Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. \ 
Six Months, $2. | 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 21, 18 9 8. 
( VOL. L.-No. 21. 
I No. 846 Broadway, New York, 
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THE DANGER TO FOREST RESERVES. 
An amendment to the Sundry Civil Service Bill passed 
in the Senate abolishes the thirteen forest reservations 
set aside by President Cleveland in February, T897. With 
this amendment the House disagreed and it is now in 
conference committee. 
The history of these reservations will be remembered 
by all readers of the Forest and Stream. They were de- 
signated by the President on the recommendation of the 
Forest Commission nominated by the National Academy 
of Science at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, 
which commission was made up of the most competent 
and best qualified men in the country. After an exten- 
sive inquiry, which included a careful examination of a 
very large territory in the West, the Commission made 
its recommendations, which were followed out by the 
President in his proclamation. Although at first this 
proclamation greatly alarmed the public residing in the 
country adjacent to these reservations, the alarm ceased 
so soon as the recommendations of the Commission and 
the intentions of the Government were thoroughly un- 
derstood, and the press of the entire country and a very 
large majority of the intelligent public are heartily in 
favor of the retention of these forests reserves, as origin- 
ally established. 
President Cleveland's action with regard to the forest 
reservations differed in no respect from that of Mr. Har- 
rison. It was merely a continuing of the latter's policy 
and in each case the motive was the same — the good of 
the country at large. The setting aside of forest reserva- 
tions by President Harrison at the suggestion of Secre- 
tary Noble was generally applauded, and a like satis- 
faction should have been felt that President Cleveland 
was a man broad enough to carry forward the policy of 
a political opponent. 
The general opinion seems to be that the opposition 
to the reserves comes now chiefly from large corpora- 
tions engaged in the lumber business, in mining and in 
railroad enterprises. These corporations are supposed 
to have influenced the Senate, and to be laboring with 
the members of the House to bring about the abolishment 
of the reservations. They are thought to believe that 
with the continuance of the reserves their supplies of 
free timber will be cut off, and they are therefore mak- 
ing the most of the original panic felt by the people 
in the West, a panic which has now entirely subsided. 
We are not disposed to believe that this is the case. 
Large corporations are as a rule managed by intelligent, 
far-sighted men, who look beyond the immediate present. 
It is, of course, a very desirable thing to be able to 
secure free lumber, free timber for mines and free rail- 
road ties, but the railroad men and the mine owners 
know that it is much more important to them than the 
price of timber or of ties that the water supply of the 
country should be kept up. 
Persons in a position to express an intelligent opinion 
on the subject are inclined to believe that the cause for 
the abolition by the Senate of these forest reserves is 
purely political. The whole forest service is now in the 
hands of the General Land Office, and the Land Ofhce 
is presided over by a politician, a man who is reputed 
honestly to believe that the United States will be better 
served by a Republican ignorant of everything connected 
with forestry than it could be by a Democrat who has 
been trained in that science. It is believed by maiay, 
therefore, that if the forestry service is established its 
force of employes will be made up entirely of Republican 
workers, and it wih become a powerful Repubhcan ma- 
chine in the various States and Territories where it 
serves. Thus the Democrats, Populists and free silver 
men generally in the Senate object to the forestry ser- 
vice, and it is thought that this is the ground on which 
the Senate has ordered the repeal of President Cleve- 
|.^^n4's proclamation establisl;ing the reserves, Whether 
this explanation is or is not true, the fact remains that 
the continued existence of the reserves depends now on 
the temper of the House of Representatives, and especial- 
ly on that of the three members of the Conference Com- 
mittee. It is to be hoped that the members of the Con- 
ference Committee share the feeling of the House of 
Representatives, and that the pirblic may depend on these 
members to have its rights protected. 
Persons interested in the forest reserves cannot do bet- 
ter than to send to Washington for Mr. Gifford Pinchot's 
report on his examination of the reserves published in 
March last. It is the most complete paper that has been 
issued on the subject, taking up the reservations one 
by one, alphabetically, and describing them in detail as 
to the forests, the water, mining, agriculture, and the 
danger of fire on both slopes. In no way so well as by 
a study of this pamphlet can the value and the capabilities 
of these reserves be learned. This is but natural; when 
we recall the fact that Mr. Pinchot is easily the first 
among the few trained foresters in the United States, 
and by ability, enthusiasm and training .is perhaps bet- 
ter fitted than any other in this country to report on this 
precise subject. 
It must be remembered that these forest reservations 
are set aside not in order that the timber that they 
contain may not be cut, but in order that it may be cut 
and used, but cut wisely. For this is the foundation upon 
which modern forestry is based: that the forests are re- 
newed and preserved by cutting them down. It will be 
an extraordinary thing if at the end of the century the 
United States, which claims to be the most advanced 
among nations, shall take a stand on questions of forestry 
similar to that held by France early in this century, or 
by Spain to-day. 
SOME A UDUBONS A T A UCTION. 
.At an auction of household effects in this city last 
week several Audubon books were sold. The books were 
advertised as "The original and valuable edition of the 
Audubon Birds and Animals, with all the colored plates, 
comprising one large folio edition, two small folio edi- 
tions, with eight volumes complete and full gilt." This 
description is of itself quite enough to stimulate the 
curiosity of any one familiar with the works of Audubon. 
An inspection showed that the "one large folio edi- 
tion" was the single elephant folio volume of the plates 
of birds, published by Roe Lockwood, New York, 1861, 
being the lithogi-aphic reproduction of the great work 
on copper, begun but never finished. This reproduc- 
tion was set on foot here in America by Victor Gifford 
and John W'oodhouse Audubon, sons of the naturalist. 
