Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1901, bv Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY IS, 1901. 
i VOL. LVII.— No. 2. 
j No. 846 Broadway, New York 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications 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 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
copies, $4 per year, $2 for six months. For club rates and full 
particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
If indeed you be an angler, join us and welcome, for then it is 
known to you that no man is in perfect condition to enjoy scenery 
unless he have a fly-rod in his hand and a fly-book in his pocket.— 
'W. C. Prime. 
A MATTER OF SENTIMENT. 
The lively sentiment displayed on the one hand by 
mankind for the things which are rare or which have 
passed away, and, on the other hand, the apathy displayed 
for the things which exist in common abundance, are no- 
where so well exemplified as in matters pertaining to our 
wild animals. It would seem that man is pleased to pre- 
serve in the realm of mind what he has been pleased to 
destroy in the realm of matter. 
When the buffalo roamed over the vast American 
prairies in millions unknowable, the spirit of slaughter 
dominated great numbers of men, of whom many were our 
own citizens and others wer^ men who journeyed hither- 
ward, all intent on destruction. The killing was con- 
ducted with relentless persistence. The buffalo meat, in 
quantities for a nation's food, was left to waste and decay 
where it fell, while the skins — the only part then of com- 
mercial value — were offered in such vast quantities that 
the market was glutted. The New Englander, many hun- 
dred miles from the scene of the killing, could buy a prime 
skin for a few dollars. The situation then evoked no 
more general feeling of sentiment than if the skins were 
cordwood or any other common article of commerce. 
Now, a fine buffalo head is eagerly possessed, not as an 
article of commerce, but as a relic of a once mighty big- 
game animal of America, or a trophy of prowess and 
success whose like is beyond the compass of man. A 
buffalo skin is at the present day so rare and of such high 
value that its possession is eagerly desired and greatly 
prized. 
The alligator, in a different way, received the attention 
of man. The first estimates concerning it were unfavor- 
able. It was rated as being a valueless reptile whose 
destruction was deserving of approbation rather than of 
censure. Many in consequence were killed as vermin. 
Estimates of it rose higher when it was later found that 
the reptile's hide made a dainty, excellent leather. Still 
later, when in certain districts the total extinction of the 
alligator impended, it was found that he was an essential 
part of the order of things in his semi-tropical habitat, and 
that the absence of his sleepy reptilian body on the banks 
of the lakes, lagoons, bayous and rivers was displeasing to^ 
the eye, as was,, the silence to th« ear where his bellow 
once greeted it. When it was known that he was a com- 
ponent part of the surroundings, the sentimental valuation 
worked in his favor and he now basks in the favor of pro- 
jection, guaranteed with more or less perfection by the 
aw. 
The beaver, on account of his skin with its coat of 
iur, won his place in the esteem of man from the very 
jeginning, but when the destruction threatened extinction, 
;hen the beaver and his ways afforded a sentimental de- 
ight, and the man who owns now a colony, or knows of 
)ne's whereabouts, has a possession beyond the mere 
omputation of dollars and cents. 
The fishes, too, have the benefit of sentiment. The mus- 
allonge has become more highly prized as his numbers 
)ecome fewer and his habitat more confined. The grayling 
ives in tradition, excepting in a few limited areas.. In 
ike manner we have a sentimental feeling for the other 
peQies which have passed or are passing away. This im- 
)ulse to destroy and regret over the destruction is indeed 
. curious phase of human nature. In the light of experi- 
nce it teaches the lesson of moderation. Let the ani- 
nals, whose existence is not incompatible with that of 
nan, live without greater destruction than their reproduc- 
ion. Regretful sentiments over wanton destruction or 
inal extinction will have no caiise to be exercised. 
OPEN WATERS. 
The Chaleur Tourists' Association, of Campbellton, 
N. B., which has for its purpose the promotion of sports- 
man tourist travel in those portions of New Brunswick 
and Quebec which surround the Bay Chaleur, has found 
its efforts partly nullified by the lack of open fishing waters 
to attract anglers from abroad. All of the most desirable 
streams have been leased to individuals and clubs. Under 
these circumstances one of the first steps taken by the 
Association will be an endeavor to have thf Provincial 
authorities reserve certain salmon and trout streams for 
public fishing. 
This free fishing water question is one which has as- 
sumed a serious aspect in Pennsylvania, where the number 
of streams open to the public has within the past few 
years rapidly diminished. The last Legislature sought to 
make provisions for free fishing by this declaration, which 
is embodied in the new fish law, as to what are public 
waters : 
"Section 23. That from and after the passage of this 
act, public fishing shall exist in the following waters of 
this commonwealth : All waters within land owned by the 
commonwealth; all waters and parts of waters that have 
been or may be declared navigable by acts of Assembly, or 
public by common law; and such other waters made public 
by its owners, by grant or usage." 
If our interpretation of the concluding part of this be 
correct, it means that where an owner has in effect made 
waters public by usage— that is, by permitting the public 
to fish in them — he may not now close them to the public. 
For instance, a farmer who has in the past allowed fishing 
on a stream running through his meadow could not now 
by posting his land keep the public from entering to fish 
the water. It goes without saying that no such 
law as that could stand the test of the courts. 
