856 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Uncle Sam as a Game Keeper 
LASKA is a pretty big territory. Its area 
comprises nearly 600,000 miles, which 
means that if Alaska could be laid on top 
of the eastern portion of the United States, ex¬ 
tending farther west than the Mississippi River, 
there wouldn’t be much ground left sticking over 
the edges. Alaska is the last and by far the most 
extensive wild game country of the North Amer¬ 
ican continent. The report of its Governor, 
Hon. J. F. A. Strong, to the Secretary of Agri¬ 
culture, now at hand, is therefore of importance 
and interest to American sportsmen, even though 
the majority of them will never hunt in Alaska. 
For all that, they are vitally concerned in what 
is going on there and they arc watching what 
Uncle Sam is doing to protect the Alaskan 
moose, in the number of which Alaska holds 
high pre-eminence, and what is happening to the 
deer, mountain sheep, mountain goats, caribou 
or bear, to say nothing of the myriads of water 
fowl of many species, which have their habitat 
or breed in the northwestern territory. 
Governor Strong’s report reveals the wonder¬ 
ful faunal life existing in Alaska, but running 
through it there crop up incidents of the same 
wasteful, damnable killing that has swept wild 
life from so much of the surface of the United 
States. We quote, for instance: 
The beginning of construction on the Alaska 
Central Railway in 1903, and continuing until 
1906, on which hundreds of men were employed 
during the greater part of the time, raised havoc 
with the moose and mountain sheep. Hunters 
were engaged at all times to keep the various 
camps along the line of work supplied with 
moose and sheep meat, it being cheaper than do¬ 
mestic meats shipped from the states. This con¬ 
dition of wanton and excessive killing of the 
wild game of the country continued with little 
cessation until the Sixtieth Congress passed cer¬ 
tain amendments to the original game laws. Now 
conditions are much improved. The game law, 
as applied to moose and mountain sheep, gives 
them immunity from needless slaughter, with the 
result that a gradual increase in their numbers 
is manifest. Without the restraining effect of 
the game law, these fine game animals would by 
this time be practically extinct, as far as the 
Kenai Peninsula is concerned. 
It is gratifying to note that the shameful 
slaughter of moose has been stopped, but it is 
breaking out again, not only as regards the 
moose, but all other animals wherever man has 
penetrated. And what else could be expected 
when we keep in mind the vast territory of this 
American gameland, and read that the fund for 
game wardens employed is limited to $20,000 an¬ 
nually ! The whole thing is a farce. 
Worse yet—and we regret exceedingly to 
chronicle the fact—it is reported on excellent 
authority that the soldiers stationed at Fort Wil¬ 
liam H. Seward on Lynn Canal had up to Octo¬ 
ber 15th killed about 200 deer. These men are 
not charged with violation of the law, but the 
practice followed in thus hunting deer, if con¬ 
tinued, will inevitably lead to their almost com¬ 
plete extinction. We have the word of Gov¬ 
ernor Strong himself for this assertion. The 
soldiers hunt in squads of fifteen or twenty men, 
and while none may exceed the limit allowed by 
law, and probably do not, the havoc wrought in 
deer slaughtering by 150 or more men can easily 
be understood. 
Uncle Sam is as a rule, a good game protec¬ 
tor, but he should stop this sort of thing immedi¬ 
ately. Alaska is the last game refuge which 
this country will possess. Its wild regions 
should be protected and protest should be en¬ 
tered against the proposition now being ad¬ 
vanced to exterminate the big Kadiak brown 
bears because they are accused of having killed 
a few calves, and, therefore, stand in the road 
of probable live stock cultivation. The charge 
against the Kadiak bear is not well supported, 
and to murder him off and thus add one more 
to the extinct species of interesting game life 
would be little less than a crime. We hope that 
the readers of Forest and Stream who are inter¬ 
ested in game conservation will write to the 
Secretary of Agriculture for a copy of Gov¬ 
ernor Strong’s report, and after reading it will 
continue the good work by writing to their Rep¬ 
resentative in Congress telling what they think 
about the proposition, and about Alaska affairs 
in general. 
Preservation Works Both Ways 
HETHER innate cussedness, total de¬ 
pravity, selfishness, or ignorance are re¬ 
sponsible for the non-observance of 
game laws in many sections is a puzzle that the 
honest law-abiding sportsman is at a loss to solve. 
