The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-25
GOVERNOR BUDD WANTS AN INVESTIGATION.

their boats come in loaded with fish. Ii
they cannot sell all the fish they take the
remainder far out into the bay and dump
them overheard for the gulls, thousands OF
the birds lowering about the boats and
picking up the fish as fast as they can be
shoveled into the water.
cit is no use to follow them in the COM
mission launch, for when they see it COM
ing they simply close their matches, and
by the time the deputies reach the scene
the guiis have removed all evidence that
any infraction of the law has occurred.
The deputies also drag for the sturgeon
lines that hamper the mudfiats, but with
little or no success, as the launch is well
known and her approach is the signal for
the withdrawal of the lines and the hous-
ing of all evidence that might incriminate
the owners. Under present conditions the
efforts to enforce the laws-which are in
the main good-are farce.
The only remedy is legislation which
will give the commission large number of
paid deputies, to so harass the fish pirates
that they cannot keep up their nefarious
work. If each county had fish and game
warden some aid might be given the com
mission, but the counties are slow in as
Stunning the expense of such officials, and
in the meantime both fish and game are
being destroyed.
1.-THE Chinese are also working great
damage to our fish supply by yearly taking
hundreds of tons of shrimps. the natural
food of the fish, out of our waters and ex-
porting them to China in the dried state.
Legislation preventing the expectation of
shrlmps in any form would put stop to
this, and the effect in the increased num-
Der of fish taken. would soon be noticeable. ?"
Fish Commissioner Murdoch was seen
yesterday regarding the charges against
the deputies of the commission, and stated
that he did not believe a single charge
made against them.
at is said among other things that the
commission has been used for bIackmail,"
began Mr.. Murdoch, land l will give 500
cash to any man who can prove such a
statement. What has been done in the
past has no bearing on my connection
with the comm ssion, and l am positive
that since 1 have been one of the Com
missioners nothing crooked has been
done either by myself or any of my asso-
ciates. Every man in our employ has
proven himself to be efficient, honorable
and worth his salary. If anything wrong
has been done in the past am not familiar
with it, nor do I believe it.
~ doubt very much that any deputy
ever received $4,000 a month from the
shrimp fishermen, as it is not possible for
the number of boats engaged in the bust
ness to pay that sum from the profits of
the business. There are at present about
h0afc aOCap a6 in tho
of shrimp fishing, and at the time suggested
in The CALL there was not many over forty.
Whether or not there are piles of dried
small fish at Point San Pedro l do not
know, as [ have never been there. | have
always accepted the report of my Deputy
Commissioners, and they have reported
that there was nothing wrong at that fish
ing camp"
"Who was the last deputy there?" was
asked.
"Mr. Babcock will be better able to tell
you, as they are all under his charge. He
will be here in a moment and will give you
the information touching upon the loca-
ton of any of the Commissioners employed
on any day of the year and tell what they
were doing at given points.
''If the law has been broken I am as
anxious to get at the seat of the infractions
as any man in the country, but our force
OF patrolmen is in no way sufficient to
meet the demands for vigilance. The COM
mission has six men IN the State of Cali
fornia to protect the fish and game. They
are Messrs. Babcock, Wilson, Mcfarland
and Davis, who operate in and around the
bay, while Fletcher is located in Southern
Cal 80 Il g,
boldt and Mendocino counties.
"At the present time Davis and McFar-
land are laid off, as the appropriation is
running low, and as matter of fact we
are left with but four to patrol the entire
State. Do you consider that sufficient
quantity of men to keep the game and fish
laws free from being broken? There are
several thousand officers of the law in the
State who are trying to prevent petty lar
ceny, murder and arson, but they very
frequently fail in their attempts. Is it not
reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the
Fish and Game Commissioners should oc-
casionally slip up when they have but six
men to cover the whole State?
at is all nonsense to expect US to pro-
tect all the fish and game in California,
and it is reasonable to suppose that many
fishermen will take advantage OF US when
we are not in the vicinity where the law is
being broken.
at seems as though people take special
delight in jumping on us whenever we
make mistakes or are. through the insult
| ficiency of our patrol force, unable to cover
the State with vigilant guards and watch
men of the fish and game. They do not,
| however, make any great fuss over the
improvements we have made in the COM
mission, nor do they seem to recognize the
fact that we have made better Matching
records by three fold than has ever been
made by our predecessors. The Office oil
Fish Commissioner is without salary, and
l find it is necessary to give up great
deal of my time to attend to the duties
that are always confronting me. l would
like to get out if possible and do it with q
clean record, but l do not propose to be
crowded out to make room for some poll
teal scheme that will do the Fish Com.
mission more harm than good.
"Just as long as there is combination
to down me l will stand to my post and
when I retire it will be with decent