ft 
I 
Dec. s , 1908.] 
a license; and very few of them will pay the 
sum demanded for an alien license. 1 his law 
stops immediately most of the hunting by the 
class who kill song birds, for the wardens paid 
by the increased revenue are bound to look out 
for the enforcement of a law which provides 
employment for them. 
The sportsman is benefited by the protection 
and increase of birds and game and by the 
elimination of the irresponsible vagabond class 
of hunters and the stopping of hunting by a 
class of foreigners who exterminate game and 
birds. The law helps both the sportsman and 
farmer because it brings about a better feeling 
between the two classes by the elimination of 
the law-breaking class. 
One great difficulty in enforcing the game laws 
is found in the popular ignorance of the laws 
and a certain contempt for both law and officers. 
In England the game and bird laws are re¬ 
spected, and the man who breaks them is looked 
upon with contempt by all decent people. Here, 
the man who breaks the game laws is often ap¬ 
plauded as a smart fellow. Reputable business 
and professional men have been known to boast, 
among their intimates, of their poaching esca¬ 
pades. The hunters’ license law properly ad¬ 
ministered tends to breed respect for the law, 
and its enforcement among all classes of peo¬ 
ple promotes public order, safety and welfare 
and makes for good citizenship. 
Edward Howe Forbush. 
The Game Laws of New Jersey. 
Belvidere, N. J., Dec. 1 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Game laws increase and game de¬ 
creases. In this State there is so little game 
left that the interest of sportsmen in game 
laws has flagged. Game laws should be made 
not in the interest of the leisure class, nor in 
the interest of the market, but for the benefit 
of that great number of Americans who can 
turn aside from the rush and struggle of life 
for a few days’ enjoyment of that kind of 
recreation which contributes most to health, 
rests tired nerves, trains in physical endur¬ 
ance, self restraint, presence of mind, ac¬ 
curacy of observation, quickness of thought, 
and in fact those attributes of mind and body 
which fit a man to be a useful citizen in peace 
and a valuable soldier in war. Do our game 
laws seem to be in the interest of this great 
number of men? 
Laws, to be of value, must be enforceable; 
and to this end they must appeal to the gen¬ 
eral public as fair and equal. Test the non¬ 
resident law as to its relation to these princi¬ 
ples. The nonresident man of leisure can now 
s'hoot in New Jersey for two months and a 
half by paying $10. The pot-hunter (if the 
game were not so nearly extinct) could afford 
to do the same. But the thousands of men 
who have gone from New Jersey homes to live 
in the great cities, cannot return for a day’s 
sport even on their own or their fathers’ prop¬ 
erty without paying this $10 fee. The other 
thousands, who, although they never lived 
in the State, would be greatly benefited by 
slipping away from the desk to enjoy a few 
days with some friend in Jersey, are shut out, 
for'$10, added to their other expenses, is pro¬ 
hibitory. The added provision that the sports¬ 
man may not take his game out of the State, 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
is also open to serious objections. The game 
after it has been shot belongs to him. The 
rule that a man may not take his personal 
property over the State line is so contrary to 
our American ideas that nothing but force will 
make men obey it. The application of force 
involves the right to search baggage with¬ 
out warrant, a procedure that is utterly of¬ 
fensive. 
There is a well-meant law prohibiting shoot¬ 
ing when the snow is on the ground. The law 
lacks outline, for the snow often lies in the 
woods, under the fences and on the hills and 
slopes to the north when gone elsewhere. 
Such a law is certain to be largely disregarded. 
The temptation is great when some man with 
but a day or two only comes from the city, 
having obtained his license, wakes to find the 
ground covered with snow. 
The almost total disappearance of birds in 
northern Jersey made it imperative to shorten 
the shooting season, or better, to suspend it 
for a term of years; but to the surprise and 
disgust of our sportsmen the season was moved 
back to Oct. 15, a date when much of the 
game is unfit to kill, when the farmers are too 
busy to shoot, and the weather too warm to 
make the shooting pleasant or healthful. Our 
game laws are so lacking in either equal jus¬ 
tice or common sense, that the citizens only 
use them when especially provoked to vent 
their wrath on an impudent trespasser, or get 
revenge on a personal enemy. The game 
wardens could not enforce the law if they 
tried, and they will not try in cases where the 
law is obviously unfair. 
