The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-10
TO THE NORTH POLE WITH
STEAMRAMS.


Boats described as steamrams are
now in use in ice-locked Russian har-
bors and rivers, and have proved that
they can force their way through thick
ice, even with 70 dogs. of frost. The
harbor of Viadivostok, till of late her
metically sealed for four or five
months, has since 1888 been kept access
sble through the winter; the Finnish
port of Hango is now open to COM
merce throughout the year. And last
winter similar steamram kept up
connection with the Ural Railway
through the ice Of the Volga at Sara
toff. 1t is proposed now to keep open,
by stronger boats Of this kind, the
communication of st. Petersburg with
the sea, and to force a winter connec-
ton through the ice from Archangel to
the mouth of the Yenisei. Admiral
Makarof, addressing the Russian Geo
graphical society, insists that still
more powerful boats of this kind might
safely be counted on to scope with po-
lar ice, such as Nansen had to deal
with, and to cut passage to the North
Polc.-Chambers Journal.
THE LIBERTY OF THE FIELDS.
Shooting conditions in this country
are changing in no respect more rapid
~ than with those which govern the
privilege of entering upon fields for
shooting and fishing. In the old days
and they were not SO long ago, either -
the gunner who sought shooting priv
ileges was, for the most part, resi-
dent Of the vicinity, known by sight at
least to the proprietor of the land, his
neighhcr in fact; and the same neigh
borly feelings prevailed here as in 9TH
er affairs. To go at will upon farm
and into woodlots for birds or SOUR
rels was matter of course. No one ex-
pected to ask for any special permis-
SIGN to do this, nor to have 1t asked.
There were even then posted lands,
hut these were the exception and not
the rule. The notion Of forbidding free
entry upon ones field was not by any
means commonly held nor commonly
| syinpa thized with. The landowner
who treated shooters as intruders and
| trespassers was himself quite likely to
be looked upon as a bit cranky: and
the community took it good-naturedly
and appreciated the humor of the stu
alton.
Moreover, the same neighborly feel
| ing which opened fields and meadows
and woodlands freely to shooters and
fishermen governed those to whom the
privileges were extended. Thought
| less boys who tore down stone walls
for woodchucks or rabbits might not
stop to repair the damage done, but
| the elders were as regardful of the
property Of their neighbors as of their
| own and the proprietor whose lands
| were hunted over had no reason to in
| terpret the booming of guns in his
| fields as so many signals that his prop
erty was being destroyed, fences tori
| down, stone walls demolished, and
horses and cattle disturbed. He knew
that the sportsmen were neishbors
| and that they were to be trusted. Ir
| their incurson upon his lands he found
no cause of alarm, no more than they
themselves would have when he re-
turned the compliment and went arm
ed and equipped upon their fields
In some happy lands the old condi'
lions still prevail; but in very many
sections decided change of sentimen
and of practice has been wrought. L
was inevitable that this should be so
The hosts of shooters have been multi
piled by tens and hundreds. They con
stitute in season, and sometimes out o
season, an army of invasion. They ar
no longer ones neighbors nor the SON
of neighbors. They come from distan
towns and cities and states. The rail
roads unload them upon the commu
nifty for all the world like bodies o
troops for war. The booming of guns
instead of being an incident of autumn
days, is continuous for weeks an
months. not emitting Sundays. An
when the farmer hears the reports h
may no longer say to himself, as form
! erly "That is Tom Smiths gun.
hope he'll drop in and see us on tn
way home" For it is not a neighbo
: who is shooting, nor any one with
, neighbours claim to the privilege Q
, shooting without permission, it may b
an entire stranger, devoid of the cour
tesy which should prompt to a polit
: request for permission to shoot, an
! one who, having invaded the field
without so much as "by your leave,
, assumes to have natural right to b
( there and resents any interference
: protest from the proprietor as a mani
' festation of "popocracy."