202 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Aug. i7, 1912 
The Duties of Game Protectors 
By T. S. PALMER, Assistant Chief, U. S. Biological Survey 
Read at Annual Convention of Game Protectors of New York State. 
(Concluded from page 171.) 
F IRST and foremost is a duty of education in 
making the law more generally known and 
clearly understood. No State has yet solved 
the difficult problem of popularizing the game 
laws. Distributing copies of the law with every 
license, providing convenient summaries of the 
more important features, calling attention to it 
through the press, posting notices in public places, 
translating summaries in foreign languages for the 
benefit of hunters ignorant of English—these and 
other expedients reach certain classes of people, 
but all combined fail to reach a considerable part 
of the public. Many points in the law are am¬ 
biguous, hut some have been cleared up by 
judicial decisions, and others by departmental 
regulations and precedents. It is doubly im¬ 
portant that all possible light should be shed on 
these doubtful passages. Here is where the 
game protector can perform invaluable service 
by circulating copies of the law, summaries or 
posters; by securing publication in the press of 
timely notices of changes in the statutes, the 
opening or closing of seasons or matters of 
general interest, and by personal contact in ex¬ 
plaining or furnishing information whenever 
opportunity offers. In this way he will soon 
come to he regarded as the friend and adviser, 
instead of, as too often happens, the enemy and 
persecutor of the hunter or fisherman. 
Not less important is the protector’s duty 
in the matter of increasing the supply of fish 
and game. True, in enforcing the law strictly 
he directly decreases destruction, and he may on 
occasion be called on to distribute pheasant eggs, 
plant fish, or put out game birds of various kinds. 
Rut the opportunities which will come to him 
in the daily performance of his duties, will, if 
improved, do far more to increase the game than 
any of the prescribed methods just mentioned. 
He can feed certain kinds of game in severe 
weather in winter or better yet, interest farmers 
and others to put out food for birds on their 
own land. He can see that water is provided 
for birds at suitable places in hot weather; that 
valuable birds are not ignorantly destroyed on 
account of alleged damage to crops; that dogs 
running deer, cats destroying birds and other 
enemies of game receive more than ordinary 
attention ; and that persons interested in feeding, 
attracting or introducing game, are put in the 
way of obtaining necessary information and are 
encouraged to persevere in their experiments. 
1 hese and similar activities will popularize the 
service and make its work more satisfactory to 
the people. 
Even more important is provision for the 
future by moulding public opinion in favor of 
needed reforms, improved methods, or new lines 
of conservation. Through daily contact with 
actual conditions the protector will soon dis¬ 
cover weaknesses in the law which require 
amendment. By intercourse with other wardens 
or officers of the commission or by reading, if 
he keeps abreast of the times, he will frequently 
learn of novel methods or devices which have 
been successfully applied elsewhere. Some of 
these might be adopted with advantage in his 
own locality. The public naturally expects him 
to keep up with the progress of the world in his 
chosen work, and will often welcome new ideas 
or suggestions for improving existing conditions. 
1 f he is keenly alive to the interests of the public, 
the protector will see that important matters are 
brought to the attention of the people in his 
district through the medium of the press, through 
sportsmen’s meetings, or by personal discussion; 
that public sentiment is formulated and crystal¬ 
lized on various questions so that proper recom¬ 
mendations may he submitted to the commission, 
or through regular channels to the Legislature. 
In this way the public interests can be subserved, 
the needs of the people presented to legislative 
committees, and the work of the commission 
greatly strengthened. 
THE PROTECTOR'S DUTY TO HIMSELF. 
Beside his duty to the commission and the 
people every game protector owes a duty to him¬ 
self. For his own interest or that of his family 
he should exercise due care, and it is only fair 
that this phase of his work should receive full 
consideration. If after several years of hard 
and often dangerous duty the warden can look 
forward to no increase in salary or promotion 
in office, if he can show nothing in return for 
his labor except a small fixed salary and a num¬ 
ber of personal enemies acquired in the line of 
duty, if when performing some dangerous work 
he should be seriously injured, crippled for life 
or killed, he can expect no compensation, it is 
questionable whether, in justice to himself or his 
family, he can afford to remain long in the ser¬ 
vice. Under ordinary circumstances it is not 
likely that he can acquire wealth or fame, but 
he will have plenty of outdoor exercise, varied 
experience, and more or less interesting work. 