The lithographing work was done by Bien, of New 
York, and only one volume, containing about 140 plates, 
was ever issued. The text of the birds consisted of seven 
volumes, bound in six, published by Roe Lockwood, 
New York, 1861. In style and typography these re- 
semble in a general way the ornithological biographies 
which go with the original work. 
The Quadrupeds were represented by two large folio 
volumes of the plates, 1845, and by three large octavo 
volumes of the text, "published by J. J. Audubon," 
New York, 1856. The volumes were handsomely bound 
in old and somewhat worn leather, and full gilt. The 
title pages and one or two of the first plates of the folio 
volumes of the Quadrupeds have been injured by fold- 
ing, and the binding of the elephant folio volume is in 
somewhat bad condition. The price paid for the lot was 
$1,100, which was reached after sharp competition. 
At least one of the New York papers — being under the 
impression that the works here advertised constituted 
an original edition of Audubon's "Birds of America" — 
speaks of these voliunes as being extremely low-priced, 
and compared this sale with the last one, where $3,800 
was paid for a set. As a matter of fact, the price paid for 
that set was for a perfect copy of the original work, con- 
taining the four elephant folio volumes with 435 plates, 
and the five volumes of the text printed in Edinburgh, or 
possibly with the first volume printed in Philadelphia, as 
is the case in some sets. There is no comparison be- 
tween the values of the books sold last week in New York 
and of a good copy of the original work, and while books 
so rare are of course worth whatever they will bring, 
book collectors will be of opinion that those just fol4 
brought high pripes father th^n Igw, 
SNAP SHOTS. 
The Rochester Rod and Gun Club, under whose f^an- 
agement the New York State shoot will be held in the 
latter part of June, sends us the draft of the new consti- 
tution, which will then be considered for adoption. As 
printed in our trap columns it proves to be substantially 
the old constitution of the New York State Association 
for the Protection of Fish and Game, so far as that in- 
strument had relation to trap-shooting; and the name of 
the Association is to be retained. This is quite legiti- 
mate. The game protective element of the Association 
in convention at Syracuse last December abandoned the 
former title and substituted for it the new one of the 
New York State Fish, Game and Forest League. Those 
elements of membership in the Association which did 
not take part in the Syracttse convention are free to as- 
sume any title they select, cither retaining the old or 
adopting a new one. They should be guided by a con- 
sideration of what may be for their interest and pros- 
perity; and this in turn will depend upon what they 
propose to do in the future. If they are to labor chiefly 
for the protection of fish and game, the old title will 
correctly and intelligently define their organization and 
its purposes, and enlist for it the support of people con- 
cerned in such efforts. If, on the other hand, they are 
to be engaged exclusively or mainly in the promotion 
of trap-shooting tournaments, some other title, such 
for instance as New York Trap-Shooters' Association, 
whose signification would proclaim that purpose would 
be more appropriate and better fitted to popularize the 
sport and draw to it the support of the trap-shooters of 
the State. No mistaken sentiment should influence the 
choice. The adoption of a title should be governed whol- 
ly by a consideration of what will best advertise the 
character of the Association, will best make it 
known to trap-shooters, and most closely identify it 
with the sport. Whatever may have been the considera- 
tion which now nearly thirty years ago determined the 
title of a sportsmen's association, the time has long since 
passed by when we should choose any other than the 
most specific and clearly definitive titles for our various 
organizations. Trap-shooting holds such a place in the 
development of the shooting activities of the day that its 
importance and popularity amply sustain the dignity 
of an organization named and known as a trap-shooting 
association. 
Mr. J. S. Van Cleef sends us an interesting note of 
the weights of trout in Catskill Mountain streams. Fish- 
ing those waters since the year 1859, he tells us, he has 
never taken with the fly a fish exceeding fifteen ounces, 
nor did his fellow anglers. When some one recently sug- 
gested to Mr. Van Cleef that for the sake of rounding out 
the story of a day's catch he ought to have stretched 
one of these fifteen-ounce trout to a pound fish, the re- 
tort was that "it is not in any way a matter of conscience, 
but simply of dignity, that a veteran angler is unwilling 
to tell an ounce lie in order to bring his catch up to a 
pound." In other words, a fisherman who has passed 
beyond the novice stage prefers always,-as a matter of 
personal dignity, to tell and to have told him the simple 
truth. The thing that is, the actual performance, the 
truth, this has interest and vahie. The "fish story" so 
called is as purposeless, flat, stale and unprofitable as 
any other simple lie of exaggeration. 
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown; precarious 
is the perch upon the ladder's topmost round; what is 
fame but dew of the morning? the sun looks upon it and 
it is gone. There was a fisherman of Avalon who arose 
early and toiled late and persevered many days that he 
might make the record catch of yellowtails, achieve the 
distinction of being high hook, and hold a place of honor 
and of envy among all the mighty fishermen of Santa 
Catalina Island. How the enterprise was rewarded by the 
catch of such a string as no man had ever taken before 
and no man has taken since is told in our fishing col- 
umns to-day. There also is set forth the curious train 
of circumstances by which the hero of the yellowtail ex- 
ploit has been done out of his high-hookednegg, robbed 
of his credit, and shorn of his glory. Shorn only tempo- 
rarily, let us hope, for to tell the story anew as it is here 
related is to put the credit where it belongs; nay, it Is to 
give back to one single person the record of achieve- 
ment which by the writer of last week was esteemed §0 
prodigious th|t it V^t 4*"^^^?^ ^^n' 
