1170 
The Other Side of 
In your issue of April 3 a full-page 
article appeared, signed by lion. E. G. 
Whitaker. Supreme Court Justice of .New 
York County, entitled. “Foolish and In¬ 
effective New York Game Laws." Inas¬ 
much a.s this article somewhat severely 
arraigns the commission and myself for 
certain alleged policies, and makes some 
rather sweeping general statements that 
in my mind tend to create a wrong im¬ 
pression with respect to certain provisions 
of the conservation law, I will be glad of 
the opportunity to make the following re¬ 
ply : 
In the first paragraph of Judge Whit¬ 
aker's-letter it states: 
“It seems to be the policy of Mr. Pratt, 
the present head of the Conservation 
Commission, to deprive the farmers and 
landowners of the right to protect then- 
lands against depredation and to retain 
what game there may be on them for 
themselves.” 
I have never advocated, nor has it been 
my policy to “deprive farmers and land- 
owners of the right to protect their lands 
against depredation.” I have been in 
complete sympathy with Part XI of the 
Conservation Law, which is in effect a 
very stringent trespass law. I am per¬ 
fectly willing to say that some of these 
provisions might be improved, with the 
object of making them applicable to the 
farmer and smaller landowner. I would 
certainly be in favor of them if I could 
be convinced that it would increase the 
amount of game. 
The game of the State belongs to all 
of its citizens, and not exclusively to the 
party on whose land it happens to be. 
The Supreme Court has recently said : 
“Wild birds are not in the possession 
of anyone, and possession is the beginning 
of ownership.” 
It is with this in mind that I. cannot 
agree with Judge Whitaker and Mr. 
Brigham, who recently wrote an article 
for the Sun, signifying that what he now 
desires is to enable the owner to sell the 
game found on his property. This is very 
similar to the propaganda that Dwight L. 
Huntington advocated for a number of 
years, when he endeavored to put through 
bills here in Albany “for the sale of game 
raised by industry.” What he wanted to 
The RURAL N 
Country Game Law 
do was to purchase land and surround 
them with fences, shoot off' what game 
there was there and sell it. I am heartily 
opposed, as a conservationist, to anything 
of this sort. 
Following the above quotation, it is 
stated in Judge Whitaker's article: 
“Under the present complicated law it 
is impracticable to keep the public from 
overrunning other people’s land in pursuit 
of game. They destroy fences. Their 
dogs run sheep. They kill chickens and 
song birds, and do all sorts of things 
that are injurious.” 
Under Section 361 of the Conservation 
Law, anyone by applying to the commis¬ 
sion may set aside his lands and hold the 
same as a private park, and under the 
penalty section “a person who violates 
any provision of Part XI shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to 
exemplary damages in the sum of $25 for 
each offense or trespass to be recovered 
by the owner of the lands,” etc. 
The State of New York has probably 
as drastic a dog law as any State in the 
Union. Section 139-A of the Agricultural 
Law provides: 
“Dog to be killed for attacking animals. 
Any person may kill a dog while it is at¬ 
tacking. chasing or worrying any do¬ 
mestic animal having a commercial value, 
or attacking fowls, or while such dog is 
being pursued thereafter.” 
Judge Whitaker's article states, under 
the heading “The Owner’s Rights,” as fol¬ 
lows : 
“The policy of the present Conservation 
Commission is to make the rights of the 
owners subservient to the use of the pub¬ 
lic. to open all private lauds to the use 
of the public for the purpose of shooting 
thereon.” 
The law as above quoted will show the 
attitude of the commission toward this 
question, and I will further state that 
we have encouraged the setting aside of 
private parks for breeding purposes. If 
the owner has not the ambition to put up 
signs. I think that it indicates he does 
riot desire the protection which is given 
him under the law. 
One of the statements in the article, 
under “A Fallacious View,” is: 
“The commission is endeavoring to pro- 
E W-YORKER 
tect and preserve something that hardly 
exists any more.” 
