The Portland daily press., 1874-01-23
TERMS $500 PER ANNUMIN ADVANCE
A Plea for the Bison.


Inc indlscriminate slaughter of this noble
au''l'ai winch is now takingplace,is adisgrsce
" our country. The Bison, or Buffalo,
"nich once roamed in millions from the Al
iesnahies TO the Rocky mountains. ia now
eohthed to comparatively narrow limits and
VIII IN few years become extinct miles.
some national law for their preservation is
Is made and enforced Where but two ve.rs
ago herds of thousands were common s;.h,
1t is now rare to meet with one OF hun
dreds There is this present winter an army
OF hunters infesting the plains, which num-
bers net less than 1000 men, armed with all
the modern appliances for taking life; such
as FehIy rifles, from which sixteen shots
may be fired without reloading, Colt and
Remington revolvers and the like, with
which the buffalo are slaughtered mereE for
tie sake of their hides, with which the mar
ket is so gutted that they are worth where
originally obtained but from twenty-five cents
70 a dollar apiece aud while Thousands In
our ianu DO not taste mea. from one weeks
ehd 70 another, tons of the richest and most
tootnsome meat in the world, are left 10 rot
or to become the food of vol ,es, birds of
prey and other worthless creatures inhabitipg
the plains.
Not only is this vast amount of meat thus
wantoniy wasted, but the horns, bones, tai
low, hoofs, and other matter of incalculable
value is treated in like manner. No wonder
that our government finds it difficult to keep
peace with the Indians OF the plains, while
this unlicensed Amy OF butchers is allowed to
thus ruthlessly destroy their chief means OF
subsistence. And not only is this wholesale
destruction carried on by those who reap a
profit from it, but officers of our army, a:s
constantly organizing parties tor the purpose
of killing this noble game, merely for the sake
of the sport OF the thing as they term it, there
by countenancing and abetting the wide
spread slaughter which is going on around
them; instead Of by every means in their
power protecting this valuable property of the
government, as every dictate not only of hu
manity, but also of their position demands
they Should. Not only is this brutal
sport carried on for the amusement Of lew
of our own countrymeH, but for that of every
wealthy foreigner visiting the Far West, for
whose sake hunting expeditions are organ
lied, in which hundreds Of United States SOL
diers are employed as butchers. The great
emigrant trails of the Platte and the Smoky
Hill are lined on either side for hundreds of
miles, with the putrefying carcasses, and
bleaching skeletons OF this much hunted ami
NAL, left there By passing emigrants who have
wantonly killed without either the des ire or
the means of utilizing them, but merely that
they may boast of having shot so many, Of
one of the most harmless and peaceable of an
imals in the World. How long shall this
thing be? Until the buffalo is exterminated?
or VIII the national government take the
matter into its own hands, and enact and en-
force laws bearing upon matter not only
concerning our national honor, but tie main
tenance of our peaceful relations with the In
dian tribes OF the plains. Z.