46 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jaw. ^i, 1899. 
imti^ ^Hg md 0ttn. 
Proprietors of fishing and hunting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stream. 
The Lacey Bill. 
Washington, D. C, Jan. 12. — The House bill extend- 
ing the powers of the Fish Commission over birds, with 
the Senate amendments preventing the importation of 
feathers, and the transportation of birds from one State 
to another, came up in the House of Representatives to- 
daj', on a motion by Mr. Perkins, for the appointment of 
conferees; to meet with those already appointed by the 
Senate. An unexpected attempt was made by Mr. Can- 
non, of Illinois, chairman of the committee on appropria- 
tions, to kill the bill, on account of the increased expense, 
and because he thought the various States should take 
care of their own birds. The House defeated his mo- 
tion to postpone the bill indefinitely, however, by an over- 
whelming vote, and conferees were appointed. Mr. Lacey, 
the author of the bill, stated his purpose to secure a 
modification of the Senate amendments, so as to meet 
the point raised in the editorial reference to the matter in 
this week's Fokest and Stream. The debate in the 
House, which was quite spirited and interesting, is well 
worth reading. It was as follows : 
Game and othef Birds. 
Mr. Perkins: Mr. Speaker, I ask for a conference re- 
port on the bill (H. R. 3589) to extend the powers and 
duties of the Commission of Fish and Fisheries to include 
game birds and other wild birds useful to man. I ask that 
the Senate amendments to the bill be disagreed to, and 
that the conference asked for by the Senate be agreed to. 
The Senate amendments were read. 
The Speaker: The gentleman moves that the House 
non-concur in the Senate amendments. 
Mr. Cannon: Mr. Speaker, I have not a copy of the 
Senate amendments before me, nor am I very familiar 
with this bill. I should be glad to have the gentleman 
from Iowa make a statemetat about it. Has some legisla- 
tion passed touching the birds? 
Mr. Lacey: The bill passed the House under suspen- 
sion of the rules on the last suspension day, extending 
the powers of the Fish Commission so as to make them 
relate to birds, in a way somewhat similar to that by 
which they now relate to fish. The Senate have passed 
that bill, but have added an amendment in regard to the 
transportation and importation of birds for ornament. 
The bill has evidently been amended in a manner broader 
than its framer in the Senate contemplated. In other 
words, I think the way the bill now reads, the amendment 
in the Senate would prohibit the transfer of a live song 
bird from the State of Kentucky to the State of Illinois, 
or the transportation of an ostrich feather from Baltimore 
to Chicago. I think there has been a mistake in the fram- 
ing of the second section of that bill. Of course, that 
was not intended by the Senate amendment. It can 
readily be corrected in conference. 
Mr. Cannon : Now I would like to ask the gentleman 
just what does the bill propose to do with the birds? 
Mr. Lacey : That matter was explained the other day, 
when the bill was passed by the House. 
Mr. Cannon : But, like many others, passed under a 
suspension of the rules, with twenty minutes for debate, 
and that is equivalent to not much knowledge on the 
part of the House. 
Mr. Lacey: The House had full knowledge of it. 
Mr. Cannon: I would say to the gentleman, frankly, 
that I would like to hear him; but it seemed to me that 
this legislation was a little strange. I have an impression, 
and it is only an impression, that it puts the birds of the 
country under the Fish Commission. There are people 
who tliink the Fish Commission has outgrown its use- 
fulness; but there is no doubt the Fish Commission has 
grown in expense. I do not desire to make any attack 
upon it, but the effect of the legislation wotild probably be 
tp double the expense of the Fish Comriiission, without 
any very considerable profit to the people of the country. 
1 would be glad to know what this scheme contemplates, 
because if it has not been properly considered by the 
House or the House being fully informed as to whaj: the 
scheme is, the House can stop at any time, 
Mr. Lacey: Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether the 
chairman of the committee on appropriations was present 
when this bill passed under the suspension of the rules 
the other day or not. The chairman of the committee on 
w?>vs and means was present, and demanded a second, in 
order that a full explanation of the bill might be made to 
tne House. A full explanation was made. 
Mr. Walker, of Massachusetts: What was it? 
