Sept. 26, 1903.I 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
241 
The Preserve Question. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Coahoma says "the opponents of large game preserves 
for private use have given no clear indication as to what 
agency is to be employed by way of correction." 
Allow me to suggest a possible method : That all game 
and fish be the property of the State, and that the land 
owners have no property rights in them whatever. That 
?J1 uncultivated land be open to the public for hunting 
and fishing, unless declared by the land owner to be a 
State preserve, under laws made for the purpose, on which 
no hunting or fishing shall be done by the public or the 
owner under the same penalties for violation for the 
owner as for the public. That the public shall not be 
excluded from any uncultivated land except within_ n 
short stated distance of an occupied dwelling. That in- 
dividuals shall be liable for damages done by them to the 
property of the land owner, and that no fires shall be 
built on any land without the owner's consent. 
Unselfish millionaires would then be enabled to show 
their public spirit by establishing preserves where they 
could share with the' public the pleasure of seeing game 
really preserved, but not raised to be slaughtered. 
AH this, of course, conflicts with the sacred laws of 
ownership which are invoked as though original land 
titles were derived directly from a wise and very dis- 
criminating God instead of from a more or less remote 
proprietor whose title was his brute strength. It may be 
revolutionary to a slight extent and unconstitutional. So 
was the overthrow of slavery, and so have been nearly 
all reforms. It is not lawless, for it is a proposition for 
action by law. 
Wealth is not a question of industry and thrift except 
to a limited extent, but of opportunity and of parentage. 
wrong kind of persons and should take a noticn to 
make us get out of their preserve? As near as I can 
figure it out we would all have to join "The criminal 
element" or cease to exist. This side of the question 
is submitted to the careful consideration of those who 
seem to be willing to place everything in the keeping of 
the millionaires. 
In regard to trespassing on farm lands, I would 
sav, farm lands as a rule are not good hunting ground, 
ihey are necessarily improved land, i. e., land on 
which the labor of mankind has been expended, and 
they are devoted to a useful purpose in producing 
things which are necessary for the existence of man- 
kind. Therefore, it is right and proper that trespassing 
on such lands should be restricted. 
On the other hand, wild lands, i. e., lands which can- 
not be cultivated, should not be subject to private 
ownership, but should be held by the State as a play- 
ground for the whole people. 
I believe that an all-wice Creator created them for 
precisely this purpose. 
In regard to the right to do as one pleases with 
property. Suppose the farmers of the world should 
take a notion to withhold farm products from the rest 
of mankind, the same as some private preserve owners 
are now withholding other things which are necessary 
for the welfare of mankind. What should be done in 
such case? This side of the question is submitted to 
the careful consideration of those who seem to think 
a man should be allowed to do just as he pleases ^yith 
what he happens to own and pay taxes on. Possibly 
it may convince them that when it comes to the owner- 
ship of things which are necessary for the welfare of 
mankind it is unsafe to lay down the rule that a man 
may do as he pleases with what he owns. 
It seems to me that common intelligence and com- 
THE CREEK AT HIGHWATER. 
Only a comparatively few ever have been or ever will be 
wealthy. The vast majority must always be people of 
small or moderate means. In whatever way the rich in- 
vest their wealth, except in land, the masses of the people 
participate in and are benefited by its use. Only when it 
is invested in land does it restrict their privileges and 
comforts. There is a growing sentiment that the land is 
for the people. The present laws of land ownership will 
be sacred just as long as the great majority permits them 
to be and no longer. D. R. Marshall. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The game preserve question has been given a very 
full and patient hearing in the columns of Forest and 
Stream, and I have no desire to carry the discussion 
of the subject to a tiresome length. 
But it seems that it is necessary for me to repeat 
for the benefit of Mr. William H. Avis that I have no 
objection to private preserves of the sort which he re- 
fers to in Forest and Stream for Aug. 29. A careful 
reading of what I said on this point should have con- 
vinced him that it was unnecessary for him to submit 
that consolidated press report for my consideration. 
This report was also submitted to show "That the 
rich man's preserve helps to stock the surrounding 
country with game." If I understand Mr. Avis he 
would have all of this "surrounding country" preserved, 
and it is not clear to me how, turning game out of 
one private preserve into another private preserve, is 
going to benefit the multitude, who are too poor or too 
conscientious to own preserves. I have no objection 
to this idea of preserving the whole earth, provided a 
just share of it is included in public preserves. But I 
believe it is just as important to preserve the God- 
given rights of mankind as it is to preserve game. 
