496 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Oct. 19, 1912 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
Charles Otis, President. 
W. G. Beecroft, Secretary. S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCE — Forest and Stream is the 
recognized medium of entertainment, instruction and in¬ 
formation between American sportsmen. The editors 
invite communications on the subjects to which its pages 
are devoted, but, of course, are not responsible for the 
views of correspondents. Anonymous communications 
cannot be regarded. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $3 a year; $1.50 for six months; 
10 cts. a copy. Canadian, $4 a year; foreign. $4.50 a year. 
This paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
Subscription and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano’s. 
ADVERTISKNIKNTS : Display and classified, 20 cts. 
per agate line ($2.80 per inch). There are 14 agate lines to 
the inch. Covers and special positions extra. Five, 
ten and twenty per cent, discount for 13, 26 and 52 inser¬ 
tions, respectively, within one year. Forms close Monday 
in advance of .publication date. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
IMPORTANT DECISION IN CALIFORNIA. 
A decision of the utmost importance to ang¬ 
lers and hunters has just been handed down in 
the Supreme Court of California, and according to 
which navigable waters of California are open to 
all sportsmen, no matter who owns the soil be¬ 
neath them. This decision was handed down in the 
court after a fight that has lasted for six years, 
the case being that of Edwin H. Forestier vs. 
Frank Johnson. Forestier owns 3 °- acres of 
land on the Napa River, which at ordinary high 
tide is covered with water and known as Fly s 
Bay. He was given title by the State on a sale, 
Jan. 15, 1906, and a year later a patent was 
issued to him. Shortly after the purchase John¬ 
son and some friends visited the bay to hunt 
and fish, but were driven away by Forestier. 
The latter tried to secure an injunction to keep 
Johnson away, but the Superior Court found 
that Forestier was not the owner of the “so- 
called property,” although his patent to the soil 
under the water was conceded. The case was 
carried to the Supreme Court and in the decis¬ 
ion just announced Justice Shaw said: "I he 
defendants admit that the patent is valid and 
conveyed the soil underlying the bay to Forestier 
and complete title to the premises, except as they 
may be necessary to public uses. The United 
States has paramount right to control navigable 
waters within the several States so far as may 
be necessary for the regulation of interstate and 
foreign commerce. The State can make no dis¬ 
position of the soil beneath that will impair this 
right and power of the United States. The de¬ 
fendants have the privilege of hunting on these 
waters while exercising the public right of navi¬ 
gation over them.” 
In connection with this important decision 
ft might be stated that there is another case now 
pending in the courts whereby the right of Cali¬ 
fornia to dispose of tide lands is contested. The 
stand is taken by the Federal Government that 
the tide lands turned over to the State must for¬ 
ever remain State property and cannot be sold. 
In case this contention is upheld, thousands of 
acres of private preserves held by hunting clubs 
will revert to the State and may be held only by 
lease. 
A PROMISING GAME SEASON. 
From every State we thus far have heard 
from come reports of "the best game season in 
years.” The new protective laws enacted in most 
States and the scientific application of propagation 
already are showing their value. The appointment 
as commissioners and wardens of intelligent men 
having thorough knowledge of game conditions 
and the weeding out of game protectors whose 
only right to the title is political has worked 
great benefits. Politics, however, play too im¬ 
portant a part in some States. For instance, word 
comes from no less important a State than Min¬ 
nesota that Governor Eberhart's re-election as¬ 
sures the continuance as president of the Board 
of Game and Fish Commissioners of George J. 
Bradley. 
Now we haven’t any great interest as to the 
particular party to which Governor Eberhart 
owes his election; in fact, we do not know 
whether he is Republican, Democrat or Moose, 
but we do know that from a conservation view¬ 
point if, as seems to be the case, Mr. Bradleys 
reappointment depends upon Gov. Eberhart's con¬ 
tinuance in office, Gov. Eberhart should be re¬ 
elected, for the reason that Commissioner Brad¬ 
ley has served three years on the commission, 
during which time much has been done for the 
good of fish and game in Minnesota, both in 
propagation and protection. Considerable time 
will be necessary to carry out the work started 
by Commissioner Bradley, and he should be al¬ 
lowed to carry his plans to a successful conclus¬ 
ion. 
