To His Excellency, Epwarp F. DUNNE, Governor of Illinois. 
Since our report made to you last year the energies of this 
department have been directed toward giving substantial effect to 
the policy laid down by you in your letter to the department 
shortly after its creation. ‘The essence of that communication was 
that the department should be so conducted as to give to the people 
of the State a distinct service. 
The reports of the various bureaus of the department, together 
with the financial and other statistical statements herewith sub- 
mitted, will give a good indication of the degree of success had 
_ by this department in carrying out your policy. 
It has always been the aim of this department to carry on the 
work of conserving and propagating game and fish at a cost not 
to exceed the revenue of the department. Our receipts for licenses 
and fines as shown elsewhere amount to a little short of our ex- 
penditure. This does not quite express the work of the depart- 
ment because it does not take account of some money spent in 
permanent improvements which are now a State asset. Or in other 
words, instead of paying out all the money the department has 
received, a good portion has been put into permanent improve- 
ments. 
In the matter of game protection you are advised that the 
State has been well patroled during the past year, and that viola- 
tions of the game law have not been many. Mere protection, 
however, has not been a great concern of the department. Rather, 
your commissioners have been more concerned in an effort to 
increase the game supply of the State. This is a difficult problem, 
because year after year the land values of the State increase until 
at the present time there is very little rough land in the State where 
game can thrive. The cutting away of the thickets and the drain- 
ing of land has deprived the game of a home. For that reason*® 
game has been growing less in the State year after year. This means 
a reduction in the number of licenses needed, without a reduction in 
cost of protection. 
To compensate, so far it has been possible to. do Sopator the 
reduction of natural propagating grounds, we have adopted the 
plan of establishing game reservation and bird sanctuaries in 
various parts of the State, where game may be propagated in a 
semiartificial way at a comparatively sina li cost, VAT tires last 
session of the Legislature the commission was empowered to estab- 
lish the equivalent of one game reservation to each county of the 
State. This means that certain counties where game has little 
or no chance to thrive may be omitted in our allotment of reserva- 
tions. These reservations will help greatly in restocking the State 
with game. But no matter what may be done to increase the sup- 
ply of game, and no matter how stringent the protective laws may 
be made, we are never to have the shooting in this State that the 
