July 17, 1909] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
101 
An Appeal for Fair Play. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of June 5 you printed a letter 
from Mr. Beck on the vexed question of pro¬ 
fessionalism in tournament casting which held, 
|I am sure, the attention of every caster who has 
ithe welfare of the sport at heart. It is quite 
evident that Mr. Beck is a fair-minded sports- 
nan and looks the question squarely in ihe eye. 
His invitation to the professional casters to state 
,lieir case and give their side of the argument 
s friendly and sensible and will, if accepted, 
lelp to clear the air and bring matters to a 
lead. As I fired the first shot in this fight for 
1 fair and open game for all, you will allow me, 
hope, in the absence of other advocates, to 
ugain present the view of the “down-trodden” 
irofessional. 
In the first place I wish to state most em¬ 
phatically that, to the best of my knowledge 
; nd belief, no one credits the National Asso- 
■ iation with any other aim than to act in the 
?est interests of the sport as it sees it, and the 
purpose and integrity of its officials cannot be 
uestioned. Nevertheless, when such prominent 
jubs as Chicago and New York hold an alleged 
rational tournament and carry the animus 
gainst so-called professionals so far as to bar 
aem absolutely as contestants, they certainly 
n themselves open to charges, not the least of 
r hich is cowardice. I am well aware that this 
ill not, perhaps, sound sweet in some ears, but 
is no time to mince matters, for this and other 
larges are now and will continue to be made 
pSt s ° long as so-called professionals are barred 
-om the national tournaments. Bar him from 
JUr club tournaments, if you like—that is a 
tatter of local option, as it were—but you have 
j right to deny these men representation in 
pe national tournaments. 
Does not this same national tournament as- 
[ime somewhat the nature of a joke when it 
infers the title of champion upon a caster from 
hose field has been eliminated a score or more 
: men as good or better, perhaps, than he? 
'ho wants to be dubbed a mug-hunter? Who, 
‘hen speaking of a hard won contest, wants to 
humiliated by having it said—perhaps truth- 
|dly—that his success was due to the fact that 
tter casters were not allowed to compete? 
ou raise the cry of professionalism and take 
fuge behind that statement! That excuse is 
• chaic in its narrow-mindedness and is a 
ighty thin disguise at that for, so far as I 
<n discover, according to the standard by which 
1 ofessionalism is rated in all other sports, there 
not one single professional in the whole 
ational Association. 
If an expert caster accepts a rod, reel or line 
■Jin some dealer or maker for the reason that 
I is of a saving disposition or is unable to pur- 
f ase the same, do you call him a professional? 
n > if you did, I am afraid you would find 
■iny shining lights in the amateur ranks sud- 
( nly thrust into outer darkness. I fail to see, 
Iwever, any hesitation on the part of the van¬ 
's tournament committees in accepting divers 
'nations in the way of rods, reels, etc., which 
awarded as prizes to amateurs and for 
uich the makers or donors thereof take full 
c ^dit in bombastic advertising for the wins 
1 de with their tackle. You say you fear the 
-nmercialism of the professional will ruin the 
spoit how about this, then? Again, do you 
find the manufacturer or dealer refraining from 
claiming all sorts of glory in his advertisements 
because such and such an amateur uses his 
tackle ? 
Now, after all is said and done about this 
amateur and professional hysteria, what do you 
accomplish by barring out the so-called profes¬ 
sional other than laying yourselves open to the 
charge of cowardice and belittling the prowess 
of your amateur champions? You merely dis¬ 
credit the reputation and dim the glory of the 
amateur winner and place ready to the hand of 
the unscrupulous professional a short road to 
glory, a cheap means of self-advertisement and 
a ready excuse for all sorts of claiming. Why 
do you bar him out anyway? What is it you 
are afraid of? Do you suppose such men as 
Held, La Branche, Frazer, McCarthy, Marsh, 
Peet, De Garmo, Schutts and a host of others 
have any fear of matching their skill against any 
so-called professional in the country? If you 
fear his malign influence in club and tourna¬ 
ment matters, it is easy to effectually curb his 
activity by refusing him any office in either 
capacity, as is done in the Newark club, of 
which I am a member. You dare not, however, 
bai him from the national tournaments because 
of his ability to win without acknowledging the 
rankest cowardice. 
After all, it is manifestly plain that the pres¬ 
ent rule of classifying as professionals all those 
who happen to be engaged in the fishing tackle 
trade is working a great injury to the sport 
and I, for one, am amazed that the National 
Association continues to countenance it. Besides 
being a great injustice to many keen sportsmen 
who are closely interested in the game and have 
its best interests at heart, it positively bars out 
from membership and competition in the tour¬ 
naments hundreds of men who come under this 
rule. These same men, if allowed a fair chance, 
would gladly join the clubs, enter the tourna¬ 
ments and give a tremendous interest to this 
best and cleanest of all gentlemanly sports. 
