Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1899, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
^^''"^•*I.^mXhs^2^"'^°'""1 new YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 2 7, 18 99. {no. 8« b^moJ^IvTnSw'Vor k, 
IN FLORIDA. 
No State in the Union presents an example of more 
wanton, foolish, wasteful and devastating game destruc- 
tion than Florida. Within the memory of those who 
are comparatively young, the vast areas of the peninsula 
have been converted from districts which were fairly 
superabounding in game, to what are now barren wastes, 
where one may travel for days and catch sight of nothing 
but vermin. Florida has been overrun for years by 
wanton butchers, who in the name of sport and in the 
guise of sportsmanship, have slaughtered without let or 
hindrance. Now at this late date the horse having been 
stolen, Florida is locking the stable door with a padlock 
of. formidable strength. 
The Legislature this year has enacted a law which em- 
bodies some of the most stringent provisions of the ad- 
vanced game legislation of the day. With respect to deer 
the Forest and Stream Platform Flank has been 
adopted; the new statute provides that deer may not be 
sold at any time. A non-transportation provision has been 
adopted with respect to wild turkeys and quail or part- 
ridge; the law forbids the carrying of this game from 
one county to another, except that hunting parties may 
take their own game home with them. Export of game 
beyond the State is entirely prohibited. Limitations are 
put upon the amount of game. The shooter is restricted to 
four wild turkeys in a day and twenty-five quail; and a 
hunting party to six turkeys and fifty quail ; and until 1905 
one person may not kill more than five deer. Restriction 
of this nature are among those to which the objection 
is made that they cannot be enforced, since it is impossible 
for anyone except the individual to know how many 
birds or how many deer he has killed in a day or in a sea- 
son. On the other hand one prevailing influence of such 
legislation is that it teaches a new idea. It inculcates an 
appreciation of the fact that the taking of wild game by 
the individual citizen is a privilege which may be ac- 
corded to him in just such degree as public interests ap- 
pear to warrant, and if once a comprehension of this 
principle can be instilled into the public mind, the cause 
of game protection has been materially advanced. 
The provision of the new law which will excite the 
most comment is a non-resident license section, requiring 
that before hunting for the purpose of killing any wild 
deer, turkey or quail in any county, a non-resident must 
apply to the clerk of the circuit court of the county for a 
permit to hunt, paying for it $10. The money so col- 
lected is to be used for the purpose of paying the game 
warden of the county. The chief intent of this provision 
appears to have been to provide funds for enforcing the 
law. Public opinion in Florida is so apathetic in respect 
to the preservation of game and the execution of the 
laws that we cannot help thinking these stringent enact- 
ments so far in advance of public opinion that their en- 
forcement will be difficult ; and the new law is likely to be 
a dead letter precisely as the old law was. It would mani- 
festly have been impossible to secure from the Legislature 
an appropriation for the purpose of paying the game war- 
den, and the non-resident clause therefore has been 
adopted as an expedient for raising the necessary revenue. 
If Florida had begun in 1865 to hold to account the men 
who invaded its borders with rifles and shotguns, and who 
crimsoned the shores of its rivers with the blood of wild 
creatures slain in wantonness from the decks of passing 
boats, and if it had educated its own citizens to a point of 
decency where they would not have killed deer the year 
round, including does heavy with young, there would still 
be an abundance of game and an alluring attraction for 
non-residents. As it is now, the fields are so barren of 
birds, that the number of sportsmen tourists in Florida 
has oi recent years greatlj^ decreased. 
We note in some of our Florida exchanges criticisms 
upon the statute, based upon the ground that it is uncon- 
stitutional, as being in conflict with the Federal Constitu- 
tion which declares that "The citizens of each State shall 
be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in 
the several States." While non-resident game laws have 
not been tested in the higher courts on this ground, we 
repeat what we have said before, that in the light of deci- 
sions bearing upon the question, notably in the case of 
Greer vs. State of Connecticut in the United States Su- 
preme Court, there is reason to believe that the constitu- 
tional authority^ of the State in the protection of its game 
extends to and includes the right of discrimination against 
non-residents. 