Mr. Lacey : Now I know that the chairman of the com- 
mittee on banking and currency was not present, or he 
would not ask that question. But I am pleased to inform 
gentlemen of the general scope and purpose of the bill 
a second time within a very few days. The bill we 
passed perhaps explains itself better or as well as I pos- 
sibly could do, and I commend it to the attention of my 
friend from Illinois, whose State has utterly destroyed 
bird life in the State. 
Mr. Hopkins : The gentleman is mistaken. 
Mr. Lacey: There are very few birds in that State. 
Now there can be no appropriation for this useful pur- 
pose without some general law authorizes it. The appro- 
priation is an annual one, and if on trying the experiment 
it is found that it' does not work satisfactorily, all that 
needs to be done is to cut off the appropriation. 
It is not like creating a new bureau, that must go on and 
' transact business anyhow, when salaries must be paid; 
but this is an additional service, from the same persons, 
who already have most of the machinery to carry out this 
purpose in their control, and the subsequent appropriations 
will depend upon the success of the proposed operations. 
I can say, Mr. Chairman, that this bill has attracted a 
good deal of attention on the part of the bird lovers of 
the United States, and every man with a good heart is a 
lover of birds. Every schoolhouse ought to be a training 
school, teaching boys to protect the birds of this country. 
[A.pplause.] I know when I was a small boy the air was 
fairly filled with birds that have now almost disappeared, 
It is not a matter to be laughed at in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. People stood by and laughed while the Amer- 
ican buffalo disappeared from the plains of the West, and 
a national crime was there committed, a disgrace to Amer- 
ican civilization. The whitened bones of that splendid 
animal have been gathered together for fertilizers. Ani- 
mals have been slaughtered for their hides, and they 
have been swept from the face of the earth. A small 
space was set apart to save these splendid mamriials some 
years ago, and a few were placed in the Yellowstone Park. 
But it wa.s discovered a few years ago that there was no 
law protecting those animals, and that men climbed down 
the sides of the mountains in the winter and slaughtered 
the buffalo, and sold their heads for $250 apiece. To-day 
there are not over 100 or 150 living buffalo in this coun- 
try; and yet only a few years ago railroad trains in the 
West had to stop until the buffalo herds had passed. 
Flocks of birds that used to fly about the marshes of 
Illinois and Iowa have been swept almost from the fice of 
the earth, and on every hand, from every hamlet, a cry has 
gone up that something ought to be done to stay the de- 
struction of the song birds that made beaiitiful the homes 
of our country in the summer. 
We witness the flight of birds passing by in the spring 
and in the fall, birds of passage, and the pot-hunter goes 
out and slays them as they go by. It is time that a halt 
was called on the wholesale destruction of our feathered 
friends. This is only a small step in that direction, but 
it is a step that will do good. Take the splendid grouse 
of Oregon, they are abundant there yet. Turn a few 
hundred of them into the valley of the Shenandoah 
and they will be protected by an intelligent public senti- 
ment, because they will be looked upon, not as a few 
birds placed there by sportsmen, but by the hand of an 
enlightened Government, and the pot-hunter will be com- 
pelled to stay his hand, and they will begin to be propa- 
gated in States to-day where they never have been known. 
The sentunent in my own State has grown up of late years 
very strongly for preserving what few of these feathered 
friends still remain, but as far as some of the States are 
concerned it is like locking the stable after the horse has 
been stolen. , , 
Now, this purpose is tentative in its form, but it is no 
experiment. Many enlightened communities in the old 
world have fish commissions and game wardens combined 
in the same hands, and the same persons and the same 
appropriations are made and used to fill again the rivers 
with fish and fill tlie air again with feathered game. We 
ought not to be behind in this matter. It is not a proposi- 
tion for an appropriation, it is simply a proposition to pave 
the way for my friend from Illinois in the future, when he 
will be glad to put in an adequate appropriation for this 
purpose. There are streams to-day that are again fairly 
well filled with fish that a few years ago were absolutely 
barren. 
In the State of Connecticut 150 years ago, when an ap- 
prentice was bound out, they put in the indenture a pro- 
vision that he should not be required to eat salmon more 
than twice a week, knowing that if that was not in, the 
Connecticut farmer would make him eat salmon seven 
times a week and three times a day. Now salmon is 
worth 75 cents a pound. Take terrapin in Maryland. 