To my mind the solution of the whole diffi¬ 
culty is quite easy of accomplishment—simply 
classify the casters. Drop the whole foolish 
business of professional and amateur, let down 
the bars of prejudice, turn every tub squarely 
on its own bottom and put an end forever to 
all this bickering and claiming. Classify each 
man according to his record, let the difference 
between each man act as a handicap and let the 
best man win. The theory is simple and has 
been pro\en perfectly feasible in practice, and 
wherever tried has never failed to bring out 
numerous entries, otherwise impossible, and has 
aroused tremendous interest. This, of course, 
would not apply to the championship events, 
which should be scratch, but it could be suc¬ 
cessfully applied to all the general run of club 
casting and to handicap events in the national 
tournaments. 
Now, gentlemen, think it over. In the name 
of common sense, in justice to this great and 
popular sport and for the sake of honest, broad¬ 
minded sportsmanship, let us have fair play for 
a ^- Lou S. Darling. 
The Forest and Stream may he obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
Hshing Near New Orleans. 
New Orleans, July 10. —Editor Forest and 
■Stream: ihe commission is considering recom¬ 
mendations to he made to the Legislature advo¬ 
cating laws for the protection of salt water fish, 
sin imp and diamond-back terrapin. It is 
claimed that there are so many netters at work 
that the big lakes and salt bodies near New 
Orleans are rapidly becoming depopulated of 
fish of all kinds. It is claimed that many of 
the seiners employ the finest nets and in addi¬ 
tion place in the nets mosquito bars which pre¬ 
vent the smallest fish from escaping. It is 
pointed out that in the big markets, like New 
Orleans, fish and shrimp are yearly becoming 
more and more scarce and it will be only a 
short time before they cannot be had at all. 
Shrimp sold this week for $16 per champagne 
basket at wholesale auction price at the French 
market in New Orleans. This is the highest 
price ever paid in this city. It is asserted that 
if something is not done to prevent the ruthless 
and unnecessary catching and slaughter, a fish 
famine will soon result. The value of fish as 
a diet is fully recognized and a decided effort 
will be made to stop the indiscriminate catching 
of small fish. The commission will propose a 
closed season on shrimp, probably from June 
1 to August 1, which is considered the spawning 
season. 
Ihe Neptune Club at Chef Menteur, the 
Queen Cottage Club at Lake Catherine and the 
Paradox Club celebrated the Fourth of July by 
giving special dinners and entertaining a num¬ 
ber of New Orleans fishermen. Reports are to 
the effect that a goodly number of sheepshead, 
speckled and green trout, redfish and croakers 
are being caught. Fishing is good at the vari¬ 
ous places on the coast and large numbers are 
going out from this city, especially on Satur¬ 
days- ’ F. G. G. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., July 10.— Editor Forest and 
S trcam: 
We had our customary cross win 
d to- 
day, and 
scores were low 
in consequence. 
The 
scores made were as follows: 
V2OZ., Acc’cy, 
Dist’nce, Dist’nce. 
Travers ... 
Accuracy. 
Fly. 
%oz. Bait. 
Fly. 
. 97.13 
167.0 
Muldoon 
. 97. G 
98.10 
Eichlin ... 
92.14 
Champion 
. 94.11 
97.4 
151.4 
S3 
Comppen . 
93.9 
100.0 
65 
Doughty .. 
. 97.10 
98.11 
152.3 
8 S 
Endersby . 
. 97.3 
95.14 
119.0 
Darling ... 
. 96.1 
97.13 
180.4 
102 
Mapes .... 
97.S 
119.3 
93 
For cup Trophy, points: Darling 32, Mapes 25, Doughty 
24, Champion 1G, Muldoon 13, Eichlin 12, Traver 9 Held 
S, Frazer 4, Endersby 1. 
Fred I. Mapes, Sec’y. 
Chicago Fly-Casting Club. 
Chicago, July io. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Scores for contest held today at Anglers’ Pool 
in Garfield Park: 
Naylor .... 
V 2 OZ. Acc 
Bait. 
y. Accuracy 
Re-entry. Fly. 
Dist. Bait 
Re-entry. Avge. 
.. 97.2 
97.3 
111 
Newkirk .. 
.. 98.4 
97.2 98.12 
98.11 
Sperry .... 
.. 94.6 
96.0 9S.9 
98.14 
Becker .... 
.. 97.8 
98.5 . 
165 
Peet . 
.. 97.6 
99.10 
175 
123 
Beatty .... 
.. 9S.5 
Perce . 
.. 97.5 
98.14 
133 
Letterman. . 
.. 98.6 
98.14 
95 
Snell . 
.. 98.2 
Dr. Brown 
.. 90.2 
9S.8 
163 
Visitor: 
Thomas ... 
.. 95.8 
The longest single cast was made by 
Letter- 
man, 212 
feet. 
Geo. A. 
Davis, 
Sec’y. 
