The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-06-18
TUESDAY, JUNE 1s, 1901.
AN UNSATISFACTORY LAW.

AN UNSATISFACTORY LAW,
Although in operation only a few
months, the new bounty law is com
ing in for much criticism from al.
most every county in the state. Its
effects seem to be the very opposite
that were expected, in that the relief
does not seem to be forthcoming.
which it was thought it would afford
The large amount in the bounty fund
Of the state at the beginning of the
year has been exhausted and it is
believed by some that n~otwithstand-
ing the increase of the levy the drains
on the fund will be such that there
will be a defcieny at the beginning
of the next year and that the deficit
will continue as long as the present
law remains in force. Right or wrong,
there is a growing conviction that
the state is being fleeced by some Of
the wolfers and that many dollars
have been paid for the scalps of
wolves not caught in Montana. 1t is
reasonably certain that in the coun.
ties to the east of this point bales of
Dakota skins have been smuggled in
and with the aid of obliging friends
the dishonest trappers managed to
secure the necessary vouchers EMIT
ling them to money from the bounty
fund. To the north it is claimed that
Canadian wolves are killed by the en-
terprising VOTERS and their skins
taken to Great Falls and other con
venient county seats and there passed
OFF as animals which infested the lib
.eral state of Montana.
Another charge made is that the
men who make a business of trap
ping wolves, since the bounty on
whelps is the same as on grown ami
mails, kill only the young and permit
the old to escape, thus assuring a
constant supply of young and an end
less source of income without bene-
fitting the stock men, the one on
whom the burden of the bounty tax
falls the hardest. Some go SO far
Al to say that not only do the VOTERS
make no effort to catch grown. ami
mails, but that they release all such
that may %accidently be caught by
them.
The stock men are becoming inter
ested and by the time the next legis-
lature convenes they will probably be
prepared to in the direction of
securing a change in the law, as they
are the ones having the most at stake
in the matter. The suggestion has been
made that an amendment to the law
making the bounty on whelps small
than on grown animals would stop
the practice of killing only the former.
This is doubtful, as it would probab-
ly have the effect Of causing the dis.
honest among wolf catchers to allow
the young to escape until they had
attained a size where the bounty on
them would be the maximum. In fact
it is known that under the old law this
has been done. Just how to go about
the matter SO that the dishonest prac-
tices complained of may be effectual.
ly stopped is a question not easy of
solution. The intent of the existing
law is to exterminate an animal re-
sponsible for great loss to the cattle
men of the state annually, and any
other law that might be passed would
have the same object in view, al
though some of the professional"
wolfers seem to consider the exis-
tence of bounty laws as a special de-
visement providing them with a bust.
ness at which they can make a good
living and a little more. Holding to
this view, they may be relied upon to
discover some way by which they can
continue to be dishonest at the ex-
pense of the men for whose relief
the laws have been passed and that
without giving the relief they are
supposed to afford by their calling.
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