If he does not suffer from the political upheavals 
which are too frequent in warden service, he 
need have no cause to complain, but an ambitious 
man must have something to which to look for¬ 
ward. Because an officer occupies the position 
of a deputy or private is no reason why he may 
not have an opportunity to rise. In some States 
chief deputies are chosen from the ranks; in 
others promotion of deputies to the position of 
State warden or commissioner are sometimes 
made when changes occur in these offices. As 
game warden work increases in complexity, 
greater opportunities for promotion will be open 
to progressive men in the ranks. 
It frequently happens that a deputy, although 
performing ordinary duties in an apparently 
limited field, becomes widely known outside his 
district, and may even acquire a national repu¬ 
tation. Several instances of this kind will readily 
suggest themselves. I need only mention such 
men as E. V. Visart, of Arkansas; Walter R. 
Welch and the late W. B. Morgan, of California; 
E H. Bartels, of Illinois; the late W. A. Palmer, 
of Michigan ; E. T. Grether, of Missouri; Harry 
Chase, of Vermont; H. Rief, of Washington, and 
Val. Raeth, of Wisconsin. None of these men 
are commissioners or State wardens; they are 
all dupties or privates. Some have become 
prominent through their skill with the pen, but 
all chiefly through their activity in the field. 
The time has come to discard the old idea 
that any man can perform a warden’s work, or 
that failure in other fields is a valid reason for 
recommending a man for appointment as a game 
protector. With the organization now possible 
under the direction of a commission or State 
officer, and the inducement of a regular though 
modest salary, warden work has reached a higher 
standard and is proving attractive to better men 
than ever before. Application of the merit sys¬ 
tem under civil service rules has removed the 
service from politics in four or five States and 
the necessity of such action elsewhere is gen¬ 
erally recognized. Notwithstanding these ad¬ 
vantages, the warden's position is not entirely 
satisfactory even in the most advanced States, 
and earnest efforts should be made for further 
improvement in the direction of service pay, a 
pension system similar to that provided for mem¬ 
bers of the police and fire departments in some 
cities, and compensation for injuries incurred 
in the line of duty. 
OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE. 
Service Pay .—Lender the new conservation 
law New York provides for service pay where¬ 
by a protector's salary may be increased from 
$900 to $1,300 at the rate of $100 per annum. 
Wisconsin has recently graded her warden work 
into three classes and provided for promotion 
from $900 to $1,460 per annum after certain 
length of service and examination. Massachu¬ 
setts provides both service pay and pensions, the 
former under regulations of the commissioners 
of fisheries and game, the latter under a general 
law applicable to all State officers. LTnder the 
commissioners’ plan which took effect Dec. T, 
1911, deputies receive $60 per month during the 
first year, and afterward may receive an in¬ 
crease of $10 per month each year up to five 
years. In other words, the entrance salary of 
$60 per month may be increased to a maximum 
of $100 per month at the end of the fifth year. 
The chief deputy receives $125 per month, and 
in two cases the office has been filled by men 
selected from the ranks, so that a deputy at $60 
per month or $720 per year may look forward 
under favorable circumstances to promotion to 
the position of chief deputy at $125 per month 
or $1,500 per annum. 
Pensions .-—Under a new State law passed 
last year (Acts of 1911, Chap. 532), all State 
officers in Massachusetts must retire at seventy 
years of age and may retire at the age of sixty, 
after fifteen years’ service. A pension is pro¬ 
vided on conditions somewhat as follows: 
Part of the employe’s salary (from 1 to 5 
per cent, of all salaries up to $1,500 per annum 
as the board of retirement may determine) is 
withheld for a pension fund, and is compounded 
semi-annually at 3 per cent. If an employe 
leaves the service before the expiration of fifteen 
years, he is entitled to the amount withheld from 
his salary plus the- accrued interest. If he serves 
the full fifteen-year period, the State then 
doubles the amount to his credit and pays it to 
him as a life annuity, payable monthly, but in no 
(Continued on page 221.) 
