and efficient control. And yet in the face of all 
this, despite his personal knowledge, and contrary to 
his personal convictions, Mr. Clausen has demanded Dr. 
Bean's resignation. He has done this, of course, not 
of his own vohtion, but at the dictation of his political 
boss. He presents the spectacle of a trustee of the peo- 
ple's parks consenting to betray certain of the people's 
park interests by ousting a competent man from an 
important position, in order that the place may be given 
to a political appointee. The part he is compelled to play 
must be keenly humiliating to one who would keep his 
own self-respect and retain the esteem of his fellow-citi- 
zens. 
To meet the storm of righteous opposition to this cool 
proposition to make pohtical spoils of the Aquarium, 
President Clausen has given out a statement, reciting 
that he found the Aquarium "badly ventilated and badly 
lighted, with an indifferent collection on exhibition, 
closed to the public for two days in each week on the 
ground that this was necessary for the purpose of clean- 
ing the tanks, and that the whole service was on ex- 
travagant lines, involving an expenditure of $45,000 a 
year, which seems to him to be entirely out of propor- 
tion to the work done." 
Mr. Clausen ought to Icnow, and probably does 
know, that-the construction of the building with respect 
to light and ventilation was wholly the work of the 
Park' Eioard's architect, who not only was independent 
of Dr. Bean's control, but scouted his advice. As to 
the character of the collection, the President of the Park 
Board should know, and take pride in knowing, that New 
York ha.s to-day what is conceded to be the largest and. 
finest collection in any aquarium in the world. Mt, 
Clausen's description .of it as "indifferent" is nothing 
less than a confession of his own inexcusable ignorance 
in the matter. 
The Aquarium had for the last fiscal year an appropria- , 
tion of $40,000, which was not an extravagant sum, if 
reckoned in comparisoti with other aquaria, that at Clii- 
cago in '93, for instance. The World's Fair Aquarium 
was managed by experienced . employees of the United 
States Fish Commission, and it was a small affair con- 
trasted with the New York institution, yet the mainte- 
nance account for the six months was $33,000. Nor is 
the Aquarium expensive when compared with other like 
institutions in New York. The Metropolitan Museum 
of Art and the American Museum of Natural History 
have each an annual maintenance appropriation of $95,- 
000. The visitors at the Metropolitan Museum last year, 
accordin.g to Mr. Gesnola's figures, numbered 555,000; 
the average maintenance expense per visitor was then 
seventeen cents. With its $40,000 the Aquarium had in 
the same year 1,635,000 visitors, at an expense of less 
than three cents each. 
But to discuss President Clausen's makeshift reasons 
would be beside the mark. They do not truly declare his 
motive in seeking to get rid of the present superintend- 
ent. The real reason is that Mr. Richard Croker wants 
the place for one of his friends. To make room for 
him President Clausen has been directed to remove 
from the position of Aquarium Superintendent the one 
man in this country best fitted to fill the place. 
It is preposterous and outrageous that a position of 
this peculiar character, requiring special scientific and 
technical acquirements, and special practical training on 
the part of its incumbent, should be subject to the office 
mongering of political bosses. If President Clausen 
sincerely desires to establish the Aquarium on a secure 
foundation, and to reorganize it on lines which shall 
insure for it the widest possible usefulness, let him set 
about the attainment of the scheme commended by Mr. 
Fred Mather in our issue of March 9, 1897, whereby the 
Aquarium may be taken wholly out of the domain of 
politics and put under the direction of a board of trus- 
tees, in Hke maimer as the American Museum of Natural 
History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Under 
such favorable conditions the institution would come to 
be not only, as now, an unsurpassed collection for ex- 
hibition, but a school of study and research, and as an 
important marine laboratory, of credit and benefit not 
only to New York, but to the nation. 
Meanwhile, the people of this town should declare 
with such emphasis as to be heeded even by hungry 
office grabbers. Hands off the Aquarium! 
SiYAP SHOTS. 
The text of Senator Hoar's bird bill is given elsewhere. 
It forbids the importation of birds and bird feathers for 
ornamental purposes, and prohibits the transportation 
of birds, feathers and parts of birds from one State to 
another. A meeting" of feather importers was held in 
this city last Monday to devise ways to oppose the meas- 
ure. 01.)jections are urged against- it on the ground that 
it would interfere with an important business in which 
millions of dollars are invested, that it would render 
worthless the stock already imported for the fall trade, 
would deprive 20,000 persons in New York alone of em- 
ployment, and would reduce the revenue of the nation 
at a time when funds are most needed by the Govern- 
nien. To all of which it may be replied that profitable 
ways of investing capital may be found, and remunera- 
tive avenues of industry may be provided, without con- 
tinuing the horrible destruction of bird life and traffic 
in bird skins. 1 
The exposition given by the New England Sports- 
men's Association proved successful beyond the antici- 
pations of the most sanguine promoters. The atteP'J 
ance exceeded all expectation, and the public was thor- 
oughly gratified and satisfied wath the extent and vari- 
ety of exhibits. As an exposition of interesting phase; 
of nature, wild life and game, the enterprise was in every- 
way a credit to promoters, mana,gers and the guild of 
sportsmen. 
