Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright, 1907, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1907. 
VOL. LXVIII.—No. 13. 
No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre¬ 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
Objects. Announcement in first number of 
Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE FLOODS AND THE PEOPLE. 
This is the season of floods. East, West, 
North, South the country is suffering from the 
f effects of freshets of tremendous volume and 
widespread influence. 
There was a time when our people would have 
1 been appalled by such floods as have visited 
j the river towns this spring, but to-day they 
1 are regarded in a matter-of-fact spirit of resig¬ 
nation, as something for which there is no 
- help. Indeed, there is no means by which, in the 
near future, the recurrence of destructive floods 
can be guarded against. And all the plans for 
storage reservoirs, deeper channels, riprapping, 
1 damming and diverting the rivers have to do 
with the work of many years and the outlay of 
millions of dollars in money. Most of these 
i plans are regarded by those who know as 
; empty theories that will be exploded from year 
i to year by rain and snow. Some of the pre¬ 
ventive work, carried on at vast expense of time 
and money, has resulted in saving life and 
property, but in the main it has been like the 
£ efforts of the child who, with its little spade, 
t builds a bank of sand to hold back the rising 
tide. For a space the tiny mound is effective, 
then up the beach comes a wave that covers 
everything, and when it recedes there is no 
mark to show that the smooth sand had ever 
been disturbed. 
^ Our people have devoted so many years to 
'clearing every tree and bush from the moun¬ 
tains and the hill country, and to cutting the 
f timber into boards and wood, that they have 
! forgotten the original condition of the head¬ 
waters of the great rivers, and seem to con¬ 
sider it a personal offense for freshets to de- 
| vastate the property they have placed just above 
the ordinary safety line, so that when a flood 
causes them severe loss, they loudly bemoan 
their misfortune, never planning to avoid a 
similar loss next year. The wave has taught 
j, the child nothing; back it goes and builds an¬ 
other bank of sand just above the tide line, and 
this goes the way of the first one, whereupon, 
because it is human, the child tosses its spade 
aside, sits down and cries because the sea has 
i thwarted its plans. 
President Roosevelt has appointed a Water- 
! ways Commission, composed of some of our 
best scientific and practical men, who are di¬ 
rected to improve our most important rivers, 
with the purpose of restoring traffic and render- 
j ing that traffic safe and effective. The pre¬ 
vention of destructive floods is also aimed at, 
and it is conceded that this will be among the 
'commission’s chief and first aims; but unless 
the cause of future floods is kept ever in mind 
and preventive measures inaugurated, the money 
and time expended in the improvement of our 
rivers will in one sense be wasted. And just so 
long as timber destruction on the principal 
watersheds goes on unrestricted, floods will 
recur. 
Planting trees here and there will not save 
square miles of land further down the rivers 
this year or next, but it will have a beneficial 
effect in the future, if, at the same time, further 
cutting is stopped and 'onr people taught to 
plant trees instead of destroying every living 
thing, animal and vegetable. We say this ad¬ 
visedly, for in thousands of places along the 
largest rivers, the people seem to be bent on 
cutting or girdling every tree that stands on 
their farms, and the floods teach them no more 
wisdom than does the wave the child. 
OUR PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION. 
Forest and Stream will give cash prizes for 
the best photographs submitted by friends dur¬ 
ing the month of April. There will be few re¬ 
strictions, and the contest will be open to every¬ 
body. 
1. Pictures, to be available, must be of the 
class used in Forest and Stream every week. 
Each must tell a story, and therefore pictures 
showing landscapes, lakes, rivers, etc., with¬ 
out signs of human or animal life, will not be 
considered. Shooting pictures, fishing pictures, 
camp scenes, canoeing pictures, photographs of 
live game, fish, natural history specimens, are 
all available, provided the picture means some¬ 
thing; in other words, possesses enough merit 
to be self-explanatory without a long descrip¬ 
tive caption. Camp scenes, with deer or fish 
hanging up on racks or strings, will not be con¬ 
sidered. 
2. While a story is not necessary, descriptive 
matter which adds to the effectiveness of a good 
picture will be considered in awarding the prizes, 
and in every case there should be sufficient de¬ 
scription with each picture to make its title clear 
to those who will judge the contest. 
3. Glossy printing-out-paper prints will be 
given the preference over black-and-white prints. 
4. Size of prints is immaterial, but 4x5 or 
larger are preferred. 
5. Prints need not be mounted, but must be 
mailed in a tube or else flat between sheets of 
pasteboard and properly protected from injury 
in the mail. 
6. Negatives will not be considered. 
7. Every print submitted must bear on its 
back the full name and address of its owner, 
together with its title and a description of where 
made, etc. If a story accompanies it. this can 
be separate, but must also be plainly marked 
for identification. 
8. No picture that has previously been pub¬ 
lished will be accepted in competition, and those 
that are accepted and awarded prizes will be¬ 
come the property of Forest and Stream. 
9. Prints will be received up to 5 o’clock P. 
M. on April 30, 1907. The awards will be made 
by competent judges, and the result announced 
as soon thereafter as possible, in these columns, 
and checks sent the winners at once. 
10. Address all prints to “The Forest and 
Stream Pub. Co., 346 Broadway, New York 
city—Photo. Competition.” 
Prizes will be given as follows: 
First—$10. 
Second—$7.50. 
Third—$5. 
Fourth—$3. 
Fifth—$2. 
And for every other print that does not win 
a cash prize, but possesses sufficient merit to 
deserve honorable mention, a Forest and 
Stream bear will be given. 1 hese bears are 
about 5x4x2 inches in size, and suitable for 
mantel or den ornaments. They were cast 
from the original modeled by E. W. Deming, 
and depict perfectly a little bear playing with a 
tortoise. 
AN IMPORTANT GAME LAW DECISION. 
The appeal of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Co., 
from a decision inflicting upon it fines amount¬ 
ing to $4,470 for violating the game laws by hav¬ 
ing English pheasants in possession and for sale, 
has just been decided adversely to the hotel 
company by the Appellate Division of the 
Supreme Court of New York. 
The appeal was based in part on the conten¬ 
tion that the dead birds were brought from a 
foreign State and that they were personal prop¬ 
erty which the hotel company had the right to 
possess and sell, and that the law prohibiting 
their possession was unconstitutional in that it 
violated the rights of property ownership. 1 he 
decision, which was written by Justice Ingiaham, 
says that the Forest, Fish and Game Law was 
violated by the mere possession of the birds for 
sale, as seen by Section 31 of the law which 
reads as follows: 
“There shall be no open season for English 
pheasants, nor shall the same be killed or pos¬ 
sessed except in the county of Suffolk, pnot to 
the year 1910; provided, however, that pheasants 
bred or purchased and liberated in Suffolk 
county, by the game clubs and private owners, 
may be possessed in Greater New York for con¬ 
sumption, but not for sale." 
It adds that the cases cited by the appellant s 
lawyer relating to personal property “have no 
relation to game, over which the Legislature has 
a peculiar power not applicable to personal prop¬ 
erty in general.” The courts cannot review the 
exercise of this power. 
The importance of this decision can hardly be 
overestimated. 
