Forest AND Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of. the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1901, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1901. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts, A Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
( VOL. LVII.— No. 21. 
I No. 846 Broadway, New York 
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE. 
The game of this country belongs to the sportsman. 
By the designation sportsman as here used is meant the 
shooter who shoots for sport, not for the market. Do 
not make the mistake of assuming that the sportsman 
is the town dweller alone. He may live in the town or 
he may live in the country, in the city or in the most 
' tcmote backwoods, or in the middle of the prairie. Wlier- 
ever his dwelling, whatever his eminence or obscurity, his 
wealth, clothing, manners, outfit — if only he rejoices in 
the tastes, sentiments and practices of those who follow 
sport for sport's sake, rather than for what they can make 
out of it — if a sportsman, the game is for him. It is his, 
and he shall have it. To give it to him, to assure him in 
the privilege of its enjoyment, to secure that privilege to 
his children and his children's children, is the purpose of 
the Forest and Stream's Platform Plank — The sale of 
game should be forbidden at all seasons. 
And that is the basic principle of all wise and defensible 
;game legislation in this country to-day. It is the object 
j and the justification of game laws. 
[ Once this basic principle — the game for the sportsman— 
' is understood by the people as it should be, the task of 
' closing up the game markets will be simple and speedily 
[ and easily accomplished, 
[ It is good doctrine to preach. Let it be proclaimed, 
repeated, reiterated, until even the men we send to our 
Legislatures shall comprehend it and act upon it and 
embody it in the laws they enact. 
THE DOCKED TAIL. 
The daily press recounts that President Roosevelt, who 
is adding to his equine properties as becomes the Chief 
Executive of a great nation, will not purchase any horse 
which has had its tail docked. To the good men and 
women wlio have a warm place in their hearts for our 
dumb friends, and who have minds which abhor needless 
cruelty — and the number comprises the great majority of 
the people — this determination of the President, with its 
implied censure, will be appreciated as a beneficent gain 
in the cause of humanity in the present, and a source of 
hopefulness for still greater gain in the future. 
There is nothing, past or present, either to justify or to 
condone the horrible mutilation called docking. It origi- 
nated and has been perpetuated to gratify a mere whim 
of fashion. It is the more deplorable since, in most in- 
stances, those who sanction it, procure it and perpetuate 
it, are of the higher walks of life where wealth, refine- 
ment and leadership abide, and therefore where one might 
justly expect to find the best standards and the best 
exemplars of life in all its bearings. 
It is but charitable to assume that, in view of the munifi- 
cent, donations for the cause of humanity and the rigorous 
laws on the statute books to enforce humane treatment, 
the full measure of cruelty, of which the docked tail is the 
exponent, is not comprehended by those who procure it, 
if it is by them comprehended at all. 
As an operation, docking is one of inconceivable tor- 
ture. An analogous operation would be if a man's foot 
were cut off with a huge pair of shears. Such is the 
manner of docking the horse, and it often is so excruciat- 
ingly agonizing that the horse shrieks and groans from 
the torture. Many days of pain are suffered before re- 
covery. 
Wlihe the tail thus docked to gratify a silly vanity 
designates tliat the docked horse is owned by some one 
who wishes to be exclusive even at the cost of mutilation, 
it also designates that the docked horse is defenseless 
against flies, gnats, etc., for life. The horse's tail is a most 
Useful member in guarding against the ceaseless attacks 
of such insects. Nature provided it as an essential to 
his comfort and his well being. 
It is presented, as being in favor of docking, that the 
horses so mutilated are oared for so well tliat flies cannot 
annoy them, and this may to a certain extent be true so 
ong as they continue to_ be the servants of ^Ve^lthy 
Dwnersj but when, they are cast C»ut of the world of 
fg.shion into the world of drudgery, th|n the need of a 
protecting tail is constant, and conversely its absence is a 
calamity indeed. 
The practice of docking horses' tails, aside from its 
inhumanity, is further to be deplored since it violates the 
law of the land. It and other related forms, such as for 
instance the cropping of the ears of Great Danes, bull-ter- 
riers, black and tan terriers, and the docking of the tails of 
fox-terriers, spaniels, etc., are penitentiary offenses in the 
eye of the law, and also punishable by fines. When a con- 
v:ction can be obtained, the punishment almost always 
follows to a certainty. 
We anathematize the ruffian and his fellows who con- 
duct dog fights in some sequestered place where the law 
cannot reach. The dog fighter, when engaged in his amuse- 
ment, from necessity seeks concealment. He avoids open- 
ness and respectability. When the horse's tail is docked 
the operator does precisely what the dog fighter does in 
the matter of secrecy. He seeks darkness and seclusion. 
If the dog fighter is caught, conviction is swift and cer- 
tain. If the docker is caught, the chances of conviction 
are remote indeed, for he is very likely to make the de- 
fense that the horse's tail was diseased, and that the dock- 
ing was a necessary surgical operation in consequence. 
However, the remedy for this permanent cruelty and 
injury, after all is said and done, is in the hands of the 
owners themselves. The veterinarians dock horses merely 
as a matter of business. The owners need not follow the 
behests of a cruel and ephemeral fashion. Then, in re- 
spect to docking, there would be no cruelty, for it would 
cease to be practiced. 
