276 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March 2, 1912 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
Edward C. Locke, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Tile Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of 
entertainment, instruction and information between Amer¬ 
ican sportsmen. The editors invite communications on 
the subjects to which its pages are devoted. Anonymous 
communications will not be regarded. The editors are 
not responsible for the views of correspondents. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
Terms: $3.00 a year; $1.50 for six months. Single copies, 
10 cents. Canadian subscriptions, $4.00 a year; $2.00 for 
six months. Foreign subscriptions, $4.50 a year; $2.25 for 
six months. Subscriptions may begin at any time. 
Remit by express money-order, registered letter, money- 
order or draft, payable to the Forest and Stream Pub¬ 
lishing Company. 
The 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. 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
Inside pages, 20 cents per agate line ($2.80 per inch). 
There are 14 agate lines to an ineh. Preferred positions, 
25 per cent, extra. Special rates for back cover in two 
or more colors. Reading notices, 75 cents per count line. 
A discount of 5 per cent, is allowed on an advertise¬ 
ment inserted 13 times in one year; 10 per cent, on 26, 
and 20 per cent, on 52 insertions respectively. 
Advertisements should be received by Saturday pre¬ 
vious to the issue in which they are to be inserted. 
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. 
THE LESSON OF THE SUNK LANDS. 
A COMMUNICATION which appears in another 
column draws attention to a matter that would, 
if fully exploited, astonish the shooting world. 
This is Mr. Greih’s appreciation of the efforts 
that are being made by John W. Thompson, of 
the Missouri Game Commission, to break up the 
wholesale slaughter of wildfowl in the sunken 
lands of Southeast Missouri. 
The work John W. Thompson is doing is de¬ 
serving of the highest praise. Few men would 
care to do it, even though their courage be of 
the highest order. Mr. Thompson operates in 
one of the greatest wildfowl regions in America, 
among men who care nothing for the law and 
who do not hesitate to employ violence in de¬ 
fense of their acts if other means fail. And 
yet they are being tamed and subdued by this 
same quiet, unostentatious warden, who employs 
common sense where it may be employed, and 
. force where force is necessary. 
Wildfowl represent good money to the shift¬ 
less element in the sunk lands, and their acqui¬ 
sition without unnecessary labor is easy at cer¬ 
tain times, and attractive in consequence. The 
markets of St. Louis, Chicago and many other 
smaller cities hold out a hand that is never filled 
to overflowing, there are myriads of avenues 
open to the shipment of game, and only a few 
men stand in the way of supplying a part of the 
demand. Why should the market hunters regard 
with equanimity the vigorous efforts of one man 
to stop the flow of money into their pockets? 
On the other hand, why do not the sportsmen 
of Missouri bestir themselves and rally to the 
support of Warden Thompson when moral sup¬ 
port is so badly needed in the southeastern por¬ 
tion of their State? Commissioner Tolerton’s 
hands have been tied by politicians and enemies 
of game protection, so that he cannot prosecute 
as vigorous warfare on the market hunters as 
the situation warrants, but the sportsmen should 
see to it that more wardens are sent into the 
sunk lands and kept there until the last violator 
is jailed or forced to seek another occupation. 
There are times, particularly in late winter, 
when the wildfowl are working north, that they 
are caught in a “pocket’’ by sudden cold snaps 
north and northwest of their line of flight. The 
sunk lands is one of these pockets. Another 
famous one is in the Illinois bottoms where, a 
few years ago, two or three St. Louis men 
slaughtered hundreds of ducks in an evening 
and morning flight in February, and took their 
way across the line hours before the wardens 
found it convenient to pursue them. 
The sunk lands furnish one of the best of object 
lessons for those who oppose the Federal protection 
of wildfowl. They furnish a shining example of 
the fallacy of selling game to-day. They show that 
State departments, as at present constituted, cannot 
be bestirred, by public opinion or otherwise, to put 
a stop to bold violations that by every rule of 
economy are contrary to the well-being of the 
people. They show that a great State, one 
corner of which happens to have been depressed 
through earthquake, as it is believed, and after¬ 
ward covered with water, forming a great game 
refuge, cannot preserve the wildfowl found 
there for its own citizens, who pay liberally for 
the privilege of taking a few in season. 
Stopping the sale of game in the States where 
there are large markets will drive the market 
gunners out of the sunk lands. And any State 
which refuses to co-operate in this work will in¬ 
voluntarily assist in the passage of a Federal 
law to protect the wildfowl which that State 
has failed or neglected to protect. 
