538 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 3, 1909. 
Louisiana Game Wardens. 
A CONVENTION of the State game wardens of 
Louisiana was held in the Seriate Chamber at 
Baton Rouge, March 24. It was largely attended 
and much interest was felt in its deliberation. 
Frank M. Miller, president of the State Board 
of Commissioners for the Protection of Game 
and Fish, and ex-officio chief warden, delivered 
an address to the force substantially as follows: 
“My first visit to this Senate chamber took 
place seven years ago. I came to ask for pro¬ 
tection on game and non-game birds. I was 
told it was a needless errand for the reason 
that the wild bird life in our State needed no 
protection. At that time the outlook for legal 
protection was slight, and to-day when I con¬ 
template this gathering of the game wardens 
of the State and realize what you stand for, 
and our relations to the State and to the people 
of the State, T am astonished beyond measure 
that so great a movement should have come out 
of so small an initiative. 
The department was organized in the midst 
of the hunting season and I think it speaks well 
for the members of the service that we have 
not only organized ourselves into an active, 
efficient agency, but in addition have brought 
about a respect for the game laws, and in fact 
all law that has meant a moral uplift in all parts 
of the State. I am proud of you and I believe 
that a majority of the citizens of the State are 
also proud of you. 
“The first attempt of the State Government 
to enter into lawful possession of the game and 
fish found in fhe State, decreed by the General 
Assembly and various courts as hers without 
a shadow of a doubt, has been met with fierce 
opposition on the part of those who, as residuary 
legatees of immemorial custom, have come ac¬ 
tually to believe we are infringing on their per¬ 
sonal rights. It is well, therefore, that I should 
at this time make clear to you our position on 
one vitally important point. When we took hold 
of this work we found that the General Assem¬ 
bly had entered into a solemn covenant with 
the people of the State granting to them the 
right to kill twenty-five game birds each and 
every day, and by so much givin,g the right to 
dispose of the kill as they saw fit. To our sur¬ 
prise the police jury of the parish of Calcasieu 
subsequently passed a law confirming the right 
to every person in that parish who desired to 
kill the twenty-five birds covenanted to them by 
the General Assembly, but in addition thereto 
practically confiscating thirteen of them when 
the hunter desired to ship them out of the 
parish, 
“This was so manifestly in contravention of 
the plain letter of the law that we were com¬ 
pelled to intervene in order that the State might 
keep faith with her children. The General As¬ 
sembly by another enactment covenanted with 
the people of the State as to the ownership of 
the oysters found in the various parishes of the 
State with the result that unrestricted commerce 
in this valuable food supply obtains everywhere. 
What would happen if some of the parish police 
juries should enact a law decreeing that any¬ 
one might secure all the oysters he desired, but 
could ship out of that particular parish only 50 
per cent, of the total amount caught? 
“To state the case in its full application shows 
its fallacy, and yet because we have stood for the 
inalienable right of the State to adjudicate the 
control of this natural food supply in the interest 
of all the people of the State and in accord with 
legislative covenant, the people of the State are 
told through the columns of the public press 
that ‘no benefit’ comes to the State through or 
by your services and that the expenses of the 
commission are ‘an unnecessary and wasteful 
expenditure of public money.’ 
“A small number of amateur sportsmen seem 
determined to discredit the commission and have 
not hesitated at any plan which would bring 
about that result. So far they have done us no 
serious damage, but they have annoyed us, and 
it ought to sober our thoughts when we con¬ 
template the spectacle of a number of amateur 
sportsmen endeavoring to discredit an honest 
attempt to adjudicate a great public trust and 
threatening to wipe out the law under which 
we operate in order' that they may carry out 
their selfish aims without interference. 
“The commission takes the ground that the 
game animals and fish found in the State are 
a great public asset and as such must be handled 
under its State wide aspect. I would rather this 
magnificent experiment in State Government 
control of natural resources went down in de¬ 
feat than chan.ge my ideas in this respect. 
“We began the work of the service thinking 
we were especially delegated to look after the 
welfare of the amateur sportsman and the pleas¬ 
ure which he took in the killing of the game. 
