New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-28
THE EMBLEMATTC EAGLE.

Sentiment is In collision with sense In the
Connecticut Legislature There's a law on the
statute books Of that State which forbids the
killing Of an eagle under penalty Of fine of
SO Precisely how or why it came to be enacted
does not appear but It has been in force several
years Quite likely it was passed during one
Of those unoccupied intervals that sometimes
occur in legislative proceedings in which con-
sclentious legislators working by the day and
anxious to earn their money pass any old thing
that comes handy, or 1t may have been during
an effervescence Of patriotism occasoned by
some imprisoned orator like Sam" Fessenden
or Joe" Barbour who thrilled all hearts with
the quotation from Edward Houghtons fine
poem on the eagle:
Where nasheth the lightning, where crasheth the
thunder,
Where the mountains lone summit perceth up
to the sky,
There stitch the eagle In dignihed wonder,
And cocketh his huge, philosophical eye.
Keep your eye ever fixed on the American Eagle.
Whom we as the proud Bird of Liberty hail.
For that wise fowl you can never inveigle
BY depositing salt on his venerable tail
However that may be, the law Is there and
has been for years, no one until now having
had the temeriy 10 question It's wisdom or
undertake with sacregious audacity 10 with
draw It's aegis from the baldheaded eagle on
his perch. Early in the present session Repre-
sentative Main, from the pastoral town OF
North StoningtOn, introduced a bill Of great
brevty and concseness repeating the statute
sanctifying eagles. 1t was referred TO the Com
mttee on Agriculture. and that committee re-
ported against its passage last Friday. the chair
man merely :emarklng that 1.-The eagle is the
National bird, and we like to see eagles flying
around And as the law had been in exist
ence several years without any perceptbe in
crease in the number Of eagles. the committee
thought 1t wise 10 continue it. Perhaps he
thought mere alluson TO the eagle as the Ma
tional bird was sufficient 10 arouse the senti-
mpnt Of patriotism and defeat the bill. There
| in he erred Mr.. Main, Of North Storn Ston
swooped down upon him, not with the flight OF
an eagle but with several hard chunks Of bu-
collie common 1T may be matter OF
sentiment here" said he, "but in our place il
sis a matter Of business. Down in our section
1--WE are troubled very much with badheaded
eagles. They swoop down from Mount Lam
"entatlon and carry off our stock. and some OF
"us have been fined for killing the depredators
1.-THE eagles-and there are lots OF them-take
away our turkeys, our hens and our geese
'srhey get our lambs and young pigs" Then he
told how neighbOr OF his had been arrested
and fined for shooting an eagle that had carried
off one Of his ganders Think of it, he says
a man comes to your house and you can de-
"fcnd yourself And II dog kills your sheer
you can kill it and get damages. But If an
eagle destroys your turkeys, your geese, youI
'lambs. your little pigs, you cannot lift finger
Ito protect them. II you kill the eagle you are
fined $25 Why not kill the eagle?' Sure
enough, why not? That's hard sense against
silly sentiment.
Mr.. Gallup. Of Ledyard-another town not de