, From all observations, based on the 
game census and other information re¬ 
ceived at the office of the commission, the 
game is on the increase and not on the 
decrease, as stated. I will cite the case 
of the ruffed grouse, where the demand 
came to the commission for a closed sea¬ 
son of from one to three years, the state¬ 
ment being made that the grouse were “a 
thing of the past,” and had become ex¬ 
tinct. We did not close the season as re¬ 
quested, but cut the season in half and 
the bag limit in half, with the result that 
the birds are coming back. 
I do not quite understand what Judge 
Whitaker means where he states: 
“It destroys with one hand that which 
it attempts to preserve with the other, 
and the destructive hand is much more 
effective than the protective hand.” 
If he means by this our attempt to 
destroy vermin, would say that we are 
taking this step in order to preserve what 
we feel to be the most useful species. 
Further down in the article it is stated : 
“Experience has demonstrated it as a 
fact that, in order to have an abundance 
of game, the landowner must be given an 
absolute right to propogate, preserve and 
protect it on his own land. This, Mr. 
Pratt, the Conservation Commissioner, re¬ 
fuses- to do or In try to do.” 
I contend that this is far from being 
the fact, for. as stated, we are doing 
everything we can to encourage people to 
establish game preserves where they will 
raise their own game. I wish here to 
cite the effective work which has been 
done by John B. Burnham, Clarence 
M'ackay. Robert Gerry and others who 
have taken up this work on a broad scale 
and have made a success of it. 
The article further states: 
“The State of New York is spending 
large sums of money yearly in maintain¬ 
ing game farms and raising pheasants. 
For what purpose? For the rabble to 
shoot? Is it not absurd that the State 
should spend large sums of money for the 
raising of a few pheasants in order that 
the rabble may have a little pheasant 
shooting, which reallv amounts to verv 
little?” 
I question very much whether Judge 
Whitaker would care to have the 40.000 
members of fish and game associations in 
the State know what he thinks of them. 
. July 3, 1920 
Personally, I have a higher regard for 
the sportsmen of this State than to call 
them “the rabble.” 
Under the heading “Useless Expense,” 
he states: 
“Many people living on farms would 
doubtless raise pheasants if for no other 
purpose than seeing them about, were it 
not that raising such game would simply 
entice trespassers.” 
I am somewhat surprised at an argu¬ 
ment of this sort coming from so high a 
legal authority, for the same statement 
might be made in regard to anyone raising 
chickens. From what I have heard from 
the gentlemen whose names 1 have men¬ 
tioned above, they have had little or no 
difficulties with trespassers. 
There is no doubt but that there are 
two sides to every question, and I am 
always glad to receive constructive criti¬ 
cism, for such criticism is helpful in the 
work of the commission. We feel that 
we are far from perfect, and it is our aim 
to improve the gafne laws and the general 
situation in the State, to the end that the 
o , ame will increase and conditions he bet¬ 
tered. GEORGE ]). PRATT, 
State Conservation Commissioner. 
Ration for Ducklings 
I am hatching a lot of ducks this Sum¬ 
mer. and do not. know what kind of feed 
would be the best and cheapest. Some 
say that bread soaked in water is all little 
ducks should have. Do you think cornmeal 
baked in a corn cake would be any good 
to feed ? c. ir. f. 
Ducklings should not be fed until 36 
hours old; they may then be given bread 
soaked in milk, with a little fine grit and 
charcoal added. Water should be con¬ 
stantly before them in sufficient quantity 
to drink, but not for swimming purposes 
until fully feathered. After a few days 
a mash similar to the following may be 
used: Four parts wheat, bran, one part 
middlings, one part cornmeal, two parts 
green stuff, cut fine, five per cent chick 
grit and five per cent sifted beef scrap. 
For green stuff, lettuce, cut clover and 
Alfalfa are good. Make the mash moist, 
but uot wet, using skim-milk or water, 
and feed only as much at a time as they 
will quickly clean up. Keep feeding 
dishes clean. After about six week- 
cracked corn and wheat may be fed. 
M. R. I). 
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