730 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company 
Chas. A. Hazen, President Charles L. Wise, Treasurer 
W. G. Beecroft, Secretary 
22 Thames Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCE:—Forest and Stream is the re¬ 
cognized 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 cents 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 
Subscriptions and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano's. 
Entered in New York Post Office as Second class matter. 
THE FARMER AND PROTECTION. 
The great economic importance of game pro¬ 
tection should help along the movement to bring 
about a greater co-operation between farmers 
and city men in the protection of game and 
the enforcement of the game laws. Those who 
think game laws are made simply in order that 
idle men may have something to shoot, overlook 
the fact that industries representing an immense 
investment and employing many men are con¬ 
cerned in the production of guns, ammunition, 
fishing tackle, wading boots, camp outfits and a 
long list of other articles which would not sell 
if tT-re were no game and game fish. These 
indv .ries are just as legitimate as any of the 
industries supplying articles for use in any other 
sort of sport. These considerations appeal direct¬ 
ly to the city business man. There is an equally 
practical aspect of game protection which 
appeals to the farmer. Game on the farm has 
a cash value, as farmers in the Old World 
learned long ago. Some farmers are learning 
the same thing here and put up their no-hunting 
signs with a mental reservation in favor of the 
man who comes to them with a reasonable fee 
for the right to hunt over their land. As fast 
as farmers see the possibilities of this idea they 
will protect the game on their farms as zealously 
as they protect the hens in the poultry yard. 
THE HOUSE-CAT. 
The house-cat has more to do with the de¬ 
crease of game than anything else, excepting the 
snow owl. 
In local sections the house-cat, that is, those 
that are allowed to wander, are responsible for 
a tremendous amount of destruction. In more 
remote sections the house-cat ceases to be a 
menace—it is then up to the hawk and the snow 
owl in responsibilities. 
The snow owl like the average prey bird, finds 
it necessary to have at least two birds a day on 
which to live; those birds largely eat partridge. 
The owl preys where the fox cannot. A 
partridge in the Adirondacks, when the snow is 
on the ground, lives in the upper birches or hem¬ 
lock. The owl can reach these but not so the 
fox. 
Now it would be a good idea, if every sports¬ 
man going into the Adirondacks and where the 
snow owl is open game, would shoot at one of 
these every time he can; in this way we could 
protect the ruffed-grouse in the Adirondacks. 
THE AUTOMATIC GUN. 
There is an alleged theory that the automatic 
gun is responsible for decrease in wild game, at 
least this proposition is advanced by Prof. T. E. 
B. Pope. 
Now, anybody who has used an automatic gun 
must realize at least one thing; that is, that it 
is not possible to get more than one shot more 
than with a double barrel. As a matter of fact, a 
g’reat many sportsmen using the automatic and 
not realizing the lack of recoil, or in other 
words not knowing that the recoil is taken up in 
the reloading of the gun, get simply the first 
bird out of five at least. The automatic has not 
done anything toward the decrease of wild fowl 
while it has saved many a cripple. 
A man who can shoot, can get his bag with 
two barrels—the man who needs three cartridges 
cannot secure a bag with five, therefore Prof. 
Pope in his lecture on the decrease of wild 
birds, through the use of the automatic, has en¬ 
tirely missed his target. 
SHOOTING ON SUNDAY. 
Once more the shooting on Sunday proposi¬ 
tion is brought to our attention. This time from 
Indiana, where it is claimed that aliens are 
shooting up bird life. 
This brings us back to our original proposi¬ 
tion wherein we argued that Sunday shooting 
prohibition is class legislation. The man who has 
a license to shoot at other times during the year 
should be allowed to shoot on Sunday. If he 
is an alien, and not entitled to a license, he 
should not be allowed to shoot. 
There is many a workman in New York and 
other states who has no other day to shoot and 
who is fond of shooting. This man should be 
allowed to shoot on his license. If he has no 
license he should not be allowed to shoot. No 
more birds are killed on Sunday than on any 
other day and the man with a license almost 
never shoots anything but birds covered by that 
license. 