It is true that under our present incomplete 
system the amateur hunter is bearing a large 
part of the burden of maintaining the service, 
yet in view of the fact that he secures the larger 
part of ‘the kill,’ the injustice of the system is 
more apparent than real. We believe, however, 
that the next Assembly will permit us to modify 
the law so that the expenses of the service will 
rest equally upon all who participate in the kill 
or the catch, whether or not he be the owner 
of a gun or a fishing rod. The conservation of 
a vast and valuable natural food supply, in which 
every man, woman and child in the whole State 
is interested, is the most important question with 
which' we have to do. 
“The work of the commission has been oner¬ 
ous. Fortunately, for the success of the depart¬ 
ment, I early found in our worthy Governor, 
Jared Y. Sanders, not only an enthusiastic be¬ 
liever in what we stand for, but a wise coun¬ 
sellor who has helped in every way to make the 
service successful. Before taking hold of this 
work I had known ]\Ir. Sanders as a successful 
lawyer and a masterful leader of men. Since 
then I have learned to kno-w and respect him 
as a man of great business acumen and execu¬ 
tive ability as well as a student of eminence in 
the greatest of all sciences, the study of man¬ 
kind. I take this opportunity of acknowledging 
my personal obligations to him. 
“Last week we had the pleasure of advising 
the Governor that in addition to efficiently en¬ 
forcing the game and fish laws for the first time 
in the history of the State, and after laying 
aside a sufficient sum of money to effectually 
carry on the work of the commission until the 
next hunting season, that we had a surplus of 
$25,000 which we were anxious to turn over to 
the State and asked his advice as to the proper 
manner of doing so. 
“I am not satisfied with all the work which 
you have done. Some have aided us materially. 
Others have fallen short of our ideals. And in 
this respect I refer particularly to the details 
of the kill in your respective parishes. War¬ 
dens Hoffpauir, of Vermillion; Cadow, of St. 
Charles; Gardey. of Jefferson; Trenchard, of 
Orleans; Duncan, of Rapides, and East, of Cal¬ 
casieu, have given us particular satisfaction in 
this respect, and later we hope to have them tell 
us about their system so that all may move up 
into their class. 
“This is your convention and we want.you to 
make it a grand success. To do so we want 
you to exercise the fullest liberty in your dis¬ 
cussions of the various problems to be brought 
up for consideration, remembering, however, 
that this is not only a great State, but one of 
diversified conditions as well, and that what may 
be good in one part of the State may not be ad¬ 
visable in another. I want you to always re¬ 
member our motto, ‘The greatest good to the 
greatest number.’ ’’ 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., March 20.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: Although several cases of 
violation of the hunting license laws have been 
tried of late, it is said that it is almost impos¬ 
sible to secure a conviction. In two cases tried 
at Sausalito recently H. M. Zamboni and A. 
Siora were arrested while hunting without a 
license. The men claimed that they had taken 
out licenses in another county and that they had 
been lost. According to the law the State must 
prove their guilt and in order to do so it would 
be necessary to get the testimony of county 
clerks throughout the State in order to deter¬ 
mine whether or not licenses had ever been 
taken out by the men in question. The case 
against these two .men was dropped. 
Hunters in the vicinity of Lake Whatcom 
and the Bellingham Bay district are having some 
excellent sport at the present time hunting 
cougars and bobcats. These animals are so 
plentiful in the mountain sections that there is 
never any doubt but that the dogs will jump 
one when a hunt is started, the main difficulty 
being in following the dogs until they can drive 
the cat into a tree. The hunting of these ani¬ 
mals has become quite a fad in this part of the 
country and some fine packs of dogs are now 
kept by enthusiasts. A. P. B. 
Harry W. Chester. 
After an illness of only .one week Harry W. 
Chester died from double pneumonia at his 
home near Chicago on March 25. His age was 
forty-five years. Born in Mobile, he entered 
the employ of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., 
Chicago, in 1882, and w'as later given the man¬ 
agement of the sporting goods department, and 
a few years ago w^as made a director of that 
company. Mr. Chester was a w^ell known sports¬ 
man, and was identified with several clubs and 
civic associations of Chicago. He is survived 
by Mrs. Chester. 
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milk is of little value as a food. Purity and 
richness are the embodiment of Borden’s 
Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. As a food for 
infants or for general household purposes it 
has no equal.— Adv. 
