SOS 
P6ftEST AMD STREAM. 
[Apeil i6, 1898. 
I would then give additional privileges, the right to 
ship game lawfully taken to the homes of those de- 
siring to do so, and any other reasonable privilege. 
I would go further, and without hesitation separate 
the Commission by making one of them a game pro- 
tector, and he should be intrusted with the care of game 
and the enforcement of the game laws. The other two 
to be intrusted with the care and eylture of fish, and 
eaiph adVisoi-y i-egarding both fish and g^nfe interests: 
The reasons Why this seems to me the best way to 
deal with our fish and gdine matters are to my mind 
many, but it would Be too great d demand lipon your 
piiper to print them at this tiiii.e. 
, The bare proposition foi: i:Hc consideration of those 
interested is. submitted with A view of improving our 
laws, and of puttihg firmly upon reliable grounds our 
great interests in fish and game. E. C. Farrington. 
Maine Guides. 
State of Maine, Office of Commissioners of Inland 
Fisheries and Game, Augusta, April g.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The attention of the Commissioners of In- 
land Fisheries and Game of this State has been called 
to your leading editorial in your issue of April 9 en- 
titled "A Suggestion to iMaine Guides." 
With your permission, we wish to point out what we 
conceive to be some of the erroneous statements con- 
tained therein, and therefore wrong conclusions to which 
you seem to have arrived. 
Permit us to say, however, in the beginning, that we 
welcome all discussion and fair criticism, to the end that 
errors may be discovered and corrected and the best 
attainable results secured; therefore, if your editorial is 
intended to point out wherein the guide law can be 
made better, improved by amendment, we are grateful 
for your suggestions; but if, as it seems from reading 
it, it is intended to bring the law into disrepute and 
create and foster antagonisms, turning over the whole 
question of game protection to the guides' associations 
alone, then we wish to take issue witli you squarely and 
point out wherein you mistake many of the essential fea- 
tures of the law, and mislead your readers as to what 
it really is. 
You say: "No examination is required to determine 
whether the applicant possesses any of the qualifications 
which might be deemed essential," etc. You have in- 
advertently fallen into error in this particular, and your 
broad statement is calculated (not designedly by you) to 
mislead. It is equally erroneous, whether applied to the 
law itself or to the course pursued by the Commission- 
ers. The Avords "deemed suitable to act as a guide" in 
the paragraph quoted by you were intended by the Legis- 
lature to have, and must have, some significant mean- 
ing. This, at any rate, is the view we have taken of it, 
and have been governed in our official conduct accord- 
ingly. 
Permit lis to state the existing conditions at the time 
the law was proposed and enacted, and we want here 
to state broadly that we do not desire to enter upon 
any elaborate argument to defend this law, for it needs 
none; it is too deeply cherished by the average sense 
of our people to require it. One short year has demon- 
strated its vast importance to our fish and game inter- 
ests, imperfect as it may be; but the idea contained 
in it is regarded by a great majority of our people as 
the key to the situation — as the rock upon which to 
build. One of the principal arguments made before 
the Legislature when the bill was under discussion Avas 
that "at certain seasons of the year there were not guides 
enough, and at such times many people got a chance 
to earn a few dollars who could not pass a successful 
examination and get a certificate, and therefore great 
injustice would be done." The Legislature was im- 
pressed with this argument, and the bill as originally 
drawn was therefore modified in this respect, to obvi- 
ate this objection to some of the guides, and others — 
now these very ones turn around and condemn the law 
for omissions they asked for and got. Still there is in 
it sufficient to permit the Commissioners to refuse to 
register any one "deemed unsuitable." Y'ou arc again 
in error Avhen you assert: "The veriest greenhorn, if 
he send in his application, and the dollar with it, receives 
a license." You have been grossly misinformed in this 
respect. The fact is, the Commissioners have refused 
to issue certificates to sixty-three applicants who "sent 
their application and the dollar," and the dollar was 
refunded. We have been very liberal in granting cer- 
tificates of registration. We intended to be; we pre- 
ferred to err, if at all, in favor of the applicant at the 
start. The guides live in fourteen counties; many of these 
counties are no larger than some of the New England 
States, one great game county alone being nearly as 
large in area as the whole State of Massachusetts. They 
were strangers to us, and to each other, and it was a 
seven days' wonder when it was discovered that there 
were more than 1,300 of them, only five of whom but 
claimed they had been employed as guides for two years 
or more. We were compelled to rely upon human testi- 
mony in a majority of cases as to their "suitableness." 