"Landowners doing as they please with land they 
own and pay taxes on." I would assure Mr. Avis that 
I have given this side of the question some thought, 
and have reached the following conclusion in regard to 
it: 
We should place a very narrow limit on the amount 
uf land which a person may own, and we should also 
place a limit on what a person may lawfully do with 
land. 
At the rate things are now going it will soon be 
possible for a very few persons to own the whole earth. 
This would not be a very great calamity if we could 
be sure that they would alwavs be the right kind of 
persons. But what would become of the rest of us 
poor mortals jf they should ever happen tjh^e 
Nathaniel Wentworth arrived in town to-day for the pur- 
pose of arresting United States Senator Redfield Proctor, 
of Vermont. The commissioners at once proceeded to 
Corbin Park and there made the 'arrest and conviction of 
the Senator for shooting one raccoon last Sunday in said 
park.' 
"Senator Proctor pleaded guilty and waived all exam- 
inations, thus preventing his being taken to Newport for 
a justice hearing. He was accordingly fined the full pen- 
alty in this case, $10, which he paid, together with costs 
cf $17.50. 
"Senator Proctor took tlie matter calmly, and did not 
make any complaint to the commissioners. There is a 
report hereabouts to the effect that a fish and game war- 
den, or detective, A'isited Senator Proctor a few days ago, 
at his quarters in the park, and that the Senator expressed 
his willingness to pay for the fun he had had in shooting 
the 'coon. Some even go so far as to say that the Ver- 
mont man considered the incident closed after the war- 
den's visit. It did not escape the notice of the com- 
missioners, however, and Mr. Proctor was compelled to 
settle according to the methods of the law. This vicinity 
is being closely watched by the comiuissioners, and their 
action to-day shows that not even United States Senators 
can break the law without being brought to justice. The 
Senator is one of the directors of the Blue Moimtain 
Forest A-ssociation, but that fact had no effect upon the 
proceedings of the commissioners." 
Senator Proctor's side of the matter is told in an 
interview recently jjublished in the Sun: 
"That whole 'coon matter was wrong and unreason- 
able," said the Senator. "I didn't shoot the 'coon on 
Sunday and I wasn't arrested. The facts are that I 
was out in the woods with my little grandson on Sat- 
urday evening. He spotted a 'coon up in a tree and 
I drew a bead on the .animal and brought it down. 
"We carried it home and skinned it. The next day 
I discovered that the season on 'coons was closed, sp 
I went to the authorities and paid a $10 line, I wasn't 
arrested and no demand was made for the fine. I 
paid for the 'coon on' my own initiative and set an 
example for my neighbors to emulate. The talk that 
it was after midnight when I shot that 'coon is all 
bosh. If it had been, my grandson would not have 
seen it — and I'm sure I wouldn't have hit it." 
mon sense should teach us that we are dependent crea- 
tures, that the injury or degradation of a person or 
class of persons is an injury to every other person or 
class of persons. Therefore, even if we are lacking in 
humanity, our self-interest should prompt us to recog- 
nize and guarantee to the most lowly their God-given 
rights, among which is the right to live and share in 
all that this world has to give, which elevates and en- 
nobles mankind. 
I have just returned from a trip to the Adirondacks, 
during which I took especial pains to get the opinions 
of guides and residents in regard to the recent disas- 
trous forest fires, and I found their opinions _ are 
unanimous that these fires were of incenaiary origin, 
the cause being a sense of wrong and injustice, which 
a large number of the residents are laboring under. 
The opinion is also unanimous that a halt will have 
to be called and something be done to allay this sense 
01 wrong and injustice or the whole forest area, to use 
a common expression, "will be dressed in mourning." 
W. ET Wolcott truly says. "The State is confronted 
by a condition, rather than theory, in this connection," 
and the problem is, how shail the condition be met? I 
like the tenor of Mr. Wolcott's article, and his excel- 
lent comments and suggestions leave but little for me 
to add. 