THE "ALL" OF IT. 
The guild of anglers owes much to him or her who 
first expressed in words the truism that "it is not all of 
fishing to fish," Vague as it is in generalization and 
negative as a definition, it is nevertheless readily ac- 
cepted as a self-evident proposition, clear, concise and a 
tenet of the guild ; for does not every reader or hearer of 
it, who has experienced the delights of practical angling, 
know complementary elements which truthfully con- 
stitute the "all"? The sport of angling so abounds with 
pleasure that one has but to look back in one's own ex- 
perience to assent to the tenet that "it is not all of fish- 
ing to fish." In its incomplete negation, it in no wise 
offends the beliefs of anyone, nor does it exalt any part 
of the sport above others. Each individual is left free 
to enjoy his own affirmative. Past experiences and de- 
lights of memory are left undisturbed by it, though 
brought to mind in the pleasure of living them over again. 
There are no opportunities for opposing opinions as to 
what constitutes the "all" of fishing when each one has 
his own experiences, and his own supreme judgment as 
the definition and final test to determine it. In its wealth 
of wholesome means of enjoyment, there is that variety 
which in whole or in part pleases the taste of all who en- 
gage in it. In this lies its greatest charm. Given the 
fishing as a motive, the devotee relaxes from the cares 
and struggles of business, and goes forth to where there 
are clear waters, in a setting of woods and fields, rich in 
nature's own colors, and all fragrant with the odors of the 
world's great laboratory. Thus, as to what fishing really 
is each angler is a law to himself, as to its pleasures. If 
each angler were to attempt to define its pleasures and 
fascinations, there would hardly be two definitions pre- 
cisely alike even in idea. Each one is governed by his own 
experiences, habit of thought and emotions; but such is 
the subtle witchery of the sport that each follower of it 
has a personal interest and sympathy in the doings of his 
fellow in sport, however radically his ideas and practice 
of the pastime may differ from his own. 
Your true sportsman is distinctly unselfish in his pleas- 
ures. He delights in the company and participation of 
congenial fellows, and if that pleasure is or is not denied 
him, he writes out his story, if he is of the true spirit, 
narrating the doings and incidents of his outing for the 
delectation of his brethren who are "chained to business," 
thus in a way sharing his pleasures with them. There is 
thus an infinity of side lights for those who are denied 
participation, and a constant adding to the store of affirma- 
tion that "it is not all of fishing to fish." So long as 
nature's moods and works change constantly, presenting 
new pictures and new ideas to him who notes them, the 
literature of fishing will grow and grow without ever 
reaching a full telHng of what it really is, though the 
tenet that "it is not all of fishing to fish" will ever hold 
good. 
THE NEW JERSEY PROTECTOR. 
From many sources come evidences of the deep feeling 
entertained by New Jersey sportsmen respecting the ap- 
pointment of State Fish and Game Protector. The pres- 
ent incumbent of the office is Mr. Chas. A. Shriner, of 
Paterson, whose entire record is that of an exceptionably 
capable, devoted and efficient officer. Mr. Shriner's rec- 
ord is one of which any public official might well be proud. 
He has done his duty intelligently, fearlessly and honestly. 
In all the years of his service we have never heard one 
word in question of the conduct of his office, except in 
certain cases seized upon by a sensational press for stric- 
tures based upon alleged conditions which did not exist in 
fact. To Protector Shriner the former Fish and Game 
Commission owed in large measure the shrewdness and 
executive efficiency of its administration. We are con- 
vinced that the members of the old board would fully 
and freely bear their willing testimony to this fact. In 
particular we know that Mr. Howard P. Frothingham, 
president of the old commission, and of the one now in 
office, has expressed himself unreservedly in appreciation 
of the value of Mr. Shriner's co-operation with the board 
both in enforcing the laws and in conducting the fish 
stocking enterprises. 
