808 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST, 
Sportsmen "Win in Illinois. 
Chicago, 111., April 15, — ^The sportsmen of Illinois ami 
of the West are this week to be congratulated on winning 
at least a part of the foughten field at Springfield, where, 
as set forth in last week's Forest and Stream, the 
passage of the dangerous Senate Bill No. 43, and its 
counterpart, House Bill 434, was so strong a probability 
as to excite the liveliest apprehensions. In the result, 
while Illinois is by no means to be congratulated on hav- 
ing- a model or even a desirable game law in this new 
measure, wdiich was tliis week passed, it may at least be 
said that not for a while, at least, will the city of Chicago 
be a legally wide open game market the year round. 
Western game will still have to come in here under 
cover, smuggled, stolen, hidden, and not openly and de- 
fiantly as in the city of Boston. The dealers of this city 
will have to go on another session or so before they can 
secure tlie wish which they have openly expressed for 
years — of being placed on an equal footing with the open 
markets of the East; Let us hope that, before they ever 
do succeed in their ^efTort to liave this measure enacted 
public sentiment will so far have grown in intelligenci 
that the people will block all such effort and set on our 
statue books a law which shall still further make diffi - 
-cult the way of the transgressor. 
I do not wish to be understood as saying tliat the mea- 
sure above referred. to was intentionally made a dealers' 
bill,- and I do not say that the lobby of South Water 
street had anything to do with this bill, to the knowledge 
of the backers of the bill, yet it was obviously clear, as 
shown in last week's Forest and Stream, that the deal- 
ers would have had reason to hug themselves had not a 
few of the more interested sportsmen gotten together and 
corrected the innocent-looking little clause of Section 
which was so near and yet so far from being identical 
with the old statute, and which, if passed as it stood at 
this time last week, would have left this a wide-open town. 
The chief credit for this action, I imagine, belongs t.» 
F. S. Baird, of the law committee of the Illinois State 
Sportsmen's Association, who Avas the first to detect the 
true inwardness of Senate Bill 43, and the foremost in the 
fight to correct it. Mr.. Baird wrote many letters and 
sent many telegrams to representatives at Springfield, 
and was the only man to get to Springfield and engage 
in personal supervision in the final stages of this bill. 
Mr. R. B. Organ was of great aid also in letters he sent 
to the capital city. Others aided as they could, and the 
result is shown in an amended Section i, which tallies 
in part and for the most part with the recommendations 
made by the committee of sportsmen whose action was 
last week reported. Not the least to be mentioned in 
this connection is Warden Loveday himself, who, in ac- 
cordancce with .his promise to the committee on last 
Saturday, was the first to arrive at Springfield (on last 
Monday), and set to work with the committees of the 
House and, Senate^ to get the insertion of the omitted 
names of certain birds and animals. He had the thing 
along to second reading by the time Mr. Baird arrived. 
Then there was a delay in the printing of the amend- 
ments, which" looked threatening for .a tim.e. Mr. Baird 
copied from the House journal the amendm_ents which 
had been passed, went to the printing o.ffice and ran the 
thing do-wn there, and by Wednesday afternoon was -able 
to return Avith the assurance that the w^ork was done as 
had been agreed, and that Section i, the much mooted, 
was shorn of its danger. Mr. Baird kept faith strictly in 
this work, and asked for nothing more than what had 
been agreed at the meeting at Warden Loveday's office. 
Mr, Graham, attorney for the Chicago School Board, 
was down there with the intent to kill the whole mc:^- 
sure, and of fighting Warden Loveday on the supposition 
that the justices of the peace had held back funds due 
the school board under the old law. He was told that 
the fight would have to be made without the .sportsmen, 
as the latter were plerlgcd to confine their work to Sec- 
tion I. As the new law comes out Mr. Graham will 
hardly be pleased, for under it tlie school board will get 
no part of the fines at all. So far as this is concerned, I 
can see no reiisdn to call this objectionable, but rather 
better than the old law. School boards have nothing ••) 
do with game protection, and it would appear clear that 
the funds raised by confiscations ought to be used for 
paying in the work of protection and not applied to alien 
uses. 