We should remember that these people are well 
meaning, but ignorant to a large degree, of right and 
wrong, as defined by law, and have their own peculiar 
notions in regard to the correct way to redress a real 
or fancied wrong. They are amenable to_ reason, and 
would respond to any policy of conciliation. Clearly 
the State has nothing to gain, but everything to lose 
by an arbitrary ejectment of these squatters. This is 
true, also, as to the private preserve owners. It sounds 
very brave to say, enforce the law, and possibly some 
may think it just the thing to sneer at sober and well- 
founded warnings as "yarns, which should be classed 
with the spooky fables of childhood." To such I sub- 
mit for careful consideration the following proverb, 
which was uttered by the wisest of men: 
"The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth him- 
self, but the simple pass on and are punished." 
Jos. W. SlIURTER. 
GansevockT, Sept. 21; 
Wisconsin Warden Active. 
Slvekai. important .seizures were made last week by 
Game Warden Valentine Raeth, of Milwaukee. Wednes- 
day morning at 4 o'clock, Raeth found a barrel of fish on 
the train al (he Milwaukee depot, which was marked 
"perch" and addressed to a fish dealer in Chicago. He 
opened the barrel and found just enough perch to cover 
the top of the barrel. The rennainder were wall-eyed pike. 
Acording to the hw, only twenty pounds of pike can be 
shipped out of the State once a week by the same party. 
The next night the same warden found a box on the 
train from Green Bay which was addressed to Hartford, 
Wis. He opened the box and found that it was filled 
with red deer hides. Among the baggage at the baggage 
room in Milwaukee Raeth came across six pieces winch 
had been checked from Ellendale, S. D., to Appletou, 
Wis. As Raeth knew this bagga,ge came from a good 
prairie chicken country, and the laws of North Dakota 
do not allow the t ransportnl ion of game out of the State, 
he searched the baggage and found a large telescope filled 
with prairie chickens. 
He held the baggage and reported the matter to State 
Game Warden Overbeck, who sent Warden Gerhardt the 
next day with the baggage to Appleton. Gerhardt found 
that the baegagc with the game belonged to State Senator 
T. A. WilTv and his friend, Willis Babb, of Appleton, 
Wis., who were out in North Dakota on a hunting trip 
and had violated the laws of the State of North Dakota, 
Winconsin and the United States law. 
According to advices from Appleton, Gerhardt has ap- 
plied for warrants for the arrest of Senator Willy and 
Mr. Babb. The game was confiscated.— IMilwaukee Dady 
News. _ 
Sportsmen^s Pictures. 
■ In the beautiful art store of Mr. William Schaus. 204 
Fifth avenue, New York, there is at present on e.xlnbi- 
tion a number of large pictures whose theme is oi the 
fields and cover where quail abound, and naturi^ dons 
her most beautiful garb of crimson, brown, green and 
gold. They are from the magic brush of Prof. kdm. 
H. Osthaus'. Three or four are devoted to tlio por- 
trayal of setters and pointer on spirited pomts. while 
one large picture is a portrayal of a large St. Bernard 
bitch, lying down, her litter of chubby, awkward puii- 
pies playing about her in true puppy happiness. 1 wo 
horses, in the middle ground, stand on the thitherward 
side of a fence, idle and contemplative, the whole form- 
ing a beautiful picture. y\ll alike have the warmth and 
beauty of color, beside the realistic portrayal peculiar 
to Prof. Osthaus' work. 
Senator Proctor's 'Coon* 
A Newport^ N. H.: 
September 16, says; 
dispatch to the Manchester Union, 
"Commissioners C, 5. ClE^rU and 
The Adirondack Bigf Game. 
Last week we recorded the killing of some of the 
newly introduced .\dirondack elk; now con^^s a story of 
the shooting of one of the recently imported moose. The 
killing is ascribed to natives, who are said to be opposed 
to the introduction of elk and moose, because of fear that 
these speci'es will drive out the native deer. If such a 
feeling exists it is foolish. The moose and elk would not 
drive out the deer. The three live together in other 
regions. They would live together in the North Wood-: 
if the human "wolves would only give them a fair chance. 
The a.scription of these elk and moose killings to any 
such fear on the part of the Adirondack residents is less 
plausible than the simple one of finding a inotive in the 
selfish, wanton and wicked craze to kill which lakes pos- 
session of so many ill-balanced and coarsc-iihcred indi- 
A-iduals when they turn theinselvcs loose with a pun in 
the woods. If Chief Protector Pond runs down the per- 
petrator of this moose killing outrage, he will in all like- 
lihood discover that wantonness and lust to kill, not fear 
as to th,c Adirondack deer supply, was f\t 1,h? bottom of ix. 
