696 
[May 6, 1911. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
New York Legislature. 
Albany, N. Y., May 1 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The following bills have been intro¬ 
duced: 
By Assemblyman Jones, relating to sturgeon 
nets. 
By Assemblyman Blauvelt, providing for the 
licensing of persons to engage in the business 
of raising and selling elk and deer. 
By Assemblyman T. K. Smith and Senator 
Roosevelt, authorizing the Forest, Fish and 
Game Commissioner to make local regulations 
for taking birds or game, upon request of a 
majority of the town board of any town. 
By Senator Cobb, relating to pheasants in 
certain counties. 
By Assemblyman Gurnett, of Schuyler, three 
bills relating to establishing a fish and game 
board. 
By Senator Roosevelt, relating to a fish and 
game board of three members regarding actions 
for penalties, in relation to the appointment of 
special game protectors and game wardens. 
By Assemblyman Gurnett, of Schuyler, to pro¬ 
vide an open season for Mongolian ring-necked, 
English or other pheasants in one of the coun¬ 
ties. 
By Assemblyman Evans, of Sullivan county, 
relating to deer in certain counties. 
By Senator Burd: 
Concurrent resolution proposing an amend¬ 
ment to Sections 7 and 8 of Article VII. of the 
Constitution in reference to water storage. It 
provides that the State may under provisions 
of general laws construct and maintain reser¬ 
voirs in the forest preserve whenever the stor¬ 
age of water is necessary for municipal water 
supply, for the canals of the State or to regu¬ 
late the flow of streams. Such reservoirs may 
be constructed only after hearing following 
public notice. Where property of the State is 
used for such reservoirs, its value shall be a 
charge upon any private property or muni¬ 
cipality directly benefitted and in proportion to 
the benefits received. This value shall be paid 
into the State treasury annually and shall be 
readjustable at the end of every ten-year period 
at the instance of the State or of the owners 
of the property or of the municipality benefitted. 
Privileges to use surplus waters of the canals, 
or to impound or divert the waters of navigable 
streams, including the St. Lawrence river and 
excluding other waters on State lands within 
the forest preserve, may be granted under 
authority of general laws, after hearing upon 
notice. Privileges to use surplus waters of the 
canals must be subject to the needs of naviga¬ 
tion. Grants of both of these kinds are limited 
to a maximum period of fifty years. The use of 
surplus waters of the canals are subject to a 
rental which may be readjusted at the end of 
every ten-year period. Privileges to impound 
or divert waters of navigable natural streams, 
are to be subject to an annual tax for general 
State purposes imposed by the Legislature. The 
State is authorized to use any public lands and 
waters for producing electric light, heat and 
power for State use or for sale to municipal¬ 
ities The State may acquire private lands for 
this purpose. 
The Assembly has passed Mr. Thorn’s bill, 
providing that there shall be no season for 
Mongolian ring-necked. English or other pheas¬ 
ants in Erie county prior to October, 1914. At 
present pheasants may be taken in that county 
on Thursdays and Saturdays in October. 
The Assembly has passed the bill of Assembly- 
man Miller, relating to fishing methods in certain 
counties. E C. C. 
Stocking with Game. 
Minneapolis, Minn., April 28 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Game Warden Jones, of South 
Dakota, is trying to get the Government at 
Washington to give him something like twenty 
head of elk for planting at the most suitable 
points in this State. The Government has ap¬ 
propriated $20,000 for the planting of game in 
a number of the Western States. The only 
cost to the various States that get the game 
which they ask for and which will be bought 
with the $20,000, is the crating and packing. 
There are a lot of good points where elk would 
thrive, and if they were fed during the winter— 
and the ranchers and farmers say they will at¬ 
tend to this—the chances are good that they 
will increase and once more roam over the suit¬ 
able portions of the State. 
The State of South Dakota has something 
over a thousand dollars it will spend in plant¬ 
ing pheasants. This is to be a sort of experi¬ 
ment. It is not known just what sort of par¬ 
tridges or pheasants will thrive best in South 
Dakota, but by planting a few of the Hun¬ 
garians, some ring-necks and a' few of the Eng¬ 
lish, it is expected to get a start that will lead 
to permanent game of a semi-domestic char¬ 
acter. 