Years ago it was so plentiful that they had laws to pre- 
vent the too economical masters from making their slaves 
live upon it; and now, Mr. .Speaker, where is the terrapin? 
[Laughter.] 
This is no laughing matter, although we may laugh at 
the absurdity of terrapin being so plentiful that laws had 
to be passed to prevent the slaves from being fed upon 
them. 
Mr. Grosvenor : Does the gentleman think there coitid 
be any commission under the auspices of the Government 
that could tell terrapin when they met it? [Laughter.] 
Mr. Lacey: I have no doubt that a select committee 
could be obtained from this House that could tell terrapin 
provided they got the terrapin early enough in the banquet. 
[Laughter.] , , 1 
Now, Mr. Speaker, in the case of the buffalo the people 
waked up ; but they waked up after the buffalo had dis- 
appeared. Many of the birds remain, and this is a step to- 
ward their preservation and protection. 
The only question, Mr. Speaker, before the House is as 
to a conference upon the amendment added to the bill in 
the Senate upon the motion of the distinguished Senator 
from Massachusetts, who added, by his motion to the 
House bill, a bill pending in that body. That proposition 
is one in which I have hearty sympathy, and I believe is 
a wise supplement to the bill as it passed this House, but 
there are some portions of the language of that bill that 
ought to be corrected, and this conference ought to be 
agreed to. . 
For instance. Section 3 prohibits the transportation ot 
birds to be used or sold from any State or Territory of 
the United States to or through any other State or Terri- 
tory in the United States. That is too broad. It is cap- 
able of a construction that evidently never was intended. 
The object was to prevent the indiscriminate killing of 
song birds for hat ornaments and other ornaments, and 
their importation into this country, the transportation 
from one State or Territory to another. The first sec- 
tion is drawn so that there will be no difficulty about it, 
but the second section is broad enough to prevent^ the 
transportation of a red bird, for instance, from the State 
of Kentucky to some other State. I might say to my 
friend from Ohio that I understand that his State has 
honored itself by passing a law absolutely prohibiting the 
keeping the red bird in a cage at all. They have recog- 
nized the fact that that bird will soon be rendered ex- 
tinct, unless it is allowed the free air of heaven; and the 
boys which have been in the habit of catching it are 
compelled to abandon their practice. In the State of 
Ohio the red bird has been turned free by the State itself. 
Now I think that this bill ought to go into confer- 
ence, in order that any inequalities as to these amend- 
ments can be cured, and I shall feel very confident that 
my friend from Illinois will, in the next Congress, see to 
it that adequate appropriations, are made to give this 
matter a fair trial. ' \. , . ^ -.u 
Mr. Cannon: Mr. Speaker, I have listened with great 
interest to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Lacey). In a 
word, what does this bill propose to do if enacted into 
law? Take the House bill. I agree to the criticism which 
the gentleman makes on the Senate amendments. If the 
bill is to pass at all it ought to go to conference, and 
the Senate amendments ought to be eliminated or modi- 
fied There is no contention between the gentleman 
and myself touching that point. But as to the House 
bill, let us see what it proposes to do. Under it the 
United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries is here- 
after to be known and designated as the United States 
Commission of Fish, Fisheries and Birds. Now we all 
understand about the United States Fish Commission. 
It does a great work. I was not a member of the House 
when that work was first authorized; but from the time 
of its inception to the present the appropriations for it 
have been justified upon the ground that the water 
courses of the country no longer bear the fish that they 
formerly did ; and it has been demonstrated that they 
can be replenished with fish by a judicious expenditure 
of money under the direction of the Fish Commission. 
The various States — at least most of them — have fish 
commissions, which are doing valuable work. It has been 
stated time and again that, acre for acre, the water 
courses of this country and the waters along our coasts 
are as valuable in the production of food for the human 
family as if they were fine agricultural lands. 
I have no war to make upon the Fish Commission. I 
have thought at times that in many respects its work has 
not been conducted wisely. Fish hatching stations have 
been scattered over this country at points where the re- 
sults do not justify the expenditure. They have been 
established where there was not water enough to run 
them, so that great expense has been incurred in procur- 
ing water, and even then in many cases it has not been 
obtained in sufficient amounts; and in certain cold sec- 
tions of the country they have been obliged to heat the 
water. [Laughter.] But I am not here to discuss the 
work of the commission or to complain about it. Upon 
the whole it has rendered good service. 