Tlie Real Amencfmeni. 
The real amendments that were passed to the bill subse- 
quent to last Saturday are as below: 
Amend printed bill by inserting alter the word "any" iu line 
3 of section 1 the following: "Wild bnck, doe or fawn, or wild 
turkey, between the 15th day of January and the 1st day of Sep- 
tember of each and every year, or any pinnated or ruffed grouse, 
prairie chicken, pheasant or partridge between October 1 and 
August 31 of the succeeding year, or any." 
Amend section 1 of printed bill by adding after the word "State" 
in line 29 the following: "Provided, that the animals, fowls and 
bird- mentioned in section 10 of this act shall not be killed for a 
period of five, years from and after the taking effect of this act." 
Amend section 4 of printed hill by striking out all of line 6 after 
the word "each" and inserting therein the word "offense." 
Amend section 19 of printed bill by striking out the words 
"propagation and" where they occur in lines 4, 9, 22, 25 and 29, 
and by strikine out the same words in line 5 of section 23 and 
line J3 of sfection 28. • 
Anjeud section 10. line 4, by striking out the word 'Vild turkey." 
. Study of this main amendment to Section i will show 
that it is not identical with that agreed upon with 
the warden last Saturday, though it covers the ope.n 
market question perfectly. The changes made are per- 
haps those due to the hurly-burly and general mixed-up 
condition of legislative committee work. Thus, it will be 
observed that the date for shooting ruifed grouse is not 
made the same as that on quail, as was agreed at thu 
joint meeting last Saturday. Instead of making tin; 
ruffed groase season Nov. 1 to Dec. 20, as governs on 
quail, it is now set to be the same as that on prairie 
chickens, which can be killed only in the month of Sep- 
tember. The absurdity of this from a sportsman's stand- 
point is obvious. 
There was a rumor out to-day, which I cannot at this 
writing verify, (hat as finally engrossed Section r omits 
to specify wild turkey in any way, this bird having bv 
sotne error been dropped as were earlier the others over 
■a.'hlch the fight was made. Mr, Baird thinks this rumor 
is without foundation, and that the bill is substantially all 
right now, and is amended only as shown above. If, how- 
ever, the name of the wild turkey is dropped out by some 
chance, then the effect will be that the wild turkey rs 
protected in this State for five years, but all wild turkeys 
from outside this State can be sold the year round. If it 
does appear in the amended Section i, as I think most 
likely, then this bird can be killled in this State during 
the month of September. This is conceding nothing. 
The wild turkeys of Illinois cut no figure, but those of 
Texas and the Indian nations do amount to very much 
more from the standpoint of the hunter, the naturalist 
and all those interested in the preservation of these birds 
in America. 
Sportsmen who like to shoot jacksnipe in the spring 
will note that under this new law they will have to put 
up their guns at April 25. The mourning dove will have 
a new right to mourn, for it is made a game bird now, 
with an open season of Sept. i to Dec. i. 
A Possible Virtue. 
There is one little thing in this law which may not he 
yet brought to the notice of the framers of the bill, an<l 
which may prove to be one feature where the'sportsmen 
got something which they were not expecting, and where 
the game dealers got something they were not looking 
for. Please note carefully Section 10, which reads: 
"Sec. 10 That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons in 
the State of Illinois, for and during the period of five years from 
and after the passing of this act, to injure, take, kill, expose or 
offer for sale, or have in possession except for breeding purposes, 
any wild buck, doe or fawn, wild turkey, ring-neck, Mongolian 
pheasant any green Japanese pheasant, English pheasant, any 
copper pheasant, or Siholmeringoiu, any Trogapan pkeasant, silver 
pheasant or golden pheasant, any Cacubis. any chucker partridge, 
and sand-grouse, any black India partridge." 