Once more we say, the close season on Sunday 
is class legislation—absolutely without reason. 
NO LICENSE TO ALIENS. 
Let’s put a new law whereby every unnatural¬ 
ized citizen is prohibited from using a gun in the 
woods or in the fields, or on the water. The 
latter proposition of course, is the least neces¬ 
sary of prohibition to foreigners. 
In many states, notably Pennsylvania, the 
alien is carefully guarded; in New York State, 
this is not the case. We End in the woods, 
foreigners not only unnaturalized, but without 
licenses and we also know that the licenses are 
supplied by politicians to unnaturalized citizens. 
The question is, why? 
REASON FOR DEFEAT OF NON SALE OF 
GAME LAW. 
Sacramento, Cal., Nov. 24, 1914. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The defeat of the non-sale of game amend¬ 
ment No. 18 was a very great disappointment to 
all interested in the preservation of the wild life 
of California, and particularly so to those who 
worked so hard and so consistently in behalf of 
the measure. 
A combination of circumstances was responsi¬ 
ble for the defeat of this measure.- In the first 
place a great many who were in favor, of the 
non-sale voted against when they thought they 
were voting for it. With the idea uppermost in 
their minds that they were voting AGAINST 
the sale of game, they voted NO when they 
should have voted YES. Then again the pro¬ 
vision in the amendment prohibiting the ship¬ 
ment at all times of any and all game, with the 
exception of geese and rabbits, was very ob¬ 
jectionable to many who enjoy an occasional 
recreation a-field. It is often the case that a 
hunter may want to ship his first day’s kill home 
to his family or friends, and remain over for 
the second day’s shooting or, in the case of 
where a party had gone into the hills for several 
weeks’ outing, a deer is killed and they want to 
ship some of the venison home. The adoption 
of amendment eighteen would have prohibited 
this, and many sportsmen, who believe in and 
strongly advocate the non-sale of game, voted 
againt the amendment solely because of its non¬ 
shipment provisions. 
Notwithstanding this objection or the mis¬ 
takes of not voting correctly, the measure would 
have no doubt received a much larger vote but 
for the publication of an untruthful and mislead¬ 
ing article in the San Francisco Examiner of 
Sunday, November 1st. This paper came into 
possession of a photograph of several shooters 
and a large string of ducks killed on the open¬ 
ing day of the season at the West Butte Club. 
The photograph in question was taken October 
15th and published a few days later in the Sac¬ 
ramento Bee and represented the entire kill of 
eleven (11) shooters, although but seven men 
were shown in the photo. Instead of telling the 
truth as to the number of birds killed by each 
hunter, none of whom exceeded the legal limit, 
and several did not get near that number, the 
fact that I, as President of the State Fish and 
Game Commission, was shown in the photo¬ 
graph, was sufficient inducement for the Ex¬ 
aminer to misrepresent and distort the facts so 
as to make it appear that the limit had been 
exceeded, and to launch into a long hysterical 
tirade against gun clubs in general and certain 
members thereof in particular. It is unquestion¬ 
ably true that this vicious and misleading article, 
coming as it did just two days before the elec¬ 
tion, resulted in the loss of a great many votes 
that otherwise would have gone for the non-sale. 
The defeat of the non-sale of game referen¬ 
dum amendment has in no way discouraged 
those who fought so hard and so consistently in 
its behalf. We are on the job for all time to 
come and we will work all the harder to effect 
the enactment of a State law to that effect, and 
it won’t be long before the desired result is at¬ 
tained. FRANK M. NEWBERT. 
DUCKS IN DELAWARE. 
Central Delaware until a few years ago was 
a favorite spot for duck hunters. Treacherous 
tides finally destroyed celery beds near Bombay 
Hook and with them gone wild ducks sought 
other fields. This point is being sown with rice 
and celery seed, shipped here from Wisconsin, 
while ponds at Kitt’s Hammock, two points in 
Sussex and one in New Castle also are receiv¬ 
ing seed. 
