Amador ledger., 1901-05-17

imposed upon by unscrupulous rascals
who thereby distracted many thou
sands of dollars from the State Treas
ury, which simply means from the
pockets of our -people.
Listening to the cry of the mountain
lion and the discordant bowling of the
coyote, knowing of the great and in
creasing havoc wrought by the latter
among poaltry, sheep, pigs and even
young calves, is it strange that the
thought should come. why do MT our
Supervisors establish moderate
bounty on mountain lions, coyotes,
wildcats, foxes and gophers chose de-
stroying bitches, alfalfa and gardens?)
Say S. for lions scalps; ESQ for wild
cats and coyotes; so cents for foxes and
5 cents for gophers.
! Do, you say the county treasury
would be speedily depleted. 1 say it
would not if you took proper precau-
tions to guard against fraudulent
claims. How could you do so? Well,
would modestly submit to you, gentle
men of the Board of Supervisors, the
following plan:
( First, make it necessary for every
person desiring to trap-or kill for the
bounty to secure from the Board of
Supervisors atrapper's license to trap
or cause to be trapped and killed, for
every one should be allowed the right
to employ assistants) certain wild ami
mails known to be menace to the life,
happiness or prosperity. of the people.
Such animals to be named in the
license. -. ...-...
2. Each license should distinctly
describe all ofthe property that each
particular trapper desired as his field
of operations. Such description to be
couched in the same exact terms as in
the transfers OF land.
2 3. That upon presenting his trophies
of capture and his claims for bounty,
each trapper be required to make
affidavit that each and every one of the
scafps presented was captured and its
owner killed within the boundaries of
the territory described in said trapper's
license.
4. That Chinese and Japanese be
excluded from the privilege of trapping
or; assisting trappers unless such trap
per present the whole hide of each and
every animal trapped.
This last provision demands explana-
tion and here you have it. 1t is an
easily authenticated fact that at one
time certain county in California
offered a bounty for squirrel and gopher
scalps and that the Chinese in that
county manufactured scalps of both so
perfect the fraud was almost impossible
of detection and the Supervisors had
to'compel those claiming bounties to
bring in ''two ears on each scalp offer
ed and the entire tall" Even then
they we're imposed upon and abandoned
or did away with the bounty.
If the Chinese and Japs are excluded
from this one field of work at the start
it will prevent such happenings here.
The Board of Supervisors should set
moderate sum as the price of trap
pef's license so that it would be within
the means of all.
Gentlemen, the claims for bounty
might be large for the first few months
for our country is fairly over-run with
coyotes, and the sight of mountain
lions is becoming unpleasantly familiar
to many not far removed from Jackson
and lone, but the poultry, etc., saved
from destruction would pay the boun-
ties many times over And old men,
whom the county has to support now,
could have an honest living without
the county paying for it at the
Hospital. AMADoRIAN.