We were imposed upon in many instances, and certifi- 
cates issued that ought not to have been; but the regis- 
tration is yearly, and this year we hope to make fewer 
mistakes and shut out more incompetents, for we are 
constantly getting better acquainted. 
I trust that we have said enough to show that the 
granting a certificate of registration "means something 
more than the mere fact that he has paid a dollar for a 
badge," and herein you again greatly mislead. 
No official badges are provided for in the law, and 
none have been issued. The fee paid for registration 
is not for a badge at all. We procured a few badges 
and let all the guides who wanted one have them at what 
they cost at the manufacturers. 
We fully and heartily indorse what you say about 
guides forming associations. The chairman of the Com- 
mission, so far as we know, was the first man who pub- 
licly advocated this and urged guides to organize. We 
welcome guides' organizations, and always assist in ev- 
ery way in our power in securing them. 
The great fact, Mr. Editor, must not be lost sight 
of that the fish and game in the State belong to the 
people of this State; this fact has been fully recog- 
nized and enunciated by the United States Supreme 
Court. 
Our people have taxed themselves many hundreds of 
thousands of dollars to propagate and protect it, and 
we do not enact laws for the guides alone, nor for non-- 
residents alone, but seek to enact such wise laws as 
will best subserve the material and moral interests of our 
Qwn citizens, ever keeping in mind the sublime fact that 
the citizens of all the States arc citizens of our com- 
mon country. 
But speaking of the guide bill, Mr. Editor, we regard 
i"egistei-ed guides as being charged with certain respon- 
sibilities, and we have labored to impress this idea upon 
-them. We find that many are disposed to accept this 
responsibility, and have honestly ti-ied to assist us in 
many ways the piast year, and are pleased to say that they 
have assisted very materially by their influence, and in 
many regions have doubtless saved the lives of much 
game. The old idea that they must close their eyes and 
ears to all that is going on around them is 
rapidly dying out, apparently, and considerably 
over half of them have corresponded with us 
the past winter, given us information by which 
we were able to successfully prosecute violators 
of the law, assisted wardens freely when in their vi- 
cinity, and in many cases have openly and in manly style 
informed the little world around them that future poach- 
ing must stop, and that they should inform the authori- 
ties of the facts, as far as able, if it did not stop. 
The past winter being favorable for poaching, it would 
be strange if none was done; but as we can easily show 
you. the most of the crooked work has been done in 
regions where there were few or no guides. 
The guide law is a jewel for us. It has helped very 
much undoubtedly. It will help us more as it is better 
underst(5od, and the guides learn that something is ex- 
pected of them, and that they have a duty to perform. 
They are expected to be honest, capable and truthful, 
sober and industrious when employed, willing to lend 
their influence to protect fish and game; in other words, 
we expect them to be loyal to the cause, \ and as fast 
as practicable shall try to weed out such as are not. 
We are fully aware that there is a certain class of so- 
called sportsmen who like to come to Maine during the 
summer months, hire guides, .go into the woods os- 
tensibly on a fishing trip, with rifles, and kill deer. These 
men are imanimously opposed to the law requiring 
guides to be registered, and those guides who have been 
employed by this class, fearing they would lose their 
customers, are opposed to the law, and these two classes 
have made about all the noise we have heard against 
the law. 
There are a few guides, and we are pleased to say 
that there are but few of this class, who on every oc- 
casion denounce the law and its authors in unmeas- 
ured terms, and they are prolific writers and talkers. 
A prominent member of a guides' association not long 
since took it upon himself to formally order a game 
warden not to report to us any violations of the law. 
A few have refused to comply with the law requiring 
them to report to us the amount of game taken and 
days employed. 
We regard the very mainspring of what opposition to 
the law there is, the fear that it will in some way inter- 
fere wivh fishing parties who wish to use Winchester 
rifles for fish poles. 
There are hundreds registered as guides for inland 
fishing alone, and their certificates restrict them to a 
certain county, while others are registered for forest 
hunting alone, and are restricted to a given territory, 
while others known absolutely to be first-class guides 
are unrestricted. This is the system upon which the 
guides are being regi.stered this year. It was not adopt- 
ed last year except to a limited extent, because of the 
fact, as stated above, that we were strangers to a very 
great extent, and the time was too limited. 
