Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1899, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
'^-'^-^^^^^l-^^^^^-^--^^^^-] NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1899. \^o. mlVok^:i^:T,^'Ln^ 
ABOUT SCHWEITZERKASE. 
If you have no case, abuse the plaintiff's attorney; if 
you are put to it for an argument, call names, the hard- 
est names you can think of. This is the good old rule 
which has been followed for thousands of years and will 
be kept up so long as human nature shall remain what it 
is. But to call names, though cheap, convinces nobody. 
Though one were a past-master in blackguardism, like 
Dennis Kearney, of Sandlots notoriety, who once dubbed 
an opponent a slab-sided, bung-eyed hyena; or like the 
prophet who from behind the barricades of game he has 
slaughtered "just for pastime" shrieks "game hog" at his 
fellows, his hard names would carry no persuasion nor 
reformation, nor conviction, nor accomplish anything 
else than to reveal the weakness of his own position. 
A case in point is that of the net fishermen of the vicin- 
ity of New York and the amateur anglers who have 
banded themselves together in a Protective League of 
Salt Water Fishermen. The purpose of the league is to 
secure the enforcement of the laws relating to netting 
and the pollution of the waters by waste from factories 
and other sources. The organization has already gained 
formidable strength, and those who are back of it have 
demonstrated that they "mean business." They are alert 
to the situation, and have begun a campaign which they 
promise to keep .up until they shall have achieved its 
purpose. Naturally, they have excited opposition, and 
the opposition has taken the form of ridicule and de- 
rision. The netters' advocates call their opponents 
names. They say that they are schweitzerkase fishermen. 
The implication is that the League people are of a hum- 
ble class, whose rights are not worth while respecting, 
and that their interests are of no importance as compared 
with those of the netters. 
There may be honest differences of opinion respecting 
schweitzerkase. Some people like it, others do not; it 
is a matter of taste and of good digestion. The cheese 
is an important article of diet; tons of it are cdnsumed an- 
nually on Manhattan Island; but we have never heard 
before that its consumption had any bearing upon the 
moral, social, industrial, political or sportsmanlike stand- 
ing of those who eat it. No one is any better or worse 
for the eating of schweitzerkase; no more nor any the 
less respectable. Nor are his angling interests to be in- 
fluenced in the slightest degree by the fact that he does 
or does not take schweitzerkase along with him on his 
fishing trips for lunch. Many worse things go into the 
lunch baskets of more pretentious folks. Nor is there 
any good reason why the interest of the schweitzerkase 
fisherman should not be protected equally with that of 
those anglers whose elaborate lunches comprise all the 
high-priced delicacies of the season and the most expen- 
sive wines. The man with the -schweitzerkase gets just as 
much enjoyment out of his fishing, and is fully as deserv- 
ing of consideration and has precisely as much claim to 
the protection of the law for preserving to him the oppor- 
tunities to enjoy himself in his own way. This is a fact 
which cannot be covered up by calling names. 
Now what are the facts of the case affecting the great 
class of salt water fishermen whom the city pours out an- 
nually to the banks of the Hudson and the East River, to 
the shores and bays of Staten Island, Jamaica Bay and 
neighboring waters, and up the Sound? Ninety-nine out 
of one hundred of them are working men, engaged dur- 
ing all the rest of the week in toil, and intent in the 
short hours available for recreation upon having their 
favorite sport in their own way. The League president, 
Mr. Biedenger, a letter carrier, will stand as an example 
of its membership. They are not those who can spend 
money without thought for railroad fares to distant 
waters, and afford the time and expense of putting up at 
summer hotels or staying at expensively ordered club 
houses. For this very reason, because they are of the 
ranks of the workers — the people whom the netters are 
pleased to term schweitzerkase fishermen — their limited 
privileges should be most Jealously defended. The de- 
fense of their rights should not be left to them; it be- 
longs to the State. 