Since this was written word comes to us that 
DeLisle Godair, one of the most notorious of 
Missouri’s game law violators, and who was ar¬ 
rested by Warden Thompson recently for at¬ 
tempting to ship one hundred woodducks, has 
been convicted and will contemplate his recent 
activities with emotions best known to himself 
the while he serves the State. Shipping wild¬ 
fowl has become unpopular for the time being, 
at least on the Missouri side of the great flowed 
lands. 
THE FUR SEAL BILL. 
With some slight and unimportant amend¬ 
ments, the bill to carry into effect the conven¬ 
tion arranged last autumn between the United 
States, Great Britain, Japan and Russia, to stop 
pelagic sealing, passed the House, Wednesday, 
Feb. 14. The bill provides for a closed season 
in 1912, and thereafter permits the killing only 
of three-year-old males. It provides also that 
a graduated number of three-year-old males, 
varying from 3,000 to 5,000 a year, shall be re¬ 
served for breeding purposes. 
The bill was passed after more or less acri¬ 
monious debate, which was interesting because 
on the one side were ranged a number of repre¬ 
sentatives who, themselves knowing nothing 
about the fur seals, were influenced by the per¬ 
suasions of a small party of men who themselves 
knew nothing about the fur seals. On the other' 
side, and happily in the majority, were other 
legislators who were acting on the advice given 
by the Government fur seal experts and followed 
the opinions of all the best naturalists in the 
country. 
Of the party who advocated the total cessa¬ 
tion of fur seal killing, only one had ever seen 
a fur seal outside of a cage and had ever visited 
the fur seal islands and that one not for twenty 
years, in which time conditions there have so 
greatly changed that his experience counts for 
nothing. Most of those who urged the total 
stoppage of fur seal killing do not know a fur 
seal from a hair seal, and are no more qualified 
to give advice on a matter of this kind than 
would be a sheep man oi Montana to advise on 
the breeding in confinement of the duck-billed 
platypus. 
It is gratifying that the party of reason—the 
naturalists, the scientific societies, and the Gov¬ 
ernment seal experts—was listened to, and that 
the forces of ignorance were defeated. 
OUR FISHING NUMBER. 
Forest and Stream on March 23 will issue a 
special fishing number with a handsome trout 
fishing scene in colors on the cover. In stories 
and pictures it will contain enough reminders of 
the coming trout season to give every angler, not 
already under its spell, a genuine case of “fish¬ 
ing fever.” Well-known writers will tell of their 
favorite fishing waters. 
This reminds us of a few of the papers and 
stories that will appear in these columns from 
time to time, some of them in the special issue. 
“In the Pulpit,” by E. P. Morris is not a sermon, 
but a whimsical account of a swordfishing cruise. 
And Horace W. Stokes will give a novice’s im¬ 
pressions of this exciting sport. John W. Thomp¬ 
son will write of bass fishing in the sunk lands 
of Southeast Missouri; Roscoe Brumbaugh of 
outings near home; Will W. Christman of the 
birds and beasts an up-State farmer-naturalist 
is interested in; Frank S. Smith of sport in Aus¬ 
tralia; Walter B. Sheppard of the many curious 
natural history facts to be gleaned in Wyoming. 
Frederick Arthur Dominy, of the Life Saving 
Corps, will contribute one of his quaint Long 
Island stories, “Zimmy, Fisherman.” G. Plum- 
ley will cater to the wants of the inner man with 
“Fishing Lunches,” and L. Lodian, who has 
traveled around the globe a few times, will de¬ 
scribe the foods campers employ in other coun¬ 
tries. Then S. D. Hooper will draw a pen pic¬ 
ture of “Angling in the Cascades,” and Miss 
Carita Lemmon will help along the fishing fever 
with “Half a Loaf” and pictures. 
From the Philippines to Alaska is a far cry, 
but Arthur L. Griffiths will describe deer hunt¬ 
ing in the islands and H. G. Schaupp will write 
of big-game hunting in the land of gold. 
Other writers who will contribute papers on 
healthful outdoor sport are William Perry 
Brown, Henry D. Atwood, Frank C. Pellett, 
Theodore Gordon,- O. W. Smith, Charles Stuart 
Moody, J. Lippincott Foster, Robert S. Lemmon, 
E. E. Bowles, Horatio Bigelow and many more. 
Consul John F. Jewell, of Vladivostok, says 
that a blue fox farm, which is to be started 
on Karagin Island, Kamchatka, will be managed 
like similar farms in America. 