When the guides of Maine, to any great extent— -should 
that time ever come — refuse to co-operate with the au- 
thorities for game protection, and visiting sportsmen 
egg them on and ajjplaud and counsel such a course, 
that time will mark the hour when our Legislature will 
cease taxing the people for the protection of game, and 
the great herds of deer and moose that now roam over 
our almost limitless game preserves will disappear for- 
ever. Very respectfully, L. T. Carleton, 
Chairman of Commissioners of Inland Fisheries and 
Game. ' 
Mr. "Wallilian was not Responsible. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In an editorial article entitled "Books on Big Game, 
published in "Trail and Camp-Fire," tire third volume 
of the Boone and Crockett Club, occurs the following: 
"A new departure, that of photographing wild animals m 
their homes, was taken in Wallihan's 'Hoofs, Claws and 
Antlers,' although Mr. Wallihan greatly marred the book 
by combining with the genuine photographs of wild ani- 
mals a number of 'fake' pictures of stuffed animals." _ 
Mr. Wallihan has written to us complaining that in- 
justice has been done him in this sentence. He states 
that he had nothing to do with the publishing of "Hoofs, 
Claws and Antlers" other than to furnish prints of a few 
of his game photographs and to write descriptions of 
them; that the matter of inserting the pictures of 
stuffed animals was mentioned to him by the publisher, 
Mr. Thayer, which proposition he protested against and 
opposed to the best of his ability, and that until he saw 
a completed copy of the book he did not know what was 
in it. He asks that the error be corrected, if there is 
any possible way in which it can be done. 
It was inevitable that the responsibility for these fake 
pictures should rest on Mr. Wallihan imtil he had pub- 
licly repudiated them, as he has now done. We are 
glad that Mr. Wallihan makes a protest against the 
unauthorized use of his name by his publisher, and that 
we can inform the readers of "Trail and Camp-Fire" 
that Mr. Wallihan was as much annoyed at the fake pic- 
tures in the book as any one could have been. He thus 
authorizes us to make public the fact that these pictures 
were printed in the book without his knowledge and 
against his wishes. . , • ,r 
Mr. Thayer's conduct in the matter speaks for itself, 
and requires no special comment, but it may be said that 
acts of this kind are precisely those which tend to bring 
discredit on persons interested in sportsmanship of 
whatever kind. George Bird Grinnell, 
Theodore Roosevelt, 
Editors of "Trail and Camp-Fire." 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Snipe are In, 
Chicago, 111., April 7. — The jacksnipe have arrived, 
and the end of the week will see manj^ good bags made. 
The birds are reported from Shelby, Momence and Da- 
vis, all on the Kankakee marsh, but are still wild and 
erratic, not having yet quite settled do\Vn on their feed. 
The ground is rapidly improving in condition. The next 
two weeks will show good sport. I would again rec- 
omtnehd ICoUtts, Shelby, Momence, Davis, Swift's Sid- 
ing, as points Which ought to be good now and better 
within ten days. Last Monday Billy Mussey killed 23 
jacks along Mill Creek, on the Maksawba Club marsh. 
Mr. Mussey, Mr. Organ and others will go to that club 
at the end of this week and try again for the birds. 
So will John Watson. The latter has a deep and undy- 
ing grudge against the jacksnipe, dating back to some 
ancient and unrecorded day. John Watson was refer- 
eeing a pigeon shoot yesterday, when he was told that his 
friend Mussey had killed 23 snipe, the first of the season, 
this week. After that Mr. Watson was so agitated that 
he could hardly see s.traight, and he privately informed 
me that he didn't think it was right for Billy Mussey to 
kill those snipe, because they belonged to him. When 
last seen John Watson was hurriedly calling for his rub- 
ber boots. A great many others are also calling for their 
boots, and within the next five days many a long bill 
will bite the mud of Indiana. It snowed a few hnes here 
in Chicago one day. this week, but the weather is Warmer 
now, and the shooters may be sure of sport, if one can 
ever be sure of anything connected with the unprincipled 
j acksnipe. 
Cleaning Up. 