Things have come to a pretty pass indeed if these peo- 
ple may not undertake to secure the enforcement of the 
righteous laws without finding themselves the butt of 
cheap ridicule. In this resort by its opponents to such 
arguments, the League may find encouraging assurance 
that its growing influence is something with which illegal 
netters must reckon in New York waters. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
We publish in our angling columns a gratifying report 
of progress by Pres. Biedinger of the League of Salt 
Water Fishermen, an association formed in New York 
and vicinity for the enforcement of the laws relative 
to salt water fishing and the pollution of the waters. It 
is manifest that the members of the league are very 
nutch in earnest, and they have gone to work in the 
right way, building up a body strong in numbers and 
therefore certain to be influential. If they shall bring 
into their association all the people who are directly in- 
terested in its objects, there is no reason why they should 
not expect to have so much political influence that they 
may secure representation of their purposes at Albany. 
One of the most interesting facts reported by Pres. 
Biedinger is the changed attitude of the men who were 
formerly, engaged in net fishing in Jamaica Bay. This 
body of water is the chief amateur sea fishing ground near 
New York City. It was formerly infested with nets ; and 
the line fishermen, most of whom are working people 
with opportunities for outings limited to one day in the 
week at the most, found that the nets were destroying 
even these restricted privileges. A law was secured 
abolishing nets from the bay. It was vigorously fought 
by the netters, but in the end they were compelled to 
submit to its enforcement. The result is that these same 
men have now gone into the business of boat building and 
boat hiring, and acting as boatmen and guides for the 
line fishermen, and are finding in their changed industry 
more satisfaction and profit than ever rewarded the more 
arduous net fishing. This result is one of the unexpected 
benefits thus accruing to a wider class than that for which 
the law was originally intended. There is every reason to 
believe that a like result would follow the strict enforce- 
ment of the netting laws in other localities where the 
line fishermen would increase under similar conditions, 
and provide another mode of livelihood for those who 
now engage in the toilsome industry of hauling nets. 
Here is the enticing promise a Michigan summer resort 
proprietor holds out for the alluring of people to his 
establishment: "The streams in Michigan abound in 
brook trout. An expert trout fisherman and enthusiast 
has been employed by the month who will devote his 
entire time to fishing for the hotel. He will also conduct 
parties desiring to engage in this rare sport. It is ex- 
pected that brook trout will be served to the guests as 
often as three times per week." The prospective guests 
are to be congratulated — those of them who shall get 
there early enough, or this year at least. The later 
comers will not be likely to find any fish, for no waters 
in Michigan were ever yet so abounding in brook trout 
that they could stand the industry of an expert "employed 
by the month to devote his entire time to fishing for the 
hotel." 
The summer hotel keeper is not privileged above other 
men, and at the expense of other men to exploit the trout 
streams of his district for his own benefit in this manner. 
There are trout breeders who are engaged in the business 
of raising trout for market. If summer resort guests 
must have trout to eat three times a week or every day 
in the week, there is no reason under heaven why the 
fish should not be supplied to them, provided the steward 
buys his fish from the artificial growers whose stock is 
unlimited because capable of being kept up, and does not 
go for them to the public streams, which, once being de- 
pleted of their original supply, may be restored only with 
difficulty. This Michigan hotel man is only typical of 
many scattered throughout the country who have assumed 
that the native supply of fish or of game in their vicinity 
was something to be exploited for their own special 
benefit. The hotel kitchen door is too often open to 
grouse and woodcock killed out of season. The supply of 
the hotel guest's palate is the agency which has cleaned 
out many of our best game covers. The laws which for- 
bid the taking of game for market are aimed directly at 
cutting off the traffic of the hotel table. There should 
be in every State in the Union a law similar to those 
which now prevail in several, limiting the catch of fish 
which an individual may take in a day or a season, and 
the amount which may be transported. We shall have 
these statutes all in good time; and moreover, one of 
these days public opinion will have been educated up to a 
point where no hotelkeeper will dream of advertising 
that he has en"-^"-ed a professional trout fisherman to 
fish constantly for the hotel table. 
