Aug. 21, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
295 
he Louisiana Commission’s Defense. 
New Orleans, La., Aug. 10. —Editor Forest 
id Stream: Hon. Amos L. Ponder, attorney 
>r the State Game Commission, on Aug. 7 
lade a strong speech defending the attacks 
hich had been made on the commission at 
'pelousas, and in answer to a speech which was 
ade by Judge T. H. Lewis before the members 
f the Farmers’ Union. Mr. Ponder spoke for 
ime time on various political issues and de¬ 
cided the last Legislature, especially in its 
■eation of the game commission. He said in 
art: 
“The State (which is the people) says to the 
unter, you may hunt my game, you may enjoy 
jie benefit of my birds, but in order to do this 
ju should contribute to their conservation. If 
ou desire to participate in 
lis sport and desire to par 
tke of this delicate food 
apply, you should pay for 
s protection. In other 
ords, those who enjoy 
nd participate in dancing 
ught to pay the fiddler. 
'he State last season per¬ 
mitted her citizens to take 
[,ut of the fresh waters and 
ff the land of Louisiana 
.lore than $5,000,000 worth 
f birds, game and fish and 
ur. More than 3,000,000 
:00ns were killed in Loui- 
iana this season, and their 
ides brought more than 
1,500,000; the mink hides 
rought between $600,000 
nd $700,000 and the otters 
lore than $100,000. Five 
million of muskrats yielded 
Up their lives as a living 
acrifice on the altar of 
ashion and their fur 
rought to the people of 
his State $750,000. About 
.000.000 ducks, worth more 
i 
han $1,000,000, were killed. 
Nearly 2,000,000 quail worth 
40,000, besides the various 
ther game, fish and fur in this State. 
“The magnificent bodies of salt water, with 
he great variety of fish, can by intelligent con¬ 
ervation be made to furnish a fish diet for 
hirty millions of people. .Japan by her intelli- 
;ent conservation has developed her fish supply 
ip to that standard of perfection whereby she 
ctually feeds her forty-four millions. Do you 
:no\v last season the Chinese shrimp fishermen 
>f Barataria Bay shipped about $300,000 worth 
>f shrimps to China and did not pay this State 
me cent revenue? Unless you stay the blight- 
ng hand of the dagos, your fish, both salt and 
resh water, your shrimp, your crab, your oyster, 
'our birds and game will be destroyed because 
lis blighting hand is like the tread of Attillar’s 
lorse—the scourge of mankind—no grass can 
;row under his withering hoof. The negro with 
lis $4 pot-metal gun and his bob-tailed cur 
log, unless stayed by the strong hand of the 
aw, will surely destroy the birds and the game 
>f this State. 
“There can be no dispute or difference of 
ipinion on the basic principle of conservation. 
Mr. Lewis concedes this by saying that the 
parishes, through their police juries, can best 
conserve the game and the fish; therefore, it is 
only necessary for me to discuss to-night whether 
the local method or whether State control is the 
most effective in the conservation of this natural 
food supply. The proposition that it can best 
be protected by the police jury cannot stand the 
scrutiny of human reason; in fact, experience 
in the past disproves it. It is no longer an ex¬ 
periment, but a proven fact, that local protection 
is equivalent to no protection. Forty-one States 
of this great Union have tried and repudiated 
the idea of local protection and have adopted 
State control. Mississippi and Florida are alone 
contented with the local idea. 
“An investigation of the conditions in Missis¬ 
sippi thoroughly demonstrates that fact. Her 
From a photograph by F. G. Govan. 
game has become so depleted that they are now 
facing the problem of total extermination. The 
fish abounding in Mississippi Sound have been 
so ruthlessly slaughtered that it will take years 
of replenishment to restore it. Local control 
has been in existence in this State in different 
forms since 1877. It is the law with reference 
to deer now, and where are the deer? Only 
in those parishes with great stretches of marsh 
land and great swamps and canebrakes can any 
be found. 
“There is a reason why this is so. We have 
in this State sixty parishes, the police juries of 
which have different ideals, different hopes, dif¬ 
ferent aspirations and different opinions; there¬ 
fore, the best you could hope for would be sixty 
different laws in the State of Louisiana. With 
different open seasons, with different protection 
on different birds, you would have a feudal sys¬ 
tem established throughout the State that would 
create dissension and discord and would event¬ 
ually result in the total destruction of the birds, 
game and fish. Different parishes would pass 
laws discriminating against sister parishes. For 
instance, the parishes in South Louisiana could 
say to the parishes in North Louisiana, you can¬ 
not have my ducks, and the parishes of North 
Louisiana could retaliate and say that you can¬ 
not have my quail. 
“How could you protect the salt waters under 
control? The boundaries by water line would 
have to be ascertained and fleets of boats to 
patrol these waters would have to be provided 
for. Besides, the average police juror is an 
honest, upright and conscientious man, but he 
has not the time nor is he paid sufficient for his 
services to study ornithology or biology. He 
has not the time to devote to the study of the 
various spawning seasons of the fish nor the 
breeding seasons of the game and birds, and a 
conservation not based upon scientific princi¬ 
ples is equivalent to no conservation at all. You 
tell us that one warden for 
the parish cannot enforce 
the laws and cannot be 
everywhere at ‘ the same 
time. We answer you this 
is true, and we still assert 
that forty wardens for each 
parish could not be omni¬ 
present, but where the peo¬ 
ple co-operate and stand by 
the enforcement of the laws 
of their country, one war¬ 
den, whose special business 
it is to see after these en¬ 
forcements, can be just as 
effective as a warden in 
each ward. They tell us 
that local control is cheaper. 
Measured in dollars and 
cents this may be true, but 
measured in efficiency it is 
absolutely disproved by 
human experience and by 
reason. The commission 
idea is in this country to 
stay. Maine adopted it in 
1852 and has used an intel¬ 
ligent method of conserva¬ 
tion, so that to-day more 
tourists go to Maine f< 5 r the 
purpose of hunting than to 
any other State. 
“If this State, through its Legislature, will 
give this commission the law that it expects to 
ask for, we will not only protect the game that 
we now have, but we propose to restock the 
waste places throughout this State, the practi¬ 
cability of which has been so thoroughly demon¬ 
strated in other States of this Union. With that 
law this commission can pay the expense of its 
warden system and its office expenses, replenish 
the waste places and give to the people of this 
State a surplus of $50,000 per year. We do not 
intend to ask for an increase of the voluntary 
tax on the amateur sportsman, but we do be¬ 
lieve that the market hunter should be taxed at 
least $25 a year, that the trapper of the fur¬ 
bearing animals should pay a reasonable' license, 
and that all people who fish for the market 
should pay a reasonable license whether they 
catch salt or fresh water fish, and at the same 
time save for this commission the sum of $25,000 
a year to replenish and restock the waste places 
with both game and fish. We do not propose to 
ask the Legislature for all of the surplus, be¬ 
cause that would not be needed, but we do pro- 
