The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-12
is indeed imperatively necessary in the
FIJI II hera " of this lauda bile nrNieCt

is indeed imperatvely necessary in the
furtherance of this laudable project
that a decisive change or Improvement
is Immediately made Sentimental re-
Elections are not of much value to
a column of statistical figures, or to
any dry problem of science, in the way
of aiding our understanding. 1t IS
better to be right than oratorical or
poetical when we have to deal with
facts, no matter how pathetic may be
the significance Of those facts. Even
the unwelcome evidence that forces it
self upon US year by year. tending to
prove constant and rapid decrease
in the number of our familiar game
birds, animals and fish, should be stud
led without prejudice. We all love the
wild creatures of forest field and
stream; but that is no good ground
fod neglecting any fact in considering
the causes of their vanishing from the
areas once teeming with them.
Our game disappears and in our
grievous appointment when it does
not come back with the recurring sea-
sons we hastily look about for some
body to lay the blame upon, and so
scold with due vigor. Then it is time
for the sportsmen to dodge and Vince.
The man with the gun must be ready
to bear almost infinite abuse, or he
| must betake himself beyond the reach
Of it. He is guilty of sundry depreda-
lions, sins against the universal law
| of game protection, that he cannot
deny; but he may well object to vica-
rious receptivity when the day of pun
tive gift Offering comes and some
| body proposes making him the recip-
| lent of every other transgressor's share
as well as his own The small boy who
shoots an air gun must take place
| in the rank of martyrs. He kills a few
of our little song birds and frightens
| many.
He is nuisance and should be puri-
| fed. Then comes the collector of skins
| and feathers; the man who supplies
! museums and millinery shops. He is
a bad quantity and should be regulat-
ed. Still the slaughterings of these par
| ties, numerous as they are, seem in
| sufficient when compared with the
enormous wholesale depopulation of
| our woods and fields and streams at
! the hands of the market and pot hunt
| er.
| AS the bad example of a protesting
| Christian is worse than that of a nom
i professor. so are the law breakers and
selishnes of professional sportsmen
| immea Sura bly, worse than the evil
| deeds and unfair methods of those who
| make no pretension to the name which
| should imply respect of all and. the
rights Of ALL and if a new law is pro-
| vided for Nebraska vigorous measures
/
and advantages of this class. Neces-
| sity and desire of gain are stronger in
| centives to infraction of the law than
! qualification of the sporting instinct.
| Nothing is expected of the market hun
ter but violation of the law, in and
! out of season, it matters not to him.
hence attention is particularly directed
to this genus of game and fish destroy
erS. 1t includes not only the killer of
| game himself, but the buyers, the cold
! storage vanda1s who visit in certain
| parts of the state, commission houses
which handle game out of season. and
| railroad dining cars, our fashionable
| hotels and restaurants, which serve
| game birds and animals and fish I'M
! der fictitious names at their tables.
| Second to this feature of unlayful
game destruction, in Importance in the
| way Of ameliOratiOn, is the call for a
| general curtailment of the open sea-
| sons. The Wlntry month of December
should certainly be Topped off both the
quail and chicken law, as it is in the
| deep SHOWS That these royal birds suf-
! fer most at the hands of the trapper
| and the market hunter. Wild fowl
should receive lavish attention in the
| way of accurately defined and short
| ened seasons. These birds constitute
| the choicest and most prolific species
of all game in the middle west, and
should be carefully guarded. Jack
snipe, curlew, plOver, yellowleg and all
the lesser species of game should have
short seasons, while both squirrels and
rabbits should be intelligently treated.
The necessity of stringent fish laws
| is manifest, and of course in the con-
| sideration of a game law would be
thoroughly ncluded.-"Sandy" Girls
void in the Omaha World-Herald.