Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-12-23
STATE HOUSE.
Chairman Cartoons Views Re-
garding the Hunters License.
Railroad Commissioners Asked to
Consider Crossing in Jay.
Changes in Capital Stock and Directors
Of Corporations.


any opposition to the plan to impose
a license fee or hunters at the coming
session of the Legislature.
The commissioner picked up a letter
from friend in Boston and read a
number of passages in which the writer
stated that the license will keep none
of the Boston sportsmen away and
that the true sportsmen are all in
hearty accord with it.
Even Mr.. Oak, who was formerly a
member OF this commission, is now in
favor of the license" continued Mr..
Carleton. "He at first thought it would
be better to ask the Legislature for the
money which is needed for the warden
service, but agreeing that the Legis-
lature will not be likely to grant such
a request, he now says we must have
the license"
Mr.. Carleton says that there has been
no attempt to circulate petitions ask
ing for the license law. He says that
he has had one in his pocket which he
has used more or less here in Augusta,
but that there has been no attempt to
make a general showing
There is no desire on the part OF
the commission 10 make residents of
tbs State pay a license law to hunt"
ne went On. THE license law is in
tended to be wholly applicable to nom
resident srortsmen, and any talk of a
general license law has been wholly un-
authorized. In fact, l have never heard
the statement made that we desire to
license all hunters, in the State as well
as out.
las for the way in which the Legis-
lature will be approached, we have not
fully decided. but my idea will be to
give a hearing at which all interested
may be given chance to express their
views. l should not be in favor of pre-
senting a bill to the Legislature and
asking for it's passage. 1t seems to me
that it would be better to direct the
proper committee to inquire into the
ACCESSIBILITY of licensing nonresident
hunters, directing that committee to
report by bill or otherwise. The COM
| mission will leave to the Legislature
| the question of how much the license
| shall be, and all those details.
| THE commission will be prepared to
| furnish the legislative committee with
| all needed data concerning licenses in
| other states and in the Canadian prov
| inces. and will also be able to furnish
| accurate statistics in regard to the
number of hunters who come to Maine.
| We shall get the latter figures from
| the most reliable sources. We shall
have canvassed the hotel and camp
| proprietors in the hunting region. On
the number Of sportsmen that come to
the State is likely to depend the
| amount which will be set for the license
fee. We do not wish to make the
license higher than we have to, but we
| wish to be sure that it will yield a SUI
icient revenue to provide the warden
| service which we must have if our
| game is to be preserved
| Commissioner Carleton says the
charge that his offer to reimburse
farmers for damage done to crops by
deer is d sop to farmers to disarm their
onposition TO the license is both erro-
uecus and unfair. He says that the
proposition is nothing new. that he has
always advocated it and recommended
| it i'm his report four years ago.
..The statement is absurd that the
| Sums which we would be obliged to
nav farmers fer injury to their crops
| would use up all we would receive from
the licenses thus leaving us nothing
| for the warden service we are after. III
the LEGISLATURE will leave the settle
| mont of such claims to the commission
ers. I will guarantee that it would take
| but a few hundred dollars to satisfy all
| claims. We have for a long time made
| I, very careful study of the alleged i'll
| Jury to crops by deer, investigating eV-
erv case that has come to our notlce'
| Ana orr Investigations lead us to con-
/ cIude that the reports of this INJURY
have been exaggerated beyond all rea-
| son. I am not of the opinion that deer
| will damage oats to any considerable
| extent. though they will work havoc III
| :, garden. They have been known TO
| b,,rrow into potato hills, but they were
| after the salt in the phosphate instead
| of The rotatoes. This destruction TO
| crons has been so exaggerated that
| nocpIe have an entirely wrong idea re-
| gariing its extent.
| "opa of the recent cases that came
,,n5er our. notice made its appearance
| IN tho form of a letter from a man
| down in Cumberland county. He wrote
that the deer had ruined his oat heid
| md he wanted the State to make the
| 1a,,ape good. We sent man there AT
once who reported that he could not
| 6,d any deer tracks. The next man
hrorrit an extremely apologize letter
from the complainant in which ne
begged our pardon for putting US 20
tho trouble of sending man TO lhNes
tieate. He said that he kept store al
the village and that one day some men
who came in past his oat deid toiu NM
the deer had destroyed his entire crop
IT was then, without investigat'hs,
that he wrote his first letter. he saiu
that he had since been to his heid anu
could not find a deer track nor any
sign of a deer. and he was firmly con-
WINGED that the deer had not been near
| the field. -. AZ
.sTbat is a single case" said Mi.
Carleton. but it serves to snow nov
easv il is to start a story that the deer
are causing great destruction 10 gro"
irg crops" IN .,,ara ;s M
Aside from the license bill there = ~
fish and game legislation OF impol-
lance expected, though there VIII oe
the usual grist of petitions Tor priNa's
and SPECIAL laws for different lakes ana
streams.
The Epning Brick Co. has increased Hs