Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-18
j. j. DOUGHTY'S SPEECH
TO GEORGIA FARMERS

! men has in special view the protection OF
/ fish and game That is the mission of
/ the league. You have heard 1t said;
| You cannot down a man who has, mis-
| sion" That is just the case with the
J league. 1t is so thoroughly in love with
| its great mission that 1t neither counts
! the cost nor reckons a defeat.
Did l say count the cost?' The cost
| will be as nothing compared to the bene-
fetal results which win flow to all our
I people.
! The league does not object to the use
of rod and line and gun in the prescribed
| seasons. 1t does object to the use Of
seins and dynamite, and proposes to wage
an unrelenting war against the parties
who resort to those destructive methods.
| 1t proposes to make war upon the pot
hunter, whether of low or high degree.
/ In this war the cooperation of every
| true sportsman is earnestly desired. We
need also, and more especially, the CO.
| operation of the landowners and farm
ers. We earnestly solicit their united
| efforts in futherance of the good work
which the league proposes shall be done.
| Who, more than the farmers, should
\ feel and manifest an interest in this
| noble undertaking. Their rights in par
ticular are ignored and trampled under
| foot by the despoilers Of wood and field
| and stream.
True, we have laws on the statute
1
/ ton to individual and property rights
| laws having a special purpose as to birds
| and fish, but they do not seem to be
| rigidly enforced.
| It is the duty OF the legislature to pro-
/ tect the farmer as well as the merchant,
| for on the farmer depends the living Of
! the world. Where would the men devo-
| ted to mercantile affairs or the profess
i sions, or the miscellaneous avocations In
| life, be but for the farmer? The last
named is absolutely the basis Of all-co1n-
mercial, political and economic.
| Would a merchant, or a professional
man. or a machinist, suffer his rights to
| be abused? Never. Should the farmers
tolerate for a day trespassers on their
| premises? Never.
But the farmer is full Of charity, and is,
therefore, long suffering and kind. tell
you today that his patience is becoming
exhausted.
The league proposes to back up the far
| mer, and to lend every assistance and en-
| couragement in its power to the end that
he shall be not only in possession Of his
/ own, but in undisturbed enjoyment of the
( same as well. We wish to see the farmer
at the front protected by the law and rec
ognized as a benefactor to all mankind; ;
restore to him the joys OF other days when
/ every hamlet was rich in its rare treas
ure Of bird-life and song; when lake and
stream fairly brImmed with a myriad Of
the most palatable Of scaly denizens.
Let us be up and doing. Let us see that
evils are remedied and unsatisfactory con-
ditions changed. Let us throw our in
] fluence in favor OF rigid enforcement OF
1 existing laws and the enactment Of laws
that will further our high purpose. Then
II will come to pass that the real sports
| man and the honest hunter will have the
pleasure incident to well-stocked streams
/ and well protected woods.
We want to interest you In the league,
which devotes sixty per cent. Of money
I received from annual dues to the prose-
/ cution of violators of game laws and to
the publication and distribution of itera-
/ ture instructive to the people along the
line Of this talk
The league looks to the public good. Its
officers serve without compensation. Their
reward is in duty performed.
The league does not advocate unreason-
! abe closed season. 1t does not propose no
| game shall be killed or fish caught but
| It does propose that rod and steel and
| gun shall take the place of sein and dy-
Mantle and trap.
The leagues policy contemplates pro-
| lection and sports; that private rights
shall be respected and bird life preserved.
| This can be done and sport enjoyed to
the fullest, for birds and fish, in the legal
season. shall have chances Of escape in
keeping with the law of the survival Of
/ the fittest.
The league wishes to organize a local
chapter in each county in this state. We
should have full five hundred members In
each county. I am quite confident Of sue
cess in this direction, for public sentiment
is in accord with the leagues policy and
| aim.
This done, the name Of the league win
prove to be a very tower Of strength to
| farmer and true sportsman alike. On the
| other hand, the leagues name will be
terror to "pot-hunters' hog fishermen"
and dynamiters, all.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you Tor
the attention you have given me.