Warden Loveday is just cleaning up his season's grist 
of violations of the game laws, and has made 
several long jumps this week in reaching a few 
choice malefactors in widely separated portions of 
the State. There was a man out at Dixon, in 
Lee county^ — Mr. S. C. Argreaves, said to be, a 
member of a local gun club and of the Illinois State 
Sportsmen's Association. Mr. Argreaves has plenty of 
money, and did not need to hunt for the market. He 
hunts in many parts of the land, and has a good time 
generally, according to the story; but he has not been 
too well-to-do to be above shipping game to market, 
though he is a good friend of the State's Attorney, and 
has stood well in his community. Well, Mr. Argreaves 
went on shipping game — rabbits, even rabbits — and 
quails, and that sort of thing, and at last Warden Love- 
day found too many quail mixed with the rabbits. He 
arrested Mr. Argreaves for selling Illinois quail, and the 
rich market hunter has contributed $205.50 to the cause 
of protection. He has promised to reform. "Stop the 
sale of game." 
Mr. Joe DeWolf, of Assumption, TIL, is a grocer and 
commission man, who ships, or did ship, his game to 
Chicago. Mr. DeWolf had a leaning toward rabbits, 
but he got confused one day, and allowed fifty-four ille- 
gal quail to -fly into his rabbit box. These Warden 
Loveday found in due course at Chicago. Mr. DeWolf 
was very penitent, and could not see how those quail 
could have become tangled up with the rabbits. He 
talked so sweetly that he was let ofif with $95.85. 
Mr. William Kroesch, of Union llfll, on cme of his 
busy days, got together a box containing twenty-two 
quail, three prairie chickens and two doves, and merrily 
sent them off, to Chicago, where everything goes, or 
where everything used to go. Warden Loveday held 
conversation with Mr. Kroesch over this, and the latter 
showed fight. He always had sold game when he liked, 
he said, and he always would. He was treated to the 
solitary bird act, which usually brings the tough ones 
to time. He was fined for selling one bird, with co.sts 
also assessed against him,' of course. Then he was ar- 
rested, taken to jail, brought out again, fined for another 
bird with costs, and sent back again. At about the third 
bird he threw up his hands, saying he did not want to 
be engaged in this sort of thing all winter. He was 
therefore allowed to compromise on $130. 
Warden Loveday has one case to try in La Salle coun- 
ty, where a man has been trapping prairie chickens in 
the spring and shipping them to Chicago markets. The 
name of this man he does not yet care to divulge. In 
this case the shipment was made "by number," the con- 
signor not daring to sign his own name, which is known 
by its number on the books of the house to which he 
ships. This is one of the httle dodges of the highly 
moral game trade on South Water street, of this city. 
In this case the dodge will not serve. A man who will 
trap prairie chickens in this State at any time, let alone 
in the spring, ought surely to get the limit. 
I wonder if the general public would fall dead if it 
really knew the extent of the trade in game? Now 
Illinois is a very poor State for game these days, so 
poor that the dealers say frankly that they do not care 
what we do with the game of this State, just so no one 
interferes with the trade of other and better States. Yet 
Mr. Loveday tells me that one man, by name of King, 
at Carrier's Mills, in this State — a little place of no im- 
portance — ^admits that in one season alone he himself 
shipped to one firm in Chicago 1,750 dozen, or 21,000 
birds in all, of quail alone, saying nothin,g of other game. 
Mr. Loveday saw the man's books and knows this to be 
ti'ue. This is what one man in one town did, and what 
one firm here received from one shipper of one sort of 
game, in a State which is not important to-day as a field 
for market hunting. Is it any wonder that our game is 
fading away.? Is it any wonder that the main concern 
of sportsmen to-day is to take measures to stop such 
doings? If we could uncover the great warehouses of 
Chicago, how man thousand times 21,000 quail do you 
suppose would be displayed to the public, which is ab- 
solutely ignorant of the tremendous totals of this busi- 
ness? Add to this New York; add to this Boston. Is 
it not a wonder that the name of sport has not been 
wiped ofif our calendars? And if we could stop these 
markets, what would not be the revival of sport in this 
country! 
In view of such figures, it is with especial comfort 
that one hea-s now and then of good, stiff blows landed 
on this ion. 1 have spent some time in recording thfe 
Kewanee fiast 'ii which an abortive attempt was made 