It had its origin many years ago in aping of Eng- 
lish fashions in that respect. Some years before- her 
death, the lamented Queen Victoria prohibited docking 
in her own stables and discountenanced it in others, so 
that it has since been rapidly on the wane in that country, 
.Wso the mutilation of dogs was proh'bited by the Eng- 
lish Kennel Club some years ago, so that in matters of 
humanity to our dumb animals, we are at present a long 
Avay behind our friends across the ocean. However, with 
such a shining example as that set by our illustrious 
President, with its far-reaching beneficence, there is every 
reason to hope for rapid advancement in this special 
branch of humanity, and in the furtherance of so good a 
cause let every one do his best. ' 
The horse is one of the noblest of all animals. Strong, 
courageous and docile, he has been an invaluable ally of 
inan in man's rise from barbarism to civilization. By 
man he was made to bear the heaviest burdens of peace 
and to face the brunt of war. For his services to man 
from time immemorial as well as for his native nobility 
and dignity, no one should mutilate him for the gratifica- 
tion of an idle whim. "A righteous man regardeth the 
life of his beast ; but the tender mercies of the wicked are 
cruel." 
MORE DEADLY THAN WAR. 
The most prominent items of hunting news in the daily 
papers have to do with the killing of human beings by 
mistake for game. The fatalities this season will equal in 
number or surpass those of former years. Twelve 
casualties have been reported from Maine to date, and 
more than that number from Minnesota. They are of 
daily occurrence. We have in some instances received 
lists of the killed and wounded, but it is beside the pur- 
pose to give such lists in the columns of Forest and 
Stream. 
The most pressing necessity in the whole domain of 
sportsmanship to-day is the devising and application of 
the preventive of this horrible man-killing in the woods: 
or rather of a number of preventives, for it is certain that 
no one expedient can be discovered effectually to stop the 
slaughter. Several suggestions have been made. One is 
that every hunter should attire himself in a htinting suit 
rivaling the rainbow in color scheme, and should don a 
red had whose fiery glow may give due notice to others that 
its wearer is a man and not a deer. This is effective in a 
degree as is related by a correspondent in another col- 
umn ; and all deer and moose hunters of America would 
dp well to enroll themselves in the Order of the Red Hat. 
Another expedient put forward is the legal prohibitjon 
of the long-range rifle in certain designated districts 
where its use is known to imperil tlie lives of men. This, 
if put into effect, would dim"nish the peril and in a meas- 
ure sjjorten the death rell There is np question aboqt the 
constitutionality of such a law. We have restrictions now 
in our game codes limiting the size of guns, and a h'mita- 
tion put upon the rifle would be of the same character and 
could be enforced. 
Another proposed remedy is a law to make the 
shooting of a human being by mistake for game a punish- 
able offen.se. This has been done in Maine, but the simple 
enactment of the law has not stopped the slaughter; nor 
can it be expected to accomplish anything until the 
penalty prescribed for the offense shall have been imposed 
in a way to impress upon public consciousness the penal 
character of the offense. The Maine authorities who are 
ignoring the law in this respect are making themselves in 
a measure responsible for the man-killing to follow. Is 
human life held so cheaply in Maine that the punishment 
fixed for taking is not in any instance to be enforced? 
Mr. Rightmire expresses surprise that we should have 
shown a way in which live quail may be exported from 
the Indian Territory without violating the law. Such a 
suggestion, he opines, is not in keeping with our well- 
known position as to the sale of game. We are opposed 
to traffic in dead game, but we have never gone so far 
as to advocate stopping the sale of live game for stocking 
purposes. As to the Indian Territory quail, we believe 
that the very best use a proportion of them could be put 
to would be their netting, shipment and liberation to 
replenish the supplies in districts where quail are scarce. 
And if this may now be done lawfully, the traffic should 
not be broken up arbitrarily or by an assumption that the 
territorial law or the Lacey Act affects the situation, when 
it actually does not affect it. If there is nothing in the 
applicable section of the United States Revised Statutes 
or in the Lacey Act to forbid the exportation of Indian 
Territory live quail, there can be no justification for in- 
terference with it. On the other hand, if the export under 
pretense of stocking purposes is made a cloak for the 
shipment of birds to market, the proper course to remedy 
the situation is to change the law in such a way as to- 
stop the export to market, and to restrict it to export for 
propagation. It certainly cannot be beyond the ability of 
Congress to frame a measure which would accomplish, 
this purpose and provide for the shipment of live birds 
from the Territory under supervision of Government 
officers charged with the duty. This, we repeat, is , the 
proper remedy to apply. There is no justification in the 
case of the Indian Territory qnjiil, no more than in the 
case of the Illinois quail, for the executive branch of the 
Government to arrogate to itself the law-making power, 
and to make and enforce regulations according to its no- 
tions. Congress and the Legislatures are intrusted with 
the making of laws. It is for the executive officers to 
enforce the law as they find it. 
•6 
Commissioner Titcomb's' report in our last issue on the 
Vermont deer shows that the supply has steadily in- 
creased, and gives promise of continued increase in the 
future under the continuance of an extremely restricted 
open season. This experience of Vermont is a demonstra- 
tion of the fact that even in the oldest settled Eastern 
States we may have a deer stock if only we care enough 
for it to give it the necessary protection. Mr. Titcomb, it 
will be noted, does not commit himself to a denial of the 
statement that in some parts of the State the deer have 
multiplied to such an extent that they have become a 
nuisance to the farmer ; and it is bnnted that the next 
Legislature will be asked to take -some remedial action. 
In the end doubtless a way will be found to establish the 
proper balance of interests. 
It 
A notable event in journalism was the celebration last 
Saturday by the Nezv York Evening Post of the hundredth 
anniversary of its establishment on Nov. i6, i8oi. The 
Evening Post is, as Mark Twnin proclaims of himself, 
"very old and very wise." Through the century of it$ 
existence it has been potent as a force making for 
progress, moral and intellectual growth, good government 
and high ideals in private and public life. 
We invite a careful reading of Senator Hoar's exposi-' 
tipn of the principle underlying Sabbath legislation in this 
country. It is well to have a clear understanding of this 
in order tliat the subject may be discussed -isitelligeati^' 
when Sunday shooting and Sunday fishing are involved^ ' 
V 
