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San Francisco, CJalif., 
August 13, ISlo. 
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TTonoriAoJe Clarence E. Lee, L. C. 
Viashington, D. C. ^ 
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Lear IIr» Lee: 
Supplementing mj,- reply more fully to' yours of July 18th rela- 
tive to the regulations for protecting Sacfenento rice ■^ov/ers from the 
depredation of migrate^ birds, may I .say that the decision of Hr. Kel- 
son to send Lr. Alexander Wetmore to the Sacramento Valley to investi- 
gate these conditions is receiving the hearty appioval of the public 
generally. 
As wired you today, the duc'KS of the .Lallard variety are now be- 
ginning to bunch over the rice fields in greater quantities than last 
year and much earlier in the season. 
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To r.K*‘ it is desirous that hr. ‘--etmore ^et to the coast not later 
than September first. ’»7e will coamence harvesting rice of an early vari- 
ety on our own property probably about September 12th j'ust thirty days ; 
ahead of last season’s record, an^ I would be especially honored to have f 
Llr. Wetmore call upon me personally and if I have advices in advance will 
see that he has the right I'eception from the men whom he v/ill find it ne- 
co-^sary to get the correct information from, i. e., the rice and grain 
gro’.Tners of tlie Valley. * 
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I have endeavored tO'get the rice g:jowers individually to send 
letters to you and in some cases L believe.! have been successi'ul but the 
best efforts will result from the personal visit of .Lr. L'etmore v/ho will 
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be able to interview these men right on the ground. 
• :• ' TO' 
Goiioeruing our ovm' losses last year I may state conservatively tliat 
we lost 4000 sacks of rice wi th” an *equivalentmoney. value of say vlG,000. 
Ue liad, as you personally savf, about tv;enty-five aci*es of'rice matux'ed and 
ready to cut tint was absolutely stripiped by the ducks before the binders 
cO’uld get in, and the surrounding area produced forty sacks to the aci*o. 
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. Then we had in excess of twenty, acres of rice in the shock wMch 
7/as stripped of every grain and in addition there were pieces of rice land 
in manorous places on the field that wore stripped in -various stages. 
These depredations commenced about September 12th, 1917, but the 
worst feature or at least when v/e noticed it most was v/hen the water v/as 
off the fields nri<l the rice in the shook. T?e were then able to estimate 
our losses easily. 
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