For what reason then, the citizens of New Jersey are 
asking themselves, can there be any question of the re • 
tention of Protector Shriner in his present place? If his 
public record and the minutes of the commission and the 
estimation of the commissioners themselves testify to 
his capacity as an officer, why should there be any doubt 
of his reappointment for another term? The question is 
one which finds ready reply. It is a matter of politics. 
For no other reason would a commission of four business 
men charged by their obligations of office to care for the 
public interest of the commonwealth think for a moment 
of dispensing with the services of the man known to them 
to be the one best fitted to serve those interests. If 
Messrs. Frothingham, Halsey, Morris and Budd were to 
conduct the affairs of the commission as they would man- 
age their own private interests, they would never enter- 
tain the thought of losing Mr. Shriner. No more would 
they consider such a thing in the management of the 
public business, were they altogether unhampered by 
political complications, and free to manage the affairs 
of the commission as they would their own. 
The situation then, divested of befogging politics, is 
perfectly^simple and clear; and the duty of the commis- 
sioners in the premises is plain. Having in view only the 
interests they have been charged to uphold, they should 
disregard all other considerations, recognize their obliga- 
tions to the public alone, and pursue the course which 
will make for the advantage of the State. No weighing 
of action in the false scales of politics can make wrong 
right or right wrong. To put into the protector's place 
the best man available will be to insure the continued use- 
fulness of the service; to throw that man overboard in 
obedience to a dictation which is inspired by antagonism 
to the cause of game protection and fish stocking will be 
to sacrifice at once the public interest and their own place 
in public esteem. As between a Governor who has openly 
declared that all game and fish laws should be repealed 
and the Game and Fish Commission should be abolished, 
and a commission guided by a determination to uphold 
the laws and replenish the fish supply, the people will be 
with the commission every time, and all the time. 
We have said that there exists deep feeling on this 
subject in New Jersey, The existence of the feeling is not 
enough. It should be given expression.. We urge then 
upon New Jersey sportsmen the imperative duty of mak- 
ing known to the Commission the sentiments so freely ex- 
pressed in private. It is a time for something more than 
talk if Njsw Jersey does not wish to see its game and fish 
interests sacrificed. The Commission, through its Presi- 
dent, Mr. Howard P. Frothingham, of Mt. Arlington, 
should be apprised of the public feeling on the subject. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
The fundamental principle of the poultry yard indus- 
try is that if you would have broilers you must set your 
hens and hatch out chickens. No one ever yet reaped a 
fortune from the chicken business by killing off the last 
hen in the yard and then waiting for eggs to rain out of 
th". sky. This, however, is what we have been doing with 
ou -■game for lo these many years; and only just now are 
we coming around to the poultry yard recognition of the 
principles involved, and beginning to farm our game 
fields as we would our chicken yards. In a quiet way 
there has been duiing the last season a very large restock- 
ing of fields with quail" and pheasants. This has been car- 
ried on with a thoroughness and scope in New Jersey un- 
equalled elsewhere by public authorities. Importations 
of quail have been brought from the Indian Territory 
and distributed here and there to the care of land holders 
who would undertake to protect them from encroachments 
during the breeding season; and there is every reason to 
believe that the results of the present enterprise will prove 
as successful as have been those of recent years in the 
same State. The New Jersey authorities have now en- 
gaged in this branch of game restocking long enough, and 
on a scale sufficiently large, to determine that it is a prac- 
ticable and satisfactory expenditure of effort. 
We used to have frequent letters from Havana recount- 
ing the excursions of the Cuban Field Sports Club, but 
the pleasant correspondence was long since interrupted by, 
the grave complications which for the time prevented in- 
dulgence in the pursuits of the field. Now that various 
reforms are being instituted, it is probable that suitable 
game legislation will be adopted; we have a communica- 
tion from our whilom correspondent intimating as 
much. In course of time Cuba may become a winter re- 
sort of American sportsmen. 
If the waninish were found in the Wabash and a Wis- 
consin angler were to fish for thetn there, retaining the 
ancient spellings he would be described as a man from 
Ouisconsin catching ouananidhe in the Ouboiisklgon. 
