Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-11-08
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES.

DISAPPEARANCE OF AMthICAN S0Me.
Over vast sections of our land, game
of many kinds have been altogether ex-
terminated or sadly decimated. Yet, 1t
is surprising to note the tenacity with
which the beasts and birds still linger
about the spots which were their favorite
haunts before the white man came to dis
turb them. When John Smith made his
map of Virginia in 1907, he ornamented
it with deer on the south side of the
James River, about where the counties
of Surry and Sussex are now located, and
with turkey on the peninsula between
the James and the York rivers, to show
where these were most abundant. Three
hundred years have passed since then,
and great many people have settled
there, but deer and turkey most abound
in Virginia still at the places designated
by John Smith as their favorte haunts
in his day. The Great South Bay and
Barnegat were famous ducking grounds
of old. One would think that the millions
of people collected about them would
have frightened the wild fowl away.
But with half a chance, they still assem-
BILE there in spite of the thousand sail
that disturb them and the never ending
fusillade of the gunners. When Frank
Forester wrote, the Warwick Woodlands
were the home of the ruf1ed grouse and
the woodcock. To-day, Notwithstanding
the Oranges and Montclair and Tuxedo,
and many other thickly populated COM
munities that have sprung up in the terri
tory, population has not altogether driven
away the ancient occupants, and few
still linger, reluctant to abandon their
charming natural habitat.
Forty states prohibit the export of
certain specified game, and thirty-seven
of these forbid shipment of quail killed
In the state to points outside the state
This is right. The game belongs to the
people of the state, and there is no state
where game is so abundant that the sup
ply is greater than the demands for its
own people. Moreover, the right to ex-
port it is temptation to eXterminate it for
the benefit of others. 1t should be limit
ed to those fairly entitled to enjoy it.
The importing of live game from
foreign countries, and from one state to
another under reasonable limi tations,
for breeding purposes, is manifestly
right in the line of game-protection.
If law could be enacted forbidding
any cold storage company from having
game on storage ten days after the be-
ginning of the close season in any state,
it would be great measure. AT present,
the cold storage companies fill their
shelves with game, and serve it at all
seasons In spite of the law. They are Il
greater temptatation to slaughter than
all the other things put together.
And such stuff it is A quail or snipe
that has been on ice six months, served,
as it so often is, upon an ocean-liner in
July or August, is no better than sour
piece of white-oak chip. Yet, to enable
them to indulge in this class of menu,
the laws are more grossly violated than
for any other reason.-John S. Wise in
Review of Reviews.
>oo>
HOW MANY FIGHTING BoERs ARE LEFT?
Gen. Pearson, quartermaster-genera
of the Boer army, now in Washington,
says the two South African republics
still have over 10000 fighting men in
the field. The Edinburgh Scotsman, a
very reputable paper, estimates the
utmost possible enrolment of the Roer
forces, from first to last, at $1,000, and
believes there are not over 900 now in
the field. IT General Parsons larger esti-
mate of 10000 men still fighting Is cor
rect it means that Dutch recruits from
Cape Colony and Natal have reinforced
the republican armies to the extent of
10000 men or more.
The Beers have never officially stated
their own losses. Kitchner has reported
nearly $4,000 men deducted from the
nine months that ended on Sept. 80 last.
The British government claimed to hold
about 10000 Boer prisoners at the end
of the first fifteen months of the war. Ac-
cOrding to British military reports about
1900 Beers were killed in action, 5000
died of camp diseases and 1000 we're
taken prisoners by the Portuguese and
sent to Lisbon in the same first fifteen
months of fighting. This accounts for
$1,000 fighting Beers in all, without
allowing any to have been disposed of
by voluntary surrenders, which British
reports. put at 5000 up to Jan. l, 1901
II there are 10000 Beers still in arms,
as the Scotsman estimates, the total
enrolment Of the republican armies from
first to last has been about $1,000 men
If the Boer quartermaster general Is
correct in his larger estimate of 10000
Beers still fighting, the total number
engaged in the conflict up to the present
time is $4,000.
The total population of the Transyaal
and the Orange Free State when the
war began was 5000. A liberal al
lowance of capable fighting men would
be one in five of that total, which would
give not quite the $4,000 fighting total
which the Scotsman estimates. But
the Dutch population of Cape Colony
and Natal is at least 100000 giving an
other 10000 possible recruits for the
Boer armies. 1t is not therefore impos
slble that Gen. Pearson's larger estimat,
of 10000 fighting Beers still in the tielt
G aorrpat Norlr World