Probably the verdict would be in favor of the 
first two causes mentioned, but our own idea is 
that the latter two, with some emphasis laid on 
the last of the four, would come nearer the real 
explanation. Certainly self-interest, if nothing 
more, should lead the farmer to foster and pro¬ 
tect the wild life that works for his gain and 
benefit, and in something akin to the same spirit, 
the gunner would not destroy the game if he 
realized that his acts were hastening exter¬ 
mination. 
We are speaking now of the ordinary honest 
citizen; with the lawless element we have nothing 
to do, except to say that as education becomes 
more general, the just retribution which the law¬ 
less man escapes now will overtake him. Conser¬ 
vation is preached morning, noon and night, and 
rightly too, but education must go hand in hand 
with conservation. Without it the game of Amer¬ 
ica is doomed. We are glad to be able to record 
that education is advancing. The interest shown 
in the numerous association and society meetings 
scheduled during this winter and the spring sea¬ 
son is an evidence of this fact. The first conven¬ 
tion of sportsmen ever held in the state of Ken¬ 
tucky was called together on January 12 last by 
the State Game and Fish Commission, and the 
attendance and enthusiasm surprised those who, 
with some doubt, brought the meeting into being. 
In the report sent to Forest and Stream it is 
stated that men from the Big Sandy, the Blue 
Grass, Pennyrile and Purchase sections-—how 
redolent and reminiscent of good hunting these 
names are—came together and passed resolutions 
calling on the legislature to amend the game and 
fish laws in the interest of conservation and 
sportsmanship. Every man present at that meet¬ 
ing was voting to shorten his season of hunting 
and fishing, but all agreed that in the interest of 
the state this should be done. The National con¬ 
ference to be held in New York shortly under the 
auspices of the American Game Protective So¬ 
ciety, the Michigan Wild Life Conservation Asso¬ 
ciation meeting—not to mention many others—all 
show that the real sportsmen of this country are 
aroused to action. It is well that this is the case. 
Game laws are made to preserve the game, and 
not for the selfish pleasure of the few who resist 
any restraint of their personal privileges. The 
sportsman can preserve himself only by pre¬ 
serving the game. 
European War and Wild Life 
HE fighting which is going on all over 
central Europe of course results in saving 
from destruction the small birds, which 
have so long been regarded as the legitimate prey 
of the “sportsmen” of the Latin races. It is be¬ 
lieved that these birds have greatly increased for 
the last year in Europe, and now it is learned, 
through Frederick C. Walcott, that the Italian 
Government has passed a law which went into 
effect January 1 prohibiting the shooting of all 
song and insectivorous birds throughout Italy. 
For many a long year the lark and the sparrow 
have been to the Italian gunner just as legitimate 
a prey as the buffalo and the moose were to the 
western and northern Indians when this country 
was first settled, and the enormous destruction of 
these birds that has gone on must have had its 
effect of the crops of Europe. 
Latin immigrants have brought with them to 
America their practice of small-bird slaying, and 
game authorities in this country have had not a 
little difficulty in controlling Italian immigrants, 
and several cases have occurred where the Italian 
lawbreaker resisting arrest has killed or injured 
the game protector. 
The process of education is long and slow, but 
we may hope that before many years have passed 
the change of sentiment which has already taken 
place in this country will have extended itself 
over the whole world. 
That Wild Goose “Stew” Club 
S INCE Brother E. T. Grether lambasted that 
California Wild Goose Stew Club through 
the columns of Forest and Stream and the 
St. Louis Globe Democrat, a chorus of approval 
has gone up in every sportsman’s circle through¬ 
out the United States. The club, it will be recalled, 
has been in the habit of slaughtering a number 
of thousands of wild geese annually to make a 
Sacramento holiday. It is shocking to hear that 
among the chief “stews” of the organization is 
a gentleman high on the official roster of the 
California State Fish and Game Commission. 
The charge has not been denied, neither has it 
been confirmed, and Forest and Stream therefore 
withholds the name for the present. The best 
denial of official connection might be expressed 
in some action looking toward the suppression 
of the annual “stew” day. The whole thing is a 
disgrace to California. 