A further provision of the new law makes free 
for fishing "waters tributary to public or free waters, in 
which fish received from the State are planted upon ap- 
plication of the owner." This is in effect just such a 
law as once existed in New York, which was that waters 
stocked by the State should be open to the public. To 
this so high a lego-piscatorial authority as our frequent 
contributor, J. S. Van Cleef, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, ex- 
cepted that it was in conflict with well-established com- 
mon law principles governing land possession and tres- 
pass, and would not be sustained by the courts. Such 
questionable statute building gives new point to the reply 
attributed by a writer in the New York Evening Post the 
other night to a distinguished Chief Justice of Massachu- 
setts when a query was put to him by a lawyer and states- 
man of -national reputation. "Are you reading law?" 
asked the lawyer, observing the Chief Justice reading what 
seemed to be a law book. "No ; I am reading the Massa- 
chusetts statutes," replied the Chief Justice. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
There being in the parks of New York city not enough 
benches to provide seats for all the people who want to 
sit down, an enterprising individual — one Spate — ^believing 
that a public park is a private snap, has made a deal with 
President Clausen of the Park Board to put chairs into 
the parks and collect a five-cent fee from those who 
occupy them. No one blames Spate particularly for his 
impudent enterprise ; he is only acting out the very com- 
mon trait of human nature which impels a private in- 
dividual to profit at the expense of public rights when he 
can. The Spates we have always with us, from the 
humble push-cart man who plants himself in a crowded 
thoroughfare to sell his bananas, to the railway com- 
bine which seizes the streets of a city, and the lumber 
company which despoils the public domain. We do not 
blame the Spates, we do blame the public guardians who 
have been appointed to defend the people's interests 
against the Spates, but who basely betray their trust. Tn 
this park paid chair case popular indignation has very 
properly been directed against Commissioner Clausen. It 
was an unfortunate day for the public parks of New York 
when this man Clausen w^gut into control of them. He 
signalized his accession to office by seizing the aquarium 
as political plunder, putting out its efiicient superintendent 
and putting in an ignorant political heeler. Under the 
Clausen administration the parks have deteriorated to 
such an extent that it will take many ye^s of intelligent 
management to restore them. The philanthropic people 
who have been working to secure small playgrounds for 
the children of the poor in the congested quarters of the 
city, have found on the part of Commissioner Clausen 
consistently ignorant and pig-headed opposition. At this 
time when the tity's population ' is increasing and the 
demands on the parks as breathing places, especially for 
the poorer classes, are all the time grooving more insistent, 
the need of the hour is for a park control which shall have 
an enlightened appreciation of the problem and a sympa- 
thetic resolution to solve it. How far Commissioner 
Clausen is from appreciating the situation is demonstrated 
by his Spate chair deal and by his assertion that the con- 
tinuance of the paid chair system will depend upon 
whether or not it shall be sufficiently well patronized to 
prove a paying enterprise. There is no doubt that if the 
chairs shall remain they will be profitable for the pro- 
prietor. If President Clausen should make another deal 
with another Spate to fence in . the parks and charge a 
good stiff fee for admission to them, there is no question 
that a sufficient number of people would be found to pay 
the fee and to make the fenced park enterprise very pro- 
fitable; and this, according to Commissioner Clausen's 
enlightened public park philosophy, would be .sufficient to 
justify the maintenance of the fence. 
The Society for the Protection of Native Plants, to 
which allusion was made last week, has sent out its Leaflet 
No. I, which explains the growing necessity of restricting 
the destruction of , some of our wild flowers by heedless 
plucking. Among the plants needing protection in the 
vicinity of Boston the leaflet names the Mayflower, whose 
slow-growing runners are pulled up bodily, and then the 
flowers are picked off and shipped to market in enormous 
quantities, so that its practical extermination within an 
area of a few hours' ride of the great cities is almost cer- 
tain unless the ravages are checked. The kalmia ■ r moun- 
tain laurel, ground pine, maiden hair fern, sabbatia and. 
fringed gentian are others which in eastern Massachu- 
setts are threatened with extinction by the excessive col- 
lecting for market purposes. This extensive picking for 
sale, which is a "serious menace to many plants which do 
so much to give the country one of its greatest charms, 
may be effectually discouraged," says the leaflet, "if the 
public appreciates the danger to the plants and abstains 
partly or entirely from purchasing those plants whose 
existence is threatened by wholesale collecting." The 
leaflet issued by the Society may be had on application by 
mail to Miss Maria E. Carter, Curator of Herbarium, 
Boston Society of Natural History, Boston. 
While there has been some delay in getting the New 
York cold storage cases under way, we are assured that 
no stone will be left unturned in the effort to push them to 
a speedy settlement. Governor Odell has become in- 
terested in the matter, and has declared that the depart- 
ment must have the best counsel obtainable. The fiim of 
Black, Olcott, Gruber & Bonynge, of this cii y 
retained. The $10,000 suit talked of has beer 
as being entirely insufficient in amount and a 
quate penalty will be sued for. It has been ui 
that' political influences would be exerted to de|^i.;u ilu 
ends of justice in this case, but this may safely be put 
down as mere talk. The New York authorities are not 
likely to let pass by such an opportunity to strike an 
effective blow at the illicit traffic which has so long made 
this city a dumping ground for Western game as well as 
for the unlawfully marketed game of the State. The 
public expects and will demand the severe punishment of 
these defiant New York dealers in prohibited game. 
John M. Marlin, President of the Marlin Firearms Co., 
died at his home in New Haven, Conn., on July i, aged 
sixty-five. Mr. Marlin was born in Windsor, Conn. In 
1864 he founded in New Haven the firearms manufactur- 
ing company which has ever since borne his name and has 
become famous the world over. He was a skillful in- 
ventor, his first manufacture being of pistols of his own 
patent. Subsequently he engaged in the making of re- 
volvers, and later of rifles and shotguns, Mr. Marlin 
enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who knew him. an I 
his name as a manufacturer stood for a guarantee 
honest workmanship and excellence. 
What a waste of good white paper and ink was all tha^ 
Lawson controversy over Independence. 