But how do you justify that work? You justify it be- 
cause it is for the purpose of furnishing food to millions 
that may be able to gather the fish from the waters of the 
sea coast and the great tidal rivers and the inland rivers. 
The Fish Commission serves a good purpose; and we are 
going to continue it. 
Now what does this bill do? It proposes to extend the 
jurisdiction of the Fish Commission so as to include the 
propagation and care of birds. It creates machinery for 
this purpose, ramifying into nearly all the States. On this 
subject the bill provides ; 
The duties and powers of said ' Coinmissioii are enlarged' so as to 
include — 
Include what? 
The propagation, distribution, transportation, introduction and 
restoration of game birds and other wild bird.s useful to man. 
How about propagation? For this purpose there are 
needed aviaries, incubators, etc. The scientific gentle- 
men, of course, know all about how eggs should be 
hatched, and all that kind of thing. 
Then there must be provision for distribution, trans- 
portation, introduction and restoration — of what? Game 
birds. Are the forests of the country, on account of the 
restoration or the propagation of birds, to yield food to 
seventy-five millions of people in the same way that the 
waters of the country, as is claimed, equal acre for acre in 
food-producing capacity our agricultural lands? I guess 
not. 
I do not know exactly what kind of birds this bill re- 
fers to. "Game birds and other wild birds useful to 
man." In reading some of Boccaccio's stories in the De- 
cameron, I have thought at times that I should be very 
glad indeed if the sweet singing birds could be reproduced 
as they were many years ago — especially the nightingale. 
[Laughter.] But I do not know whether the nightingale 
is to be introduced here or not — or the hummingbird. 
The truth of the matter is that the Congress of the 
United States has no power to legislate for the protection 
of birds in the various States. We have jurisdiction over 
navigable waters and therefore can legislate with refer- 
ence to fishculture ; but for the protection of birds we 
have no power to legislate. The various States attend 
to that matter. The State of Illinois has laws touching 
the protection of birds, so has Iowa. 
Mr. Lacey: Does not the Fish Commission introduce 
fish into non-navigable streams? 
Mr. Cannon : Certainly ; it does it by permission. But 
the Fish Commission has no power to protect fish, in 
the spawning season or otherwise, in any of the non- 
navigable streams of the United States outside of the 
Territories and the District of Columbia, For such mat- 
ters we depend on State legislation; the State police power 
can attend to that kind of work. 
Now I believe this is a nation with a big N. I have 
always thought so; but after all said and done, there are 
some things we can trust to the States ; and in the matter 
of protection of birds — the hummingbird, the nightingale, 
the mockingbird, etc. — as we have no power to preserve ' 
them, we had better leave them alone and trust their pro- 
tection and propagation to the police power of the States. 
Mr, Cox : When the gentleman speaks of the nation 
with a big N, what does he mean by that big N? 
Mr. Cannon: I am speaking of the power of the Fed- , 
eral Government. Now as I look at this bill I see nothing 
in it but extravagance and mischief. Gentlemen say vve | 
can withhold appropriations. But when we once begin 
to build aviaries, with all the expenses attending them, 
we do not know where the matter will stop. We do not 
know whether they will be heated with steam heat ot hot ] 
water or some other arrangement, which these scientific | 
gentlemen may devise. When an aviary has been estab- | 
lished in the district of one representative, other represen- | 
tatives will want aviaries established in their districts. 
Of course, it will be all right while we are here ; but when 
we pass away we do not know what may be done by those ' 
who are to follow us. [Laughter.] 
Is the object to be attained (I speak now seriously) 
worth the expense? It seems to me it is not ; and we shall 
scarcely be very well able to hold this expenditure in check 
when we get a lot of scientific gentlemen— bird propaga- 
tors — employed in this work throughout the length and 
breadth of the country. Each one has his friend or^ 
friends in the various districts. 
Now, Mr. Speaker, I would just like to test the sense 
of the House touching this matter by entering a motion 
to indefinitely postpone the consideration of this hUl and 
the Senate amendment. 
The question was taken,, and the Speaker announced 
that the noes had prevailed. _ 
Mr. Cannon: The noes evidently havfe it; but I will 
take the sense of the. House by a rising vote. I believe 