Th6re is a chance for construction in the above section, 
and it seems to me that the prohibition for "any person 
or persons in the State of Illinois," to. "have in posses- 
sion except for breeding purposes,' or to "offer for sa.]i'\ 
any "wild buck, doe or fawn," may fairly and clearly be 
construed to mean that no one can sell venison in Illinois 
at any season of the year whatever. This would be some- 
thing of a back-handed blow at the "Street," which would 
be one of the best jokes known in the turbid record -A 
Illinois game legislation. It is no difference what the 
frainer of the law intended to say or what the legislators 
thought they were doing. There is what they did, and 
on this the courts, it seems to me, have a chance to pass. 
I saw this thing at the meeting at Mr. Loveday's office 
last Saturday, and at that time showed it to Mr. Baird, 
and we agreed not to say anything about it. but to let it 
take -its course and turn out for what it is woi^th. Not i j 
take too much credit for this questionable benefit I would 
say that a young daily newspaper reporter, whose name I 
do not know, pointed this item out to me as we sat near 
together during the meeting. Whether there is any good 
fight in this or not, it only goes to show what may be tho 
capabi^lities of the En.glish language when in oonrse of 
use at the city of Springfield. Should this commj-nt. come 
to the knowledge of Governor Tanner before 'be signs 
the bill it will perhaps be in his power to close: this 
market- to venison the year round for five years, a- thing 
which many person.s on South Water street would think 
-a horrid act for him. to do; or he can fail to sign the law 
at ally in -which case we will still have our old game law, 
' which in maiiy points is safer and better than this one, ia 
which I can see no real progress whatever, either in local 
protection or in the problem of limiting the trade in 
Western game. Without doubt this part of Section 10 
was intended to apply to Illinois venison only, j'et it does 
apply to all venison, for no restricting words are used, 
and it is not stated that the buck, doe or fawn is or is not 
to be an Illinois buck, doe or lawn. Here is an instance 
of a section wider than it was intended to be. Section 1 
is an instance of a section which was very much narrower 
than it was intended to be, in one sense, in that it left out 
part of the things it was intended to cover. All of which 
goes to prove that monkeying with the game laws is a 
dangerous thin,g all around, and which proves also that 
we shall never really know what we have got in this new 
law until after it is printed and signed by the Governor, 
and more than that, tested section by section in the courts. 
It is a very grave question if we can consider the ground 
won in the Supreme Court of this State as ground not to 
be fought OA-^er again. We do not know what we have gut 
until we have learned it all over again by experience, 
which may be bitter. But this is what wc have, or think 
we have, at this writing, and it is plain to be seen that a 
very important and substantial advantage was gained by 
the sportsmen's committee in the work whose story has 
occupied space for a couple of weeks in these column.'^. 
]\lr. Loveday can hardly recognize his own bill in the 
form which It now has. The first draft of the bill was a 
very different affair from this. He says that in that first 
draft the names of the birds omitted later were included, 
and he does not know when or how the nearly fatal omis- 
sions occurred. No copy of this first draft can be ob- 
tained to-day, so far as I know, and I never saw any sucli 
draft But of course all this is immaterial to-day. An 
old Irish lawyer, an acquaintance of mine, used to say: 
"Ah, me boy, ye can git up yer case the best way in the 
worrld, an' ye can have the purtiest brief that ivver wuz, 
.'ind have anny number av cases pat to yer fingers' ind — 
but wait till the swearin' begins! Ye don't know where 
ye are till the swearin' begins, an' after it's over, bedad, 
sometimes thin ye don't know." 
Wyoming Breaks Out Also. 