There is some thought of getting the closed 
season for chickens to extend throughout the 
whole year. The small country boy with his 
dog and gun keep them on the move, and it is 
only a question of time before the birds will 
be very scarce. 
A few days ago a small deer was chased into 
one of the western towns of the State by a 
pack of timber wolves and in attempting to get 
away the little deer broke one of its legs. The 
wolves have been reported very savage through 
some of the western sections this winter, driv¬ 
ing game into refuges where man could chase 
off the attacking foes. Westerner. 
Golden Wedding. 
Fred Sauter, the well known New York taxi¬ 
dermist, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of 
his wedding at Terrace Garden, New York, 
April 22. 
Mr. Sauter was born in Herrenberg, Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, Jan. 2, 1839, and after passing 
through the high school there, his love of nature 
led him to seek a career which would give him 
unlimited opportunities for observation and study. 
At the age of fourteen, therefore, he became an 
apprentice to Professor H. Bluquet, Curator 
of the Natural History Museum at Stuttgart, 
Wiirtemberg, and one of the first taxidermists 
of Europe, and soon after took a course in an¬ 
atomy at the veterinary college. 
In 1858, to avoid military service, he came 
to New York, and in i860 opened his own taxi¬ 
dermist shop at 15 Franklin street. He con¬ 
tinued this business until June 1, 1910, when he 
retired, being succeeded by his oldest son, Fred 
Sauter, Jr. Mr. Sauter is a member of many 
scientific, protective and benevolent societies. 
A Conservation Victory. 
Conservation in general, and the forest re¬ 
serves of the West in particular, have just won 
a notable battle by a decision rendered last Mon¬ 
day by the Supreme Court of the United States. 
This tribunal upheid the constitutionality of the 
establishment of the forest reserves for any na¬ 
tional and public purpose, and declared that the 
Federal Government and not the State may de¬ 
cide how these reserves shall be used. 
Specifically the decision had to do with the 
rights of stockmen of Colorado on the forest 
reserves. Suit was brought to enjoin Fred Light, 
a Colorado cattleman, from permitting his cattle 
to trespass on the Holy Cross Forest Reserve. 
The defendant argued that the Colorado fence 
law was a bar to a suit for damages for tres¬ 
pass, while the Government replied that the 
fence law applied only to individuals and not to 
the State of Colorado or to the United States. 
Certain sheep men, indicted for trespass on the 
Sierra Forest Reserve in California, must stand 
trial. 
The subject was dealt with and two opinions 
delivered by Justice Lamar in which the entire 
court concurred, and the general principle laid 
down by the justice was that “the nation is an 
owner and has made Congress the principal agent 
to dispose of its property.” 
Dealing with the Colorado case, Justice Lamar 
said: 
“The United States can prohibit absolutely and 
fix the terms on which its property may be used. 
As it can withhold or reserve the land, it can 
do so indefinitely. It is true that the United 
States does not and cannot hold property as a 
monarch may for private and personal purposes. 
But that does not lead to the conclusion that it 
is without the rights incident to ownership, for 
the constitution declares that ‘Congress shall have 
power to dispose of and make all needful rules 
and regulations respecting the territory or prop¬ 
erty belonging to the United States. 
“ ‘All the public lands of the nation are held 
in trust for the people of the whole country.’ 
And it is not for the courts to say how that 
trust shall be administered; that is for Congress 
to determine. The courts cannot compel it to 
set aside the lands for settlement, nor to suffer 
them to be used for agricultural or grazing pur¬ 
poses, nor interfere when in the exercise of its 
discretion Congress establishes the forest re¬ 
serves for what it decides to be national and 
public purposes. In the same way and in the 
exercise of the same trust it may disestablish a 
reserve and devote the property to some other 
national and public purpose. Those are rights 
incident to proprietorship, to say nothing of the 
power of the United States as a sovereign over 
the property belonging to it. 
“Even a private owner should be entitled to 
protection against willful trespasses, and statutes 
providing that damages done by animals cannot 
be recovered unless the land had been inclosed 
within a fence of the size and material required 
do not give permission to the owner of cattle 
to use his neighbor’s land as pasture. They are 
intended to condone trespasses by straying cattle. 
They have no application to cases where they 
are driven upon unfenced land in order that they 
may feed there. 
“Fence laws do not authorize wanton and will¬ 
ful trespasses, nor do they afford immunity to 