One encouraging reflection in the varied phases of the 
contest against selfishness and greed and disregard of the 
rights of others by individuals and classes is that the fight 
for game and fish protection is in line with the growing 
sentiment of the day. The tendency of the age is toward 
a recognition of the advantages of relaxation from the 
grind. Sport as a diversion from work is of constantly- 
growing importance. We may not realize the advance of 
public sentiment and practice in this direction from day 
to day, but we may see it by contrasting the present con- 
ditions with those'of ten or even five years ago. For the 
man of business to take a vacation is coming to be thd 
rule rather than the exception; to arrange for an outing 
of a day or a half-day is the custom of tens of thousands. 
All this makes for the principle of preserving those gifts 
of nature which supply our enjoyment in the field and on 
the water. Every recruit in the army of outers means 
a new soldier to fight in the cause of game and fish pro- 
tection. The time will come when those who are for 
protection will so overwhelmingly outnumber those who 
are inimical to it that they will hold the balance of power, 
and the cause for which the comparatively few are now 
struggling will be won. 
The sensational canard sent out the other day that ex- 
President Cleveland had dropped dead at Middle Bass 
Island, in Lake Erie, where he had gone on a fishing 
trip, proves that we may not accept as true all the press 
dispatches that come over the wires; and it may be that 
the story of the mile of pigeon flight that darkened the 
sky over Reedsburg, Wis., the other day, had its rise, 
progress and end in the brain of an enterprising press 
agent. There is nothing impossible, nor inherently im- 
probable in the tale. Wild pigeons did once pass as 
clouds over the land ; there has never been any altogether 
reasonable theory to account for their annihilation. The 
stock was lessened, we know, by the systematic trappers, 
but the records of that pursuit, so far as known, would 
not justify the belief that it had resulted in their exter- 
mination of the species. The bird disappeared ; that it was 
exterminated has never been shown, and is not known. 
As it went mysteriously, it may have returned, or may 
return, and as mysteriously. If the Wisconsin report is 
true, the flight is one of the most interesting bird incidents 
of the times. . 
We print in another column a note from Senator N. 
F. Reiner, of the Rhode Island Legislature, regarding his 
introduction bf a bill to provide for a State game com- 
mission. Mr. Reiner's measure calls for five commis- 
sioners, to be appointed by the Governor for the term 
of three years, and to serve without pay, their duty being 
to cause the enforcement of the bird protective laws. 
This is something which is very much needed in Rhode 
Island, where the work of protecting game has been left 
for the most part to the initiative of individuals and as- 
sociations of private citizens, who have made it their con- 
cern. If public spirited persons can be found in the sev- 
eral counties willing to assume the responsibilities of the 
new office, the authority given them by this statute may 
be of material benefit in their work. We trust that the 
Rhode Island Assembly may enact the bill into a law, 
since there is reason for confidence that Gov. Dyer 
would name for the places the best men available. He 
may be depended upon to select commissioners who will 
be personally interested in the work; and with a game 
board made up as that of Rhode Island is likely to be, we 
may look for a thorough reform in the administration of 
the laws, which under existing conditions are in many 
districts a farce. 
That is a good suggestion made by Mr. Gard. T. Lyon 
that salmon fishermen passing through Quebec would do 
well to call upon Commissioner Parent, to express to him 
their appreciation of his attitude toward the netters. With 
a Commissioner of Lands, Forests and Fisheries so mani- 
festly disposed to crush the salmoxi poaching abuses, law 
enforcement may be looked for with confidence. 
We do not gorge gingerbread just because there hap- 
pens to be a gingerbread supply to gorge. Why should 
we try to catch more fish than we can carry just because 
the fish happen to take the hook? To recognize the wis- 
dom of moderation and to exercise moderation, this is 
one of the characteristics which distinguish the man from 
the babe. Let this thought be a comfort and a consola- 
tion when the other fellow comes in with the bigger 
string. 