The Ucense idea is gaining ground in the West right 
along, as I have often had occasion to remark, and it is 
pretty hard to tell just where it may stop. The last thing 
is from Wyoming. When yon have to pay a $40 non- 
resident license, and then on top of that have to hire a 
guide, ho matter how good a mountain man and hunter 
you' are yourself, that looks a good deal like hunting under 
restrictions, which take away the charm and make the 
hunt not a hunt but a personally conducted frost This 
is outstepping the tab and ticket methods of dear old 
Maine, where they have numbers on the deers' horns, 
showing which are next to be shot and where they are io 
be shipped. I presume most of us folk from this part of 
the world would like to have a guide if we went to a 
strange part of the Rockies, and surely guides are good 
company iu most cases, whether it be for business or £iot; 
but wouldn't it be a little more pleasant if the hiring of 
the guide were left a matter to be regulated by preference 
and not by law? I shouldn't mind the license part of it— 
if I had the price— but I confess I don't like the notion 
of being told that I must have a guide whether I like the 
color of his hair and eyes or not; that all my rising up 
and sitting down must be watched by the never-sleeping 
eye of Wyoming as per the aforesaid guide, who is to 
have his hand continually on my collar and his beak con- 
tinually in my financial heart. Still, big game hunting is 
a thing chiefly for the rich nowadays, and the game has 
been disappearing so fast that I do not blame the resi- 
dents of Wyoming for taking radical measures. If this 
new act, stringent as it is, shall keep out the butchers, 
and if it shall let in only a few good hunters, and if these 
few shall be so closely watched by intelligent and virtuous 
guides that they dare not lapse from rectitude, then this 
Wyoming law will protect the game as well as comfort 
Ihe guides. There are several ifs to this_. 
I get part of my advice on this Wyoming, law from Mr. 
Wm. Wells, of Uinta County, Wyo., a contributor to the 
Forest and Stream, whose writing always has some- 
thing to it and who is very well known to most of the 
big game hunters of the East thoroughly reliabl.-; 
man for consultation about a big game trip. Mr. Wells 
writes me as below: 
"Gros Ventre Lodge, Wells Po. O., Uinta Co., Wyo., April 5.— 
.Uear Mr. Hough: I have neglected writing to you for some time. 
V'e are having .a winter up here- to be remembered. Snow over 
'1ft. on the level, and very little thaw as yet Two of the boys 
in from the Big Gros Ventre, where the main herds of elk are, re- 
port the elk doing well and no dead ones, and enough grass show- 
ing up on the south elopes and ridges to furnish plenty of feed 
The elk and deer here on the head of Green River are all O. ^C., 
but I am worried about the elk and antelope on the desert. Still 
tliey may be all right, as reports from the Big Pineys say not 
nnich snow down there. I suppose you have seen the new Wyom- 
ing game law. It is a radical one, $40 license on non-residents, 
compels all guides to be registered, and who must bs bona fide 
citizens of Wyoming, thus blocking out al! the Montana and "daho 
guides. No non-resident can hunt unless lie lias wiih him a rrg- 
irlered guide. Amount of game to be kill-^d by one per.'^.on yeaily 
limiled to two elk, two deer three antelope, on sheep and one 
goat. This amount of game may be taken out of the State by 
the person killing it. Open season on big game, September, Octo- 
ber and November." 
I had cherished as one of my dreams a little trip out to 
Mr. Wells' Gros Ventre Lodge some day before very 
long, as I know he is in a splendid game country; but if 
the license keeps on rising and the price of poetry rules 
low. as it has for the past few years, I don't see how I 
am going to make it connect all around. I have always 
wanted to get into the Wind River country. Yet when I 
reflect that this is the way the Wyoming men get back at 
the Eastern butchers who go out there and kill a hundred 
elk on one trip, as reported in recent letters from Mr. 
Daniels, of this city, then I am free to say that I do not 
blame them a bit on earth, and I would be still mote 
rabid if I were a Wyoming man. 
How about Michigan, 
In the slang of the day, it is up to" Governor Pingvee 
now in Michigan. He has said that he would veto the 
Leidlei-H -bill permitting spring shooting in Michigan, an-! 