This one instance brings forcefully to mind 
the fact that commissioners and wardens should 
hold office just so long as they prove efficient 
and should have no fear of being superseded at 
the expiration of their terms should another 
political party be in power at that time. Honest 
police service by wardens and deputies to sup¬ 
plement intelligent effort by commissioners will 
do a great deal to bring back “the old days 
shooting of which all of us have read with so 
much interest in hack numbers of Forest and 
Stream. 
THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING. 
Printer's Ink compiles a table showing the 
aggregate amount of advertising carried by 
Forest and Stream, Outing and Field and Stream 
for the past four Septembers. It shows as fol¬ 
lows : 
Agate Lines of 
Publication. Advertising. 
1. Forest and Stream. 61,839 
2. Outing . 57,267 
3. Field and Stream . 45>° 2 4 
Which proves that Forest and Stream in 
September, 1912, 1911, 1910 and 1909 published 
an aggregate of 4,572 lines of advertising more 
than its nearest competitor and 16,815 lines more 
than its near namesake. 
THE JOYS OF THE FIELD. 
Long occupation in business, day by day, 
week after week, month after month, which, 
passing away, make the procession of the years, 
becomes at last a habit, inflexible and dominant. 
A man who has the business habit to the ex¬ 
clusion of all other habits sees largely but one 
side of human nature—the side which is inces¬ 
santly commercial and striving for material gain. 
In the competition of business there is little place 
for diversion or the play of sentiments. Buying 
and selling, working and paying, with the con¬ 
stant under-current of care which links the re¬ 
sponsibilities of to-day with the possibilities of 
to-morrow, are serious occupations and exclude 
most else from the mind. It is proper that it 
should be so in actual business. The serious 
problems of life deserve serious consideration 
and attention. The mistake is in making life 
all serious without relaxation. It should not be 
all grim and hard and laborious. Nature has 
her serious exactions, but she is also profuse in 
the beautiful and pleasing. The earth is in beau¬ 
tiful dress, colored in a profusion of delicate 
timings and shading, blending exquisitely and 
never out of harmony. The flowers, beautiful 
in themselves, have pleasing odors. The birds 
animating the stillness of the air have sweet 
songs which please the ear; in short, in nature 
there is everything to afford wholesome pleasure 
to the senses and health to body and mind. 
There is that in the air, in the woods, in the 
field, on marsh and in waters, from which man 
can derive new life, new inspiration and a better 
understanding of nature and of his fellows. 
He is certainly a sordid individual who has 
neither taste for or knowledge of the joys of 
the field, who wonders whether it is sport or 
greed that lures so many men from the comforts 
of home and the fascinations of business to 
face all sorts of hardships and privations in 
slough and stream in the wildfowl season. 
If the sportsman be advanced in years, the 
fires of youth surge back over him the night 
before he crawls into his blind in the golden 
rice of darksome tides. In his dreams he is 
again sailing over the old Christmas tide of his 
boyhood. If he be a young man, with a long 
vista of years before him yet to be trodden, his 
emotions are even keener, and more varied, and 
in the beatitude of the moment he would not ex¬ 
change places with a king. 
RAILROAD ADVERTISING. 
Abundant —an overflowing fullness, says 
Webster. How often this word is used in rail¬ 
road advertising to describe game conditions in 
the territory reached by their different lines. 
“Moose and deer abundant” is a common 
statement made by some railroads when as a 
matter of fact no such state of affairs exists in 
this country. Of course we realize it is not the 
intention of any railroad company purposely to 
mislead through its advertising, but only to make 
as alluring as possible country traversed by its 
service. However, the advertising does mis’ead, 
consequently should be remodeled to fit the exact 
conditions rather than the hallucinations of an 
imaginative copy writer. 
Forest and Stream is invariably spoken of 
by good authorities as one of the first sports¬ 
man’s magazines of the world. 
