Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Gop'yright, 1901, BV Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1901. 
Terms, fl A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. { 
Six Months, $2. ( 
VOL. LVI.— No. 8. 
No. 846 Broadway, New York 
^The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
aiient, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous compiunications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
i:onespondents. 
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p.iiticu1ars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
THE NEW YORK COMMISSION. 
The recommendation of Governor Odell for a reduction 
of the commissions for the care of the forests and of fish 
and game has been put into effect in a measure introduced 
by Assemblyman Allds, which amends the present law and 
substitutes for the existing boards of five commissioners 
for forests, fish and game and three commissioners of the 
forest preserve a single board of three members, which 
shall be made up thus: "The Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission shall consist of three members, to be ap- 
pointed by the Governor, by and ^ with the advice and 
consent of ftie Senate. Two of such members shall be ap- 
pointed frorn the Commisisoners of the Land Office and 
may be Femoyed by the Governor at his pleasure. The 
third member'of such Commission shall be appointed for 
a term to expire on the 31st day of December, 1903; a 
successor to such member thereafter appointed shall hold 
his office for a term of three -years, beginning on the 
fir.st day of January of the year in which he is appointed. 
Within twenty days after the amendment of this section 
lakes effect, the Governor shall appoint a Forest, Fish and 
Game Commission as herein provided, and upon the ap- 
pointment and qualifica.ion of the members of such 
commission the terms of the members of the Forest, Fish 
and Game Commission and of the Forest Preserve Board 
then in office shall expire." 
The member who is not a Commissioner of the Land 
Office the bill provides shall be the shellfish commis- 
sioner ; and as a matter of fact, we understand the 
meaning of the bill to be that the shellfish commissioner 
shall be the practical executive man of the commission. 
His salarj' is to be fixed at $5,000 a year, the other mem- 
bers to serve without compensation. All the commis- 
sioners are to receive their actual expenses. The measure 
further abolishes the present forest preserve board and 
provides that the Forest, Fish and Game Commission as 
newly organized shall constitute the Forest Preserve 
Board, and shall have all the powers conferred and per- 
form the duties im.posed by law upon that board. 
Such a change as here contemplated would be directly 
for the benefit of the interests involved. It is of common 
Tcnowledge that the fish commission of five members was 
brought into being as a political job. There is no good 
reason for such a board. As a matter of fact, the work 
of the commission could be done by one man, or as we have 
repeatedly urged, the entire commission could be abolished 
with profit and the work be intrusted to the practical 
executive heads, the State fishculturist and the State game 
protector, who now actually perform the duties of the • 
commission. It is improbable, however, that the Legis- 
lature Would , consent to the adoption of such a system, 
notwithstanding that it is the practical and business- 
like way to accomplish the ends sought. Unquestionably 
the most efficient force of game protectors would be one 
made up of officers appointed directly by the chief game • 
protector and responsible directly to him for the perform- 
ance of their duties. The reason such a system could not 
be put in force, however, is that for political considera- 
tions the Legislature would probably not intrust the ap- 
pointments to a chief game protector. So with the State 
fishculturist. A competent person filling this position 
could do everything with respect to the choice of species 
of fish for propagation and the waters to put them into, 
and the practical work of fishculture and fish planting 
independently of the advice or direction or control of a 
commission or commissioners over him. He likewise 
would be much more competent than a commission to 
select his emploj^ees and retain or dismiss them accord- 
ing to their efficiency. Barring the possibility, howeyei", 
of adoption of such a simple ?Lpd business-like system, we 
shall welcome the reduction of the commission tx) the 
f6rm proposed in Mr. Allds* |>jIU ' ■ 
TIPS. 
In the swirl of changes which has marked the progress 
of outdoor interests during the past few years, the rela- 
tions between sportsman and landowner, in so far as they 
concern rights and privileges, have been subjected to 
radical readjustments. Of all these, none has been greater 
than that caused by the advent of the man with a tip. The 
simple custom of gratuitous feeing has been fraught Avith 
results never contemplated nor foreseen by the man with 
a generous, open hand. 
In the days often referred to as the old days, but days 
of a few years ago only, in many districts the land- 
owner looked Upon the sportsman as a kind of novel 
visitor, between whom and himself there existed no ques- 
tion of bargaining. If the sportsman chose to shoot over 
his land without even asking for the privilege, the land- 
owner, as a general proposition, did not consider that 
thereby his rights were in the lea.st invaded. It was not 
causing him any material loss, nor even inconvenience, 
and, if the self-invited guest would but exercise care in 
replacing gates and fences, or not to shoot near his cattle, 
he asked no more. The shooter was as welcome to shoot 
birds on his land without price as he was to drink from 
the water of his well free. 
But the change of time brought a constant and growing 
prosperity. With the general accumulation of wealth 
there has been evolved a large leisure class, whose mem- 
bers from the customs of their life have been habituated 
to the giving of gratuities. It is a part of life in the 
great cities. The waiter in the hotel, if he is not tipped 
after serving a patron, is prone to serve him but ill there- 
after till the tip is forthcoming. Similarly, at every turn 
in the great cities, the person of means is confronted with 
the necessity of giving a tip. He comes in time to 
consider it a matter of course, and attaches no special im- 
portance to it. 
But the tip in the country has been instrumental in 
changing what was free as a matter of courtesy to what 
is now a business proposition as a matter of right. If a 
landowner had a particularly good game section within his 
possessions and received $10 or $20 from an appreciative 
shooter for the privilege of shooting thereon, or a sub- 
stantial sum to prohibit all other shooters from its 
privileges, the surrounding landowners in a similar man- 
ner were not slow to grasp the idea of revenue from their 
land in return for its hunting privileges. Thence came 
the assertion of the rights of ownership as against the 
sportsman who sought sport af^er the old free manner. 