' it is now his privilege "to do so. -'The-' following lettei 
was yesterday addressed to Governor Pingree by a gentk- 
man of that State, who has always been very energetic 
his efforts at practical gam.e protection, and I hope it may 
be of weight sufficient in' connection with Governor Pin- 
gree's good judgnient to stop the backward step in ^qo4 
old Michigan. I need not, under the circumstances, men 
tion the name of the writer, whose com.m.unication is as 
below; - ' 
"Hon. H. S. Pingree, Lansing, Mich.— Dear Sir: I am -grsifi- 
fted to learn on reading last night's paper that you have taken a 
stand toward vetoing Senator Leidlein's bill permitUng spring 
shooting, and I cannot urge too strongly in behalf of the sports- 
men of Saginaw and in behalf of the true protectionists of game 
that you maintain this position. To permit, at this tirne, spring 
shooting would be a step backward in game protection. For 
years, the energetic sportsmen and game protectionists have la- 
bored" to have laws enacted preventing the shooting of these breed- 
ing birds in the springtime, when they were paired and mated, 
and when the destruction of one meant the destruction of an en- 
tire brood. At last, by conference, the Legislatures of Illinois and 
Wiscon.sin agreed to abolish spring shooting, with the under- 
standing that Michigan did likewise, and the promise was well 
kept two years ago. The claim has been made that if sprmg 
shooting was allowed in one State, the selfish greed of the neigh- 
boring States demanded the same privilege of slaughter. Now, I 
say, the two neighboring States have a law that prevents spring 
shooting, and Michigan cannot afiford to have her honorable repu- 
tation tarnished bv going back on this agreement, or even wilh- 
uut the agreement, by taking this barbarous step backward. In 
the State of Ohio they are even more rigid than we are here, and 
not only do they prohibit spring shooting, but in many localities 
the shooting of ducks is limited to three days per week during 
the open season in the fall. Every one who is interested in the 
s^ubiect has agreed that too much cannot be done to protect game 
birds and fishes and song birds, for with the rapid diminishing of 
our forests their natural covers and their natural places of breed- 
ing and feeding have become so scarce that the songsters and 
the game birds naturally decrease. With the aid of modern fire- 
arms and especially the pump gun in the hands of those who have 
no sentiment for the songsters and care no more for the game 
birds than the dollar they will bring, and which fill the pot for 
them no more acceptably than a chunk ot pork does, the work 
of slaughtering goes on. , , - 
"I do not want to burden you with many long letters, but I 
am verv warm on this subject, for I do not want them to disap- 
pear like the buffalo and wild pigeon have. Show this letter to 
my friend Chase H. Osborn. ex-game warden; he_ may want to 
use some portions of it. and I know he is a practical game pro- 
tectionists and can readily distinguish between the pot hunter and 
the unselfish citizen." 
The Neighbors are Good. 
I surely do have good neighbors. For instance, look at 
this, which comes from my friend, Maj. T, G. Dabney 
("Coahoma"), of Clarksdale, Miss,: 
"I picked up an old volume, or part of one, which I 
read with much interest, and think it may be of interest 
to you. I will mail it to you, and if. after examining it. 
you place any value upon its possession you may regard 
it as your property. - ^ 
"The book is an itinerafv in diarv form of an expedi- 
tion commanded by Lieut. Zebulen M. Pike, U S. A., as 
officially reported by himself, from St. Louis to the sources 
of the Mississippi River, in 1805-1806. 
"Also a -second expedition to the sources of the .\rka:i- 
sas. Red River nnd Rio del Norte," 
Now. that "Coahoma" shoidd have stopped builduiK 
levees and catching snakes for domestic purposes is not 
altogether .so surprising, biit that he should so nicely Vr 
the very dearest wishes of a fellow man. who is manv 
hundreds of miles distant from him is the singular part 
of it It happens to be one of my manias to get hold 
all the old books on early WesSeru iife that I can fiu'f. 