The result is that men who have little con¬ 
science as to the letter of a law, which they 
consider unjust, or who find it cheaper to risk 
a fine than pay a license, disregard the laws, 
while the few who have the old-time sensitive¬ 
ness as to obedience to game laws, and who 
are not rich enough to belong to clubs or own 
game preserves, are shut out. The first duty 
of our legislature is to prohibit all shooting of 
game birds, until the danger of extermination 
is passed; and in the meantime appoint a com¬ 
mission to visit the sections where there may 
be shooting, and meet the men who know the 
local conditions and get at the facts, and then 
prepare and submit for public discussion a 
system of game laws. 
Such a commission would probably find that 
game cultivation must supplement game pre¬ 
servation; that for this purpose State parks 
should be dedicated with a game-keeper who 
will give his time to the raising of game; that 
game is public property until killed, and that 
therefore the right to capture does not go with 
the land and cannot be either leased or pur¬ 
chased; that trespass penalties should be lim¬ 
ited to actual damage; that private game pre¬ 
serves should only be obtained by franchise 
and on condition of some public service, as an 
annual proportional contribution to the game 
of the State; that crows and skunks are the 
worst enemies of game; and that there should 
be a bounty on both, and no obstacle to the 
trapping of such creatures, even if a few rab¬ 
bits are captured in that way. 
The commission would probably find no ob¬ 
jection to a tax on guns with a receipt of such 
a character that it could be worn attached to 
the front of the coat, and a license in three 
grades for nonresidents for a day, for a week 
and for the season, each dated and signed by 
the gunner as well as by the clerk, and worn 
like the tax receipt, where all could see it, and 
the penalty to be imprisonment, not fine. 
I have carried a gun in New Jersey for forty 
years and happen to have lived in different 
parts of the State, and as a clergyman have 
come in close contact with and am friendly to 
all classes. J- de Hart Bruen. 
Recent Publications. 
The Last of the Plainsmen, by Zane Grey. 
Cloth, illustrated from photographs by the 
author, 315 pages, $1.50 net. New York, the 
Outing Publishing Company. 
Dr. Grey hails from Pike county, Pennsyl¬ 
vania. A couple of years ago he had in con¬ 
templation a trip to South America; a cruise 
in a small boat around the Peninsula of Labra¬ 
dor to Hudson Bay; and a journey through the 
Arizona desert country. He chose the latter, 
and with Buffalo Jones camped in and rode 
through some of the most desolate portions of 
that territory, hunted cougars and. secured a 
series of beautiful pictures, many of which ap¬ 
pear in this book. The narrative is entertain¬ 
ing and chronicles the impressions of an Eastern 
traveler through a portion of the great West 
which is still wild and rugged; its people and 
their customs and views. Of Buffalo Jones life 
in the West and his efforts to save the remnant 
of the bison the doctor writes with enthusiasm. 
Red Cap Adventures, by S. R. Crockett. Cloth, 
411 pages, illustrated in colors. New York 
and London, the Macmillan Company. 
No boy or girl possessed of good health and 
a love for out-of-door sports and games can 
truthfully say he or she does not enjoy read¬ 
ing “Ivanhoe”; but not all of them understand 
the story, although they appreciate Locksley’s 
skill with the long bow, the Black Knight’s fond¬ 
ness for a fight and Friar Tuck’s handiness with 
a prayer or a stave. In these tales the book is 
made plain, for the story of the different char¬ 
acters is told by the author to his children and 
their friends in such pleasing fashion that any 
young person who comes into possession of the 
book will count himself fortunate. Beside the 
“Ivanhoe” yarns, others have to do with ‘ The 
Fortunes of Nigel,” “Quentin Durward” and 
“The Pirate.” 
The Riverman, by Stewart Edward White. 
Cloth, illustrated, 368 pages, $1.50. New 
York, the McClure Company. 
Interesting and graphic is this description of 
the daily lives of the Michigan lumbermen of 
thirty years ago. The story has its thread of 
romance, but in the main relates to the excite¬ 
ment and the hard labor of the spring drives, 
the dangerous log jams, and the strife between 
contending forces. Mr. White’s treatment of 
his subject of the rivermen themselves does full 
justice to the honesty, strength and rough cour¬ 
age of men whose lives were constantly in 
danger. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, at e 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