Once unhindered, he at length found himself a tres- 
passer. 
The sportsman with the tip has effected a profound 
change in the customs of every class which caters to his 
needs — guides, boatmen, hotel servants, drivers, etc. — ^till 
at length the sportsman without a tip has many difficulties 
to encounter in consequence. Without silver pieces to dis- 
tribute freely, he finds that the old-time freedom and 
service are unattainable. 
Of course there are a few sections here and there where 
the virtue of the tip has not yet become establishd, but 
its establishment therein is only a question of time. 
There is no question that any one has a right to be as 
rhunificently generous as he cliooses, and there is also no 
question that superior and zealous service should merit 
and receive extra reward, but the lavish and inconsiderate 
bestowal of rewards, regardless of merit, has no direct 
benefits to the giver, and makes life incomparably more 
difficult for the poorer brethren who may chance to fol- 
low in his footsteps when seeking sport or recreation. 
The rewards given to guides as gratuities are often so 
large that the person of limited means or less lavish ex- 
penditure finds himself regarded as niggardly because he 
fails to equal with his gifts the gifts of those employers who 
have preceded him. 
Mr. J. Russell Reed, the new president of the Massa- 
chusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, has long 
been actively identified with the work of the Association, 
and has been one of the most intelligent, able and 
efficient workers for the fish and game interests of Massa- 
chusetts. Under his administration the Association's 
a^airs, we may be confident, will be admirably promoted, 
and the society will maintain its very enyj^blf recgrd of 
?«hievetnent. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
Pennsylvania is taking hold of the forest preserve idea. 
Dr. J. S. Rothrock, president of the Forestry Board, writes 
in another column of the acquisition of a Pike county 
tract of 26 000 acres, which will be held as a State pre^ 
serve of the forest, the fish and the game, and of an- 
other territory of 60 000 acres on the West Branch of the 
Susquehanna. We quote also from Governor Stone's mes- 
sage paragraphs reviewing what has been done already in 
this field, and giv'ng assurance that further action in the 
same direction will be seconded by the executive. That 
Governor Stone has popular support in his forestry recom- 
mendations is indicated by the action of the Pennsyl- 
vania Conference in the Interests of Public Health. Wild 
Game and Forestry, which has adopted a resolution de- 
claring their belief that "the thousands of citizens who 
are in the membership of the organizations represented 
in this conference from every county of this common- 
wealth, will cordially approve of the recommendations of 
Governor Stone and unite with him in the endeavor to 
secure for the S.ate the benefits which his liberal policy 
promises." 
It is not often that we have the privilege of publishing 
so careful, well considered and matured discussion of the 
game interests of a S ate as the one printed to-day from 
the pen of Mr. D. C. Beaman, of Colorado. It is compre- 
hensive in scope and the discussion of the several topics 
is so thorough as to show that the facts printed have been 
carefully gathered and the observances based upon them 
are the product of mature reflec.ion. It is a game study 
worth studying, and it should have a careful reading. 
The cond'tions prevailing in Colorado are in large measure 
the conditions which hold over the Rocky Mountain 
region. Like causes have produced like elTects. De.er, 
elk and antelope have vanished from large areas where in 
the past, within the years which are not yet counted re- 
mote, they swarmed in astonishing numbers. The prol)- 
lem of how the remnant shall be saved is immediate and 
pressing. Mr, Beaman finds, the solution of the problem 
is the hunting license, the shortening of tlie season and. a 
rigid enforcement of the law. 
The tenacity of the humbler species of wild animals and 
the wonderful way_ in which they persist in the face of 
civilization is illustrated in some facts recently brought 
out by the Norwich Bulletin, which has discovered that 
a fur dealer in Danielson, Conn., during the season makes 
weekly shipments amounting to $200 and $300 worth of 
mink, fox, raccoon, skunk and muskrat skins. And he 
has been in the business since the Civil War. as h"s father, 
a noted hunter and trapper, was in it for years before him. 
There are men and boys in the back districts all througli 
New England who find profit in their traps from Novem- 
ber to March. And this reminds us that we have in 
manuscript a story of youthful adventure in trapping, writ- 
ten by Mr. Wm, H, Avis, of which we shall begin publica* 
tion next week. . ... 
The interests of forestry and fish and game protection 
have a growing recognit'on among the topics which the. 
Governors of Sta es con.3ider deserving of attention in' 
their messages. We have already iio(ed the stands taken' 
by the Governors of New York and New l lanspshire. Tch-; 
day we quote a parjlgraph from the message of Governor? 
McLean, of Connecticut, who shows an intelligent apprer^ 
ciation of the economic aspect of protcct on when he 
says that "a brook well s.ocked with trout, or a eover- 
well stocked with partridge or quail, will in the near 
future bring a larger proportionate profit Ip its own^f than 
any other investment." 
Among the things which are crowded put of our pages 
this week are the aniuial reports of President Alex. Star- 
buck, of the Ciivier Club, of Ciiicinnati, and Secretary 
H. H. Kimball, of. the Massachusetts Association. Jhejr 
will be given in t|ie next issue. 
The second anmial meeting of the North Ameriq^j^ 
Fish and Ga?ne Protective Association will be held 
Montreal on Jan. 30. We look for substantial rcsilhs 
|roio this Ofganizatiop, wUicU sUotild have cordial s^p^jio^ 
