The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-16

United States thru the adop-
ton of a system by which
every land holder becomes a
game warden is a change in
government policy advocated by Elder
H. Moulton banker, independent. teleA
phone magnate and sportsman.
Twenty years of enthusiastic tramp
ing in forest and field, twenty years Of
all sorts of hunting in all sorts of
country here and abroad, and twenty
years Of careful study of the ever in
creasing problem of game preserva
ton have convinced Mr.. Moulton,
who ranks well among those in the
northwest who are known to be
sportsnen for sports sake, that the
license system common to the states
of this country does not make for the
actual preservation of game.
Instead Of this system, ior that. orig
mating in England and copied by the
richest of Americans of buying, up
huge estates which can be made into
game preserves, Mr.. Moulton would
have this country adopt the German
system Of parceling the country into
hunting districts, on each of which the
privilege of hunting would be sold to
the highest bidder.
Few who have paid any attention
to the history Of hunting in this coun-
try will deny that under the strictest
enforcement of the present game laws
the game is steadily disappearing and
will eventually become extinct said
Mr.. Moulton, in discussing the sub
ject.
Fields From Which Game Is Gone.
Within my own memory the fields
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wiscon-
sin, once SO alive with partridge that
one might almost go out and knock
them over with club, are now prac-
tically destitute Of these birds The
Wlld pigeon whose enormous numbers
SO impressed the great Audubon are
now no more. The American bison's
disappearance is rightly regarded as
one of the tragedies in American nat
ural history.
To my mind two causes have con-
tributed to the rapid disappearance
OF the game in this country and to. the
total determination Of some species.
In the old days of plenty, reckless
slaughter did as much as anything
else to rob the country of this form of
it's natural wealth. At the present
time game is disappearing; first, thru
the activity of market hunters who
disregard the game laws and the fast
shooting Of sportsmen during the open
season, and second thru the attacks
Of wolves. hawks. foxes and other
fesh-eating animals and birds.
There is very natural impression
entertained by those who do not give
| the subject especial attention that all
that is necessary to preserve Ameri-
can game is to pass a, few laws rela-
tive to the length of the open season
and the amount of the kill.
These people do. not stop to think
perhaps. that man is not the only
enemy the game Of the country is In
danger Of. Surprising that all per-
sons were law-abiding, that market
hunters, did not exist, and that moth
| ing: but legal shooting was INDUCED In.
Game would still suffer the danger
of being hunted by vermin It is prob
| ably true in many districts and under
| many conditions that vermin make
way with as much game as human
| hunters do.
Speaking broadly, there are now
followed two general systems for the
| preservation of game in the countries
of greater experience, and greater .ap-
probation Of sport. There is the
English system Of large estates and
| private preserves which you might
Ecall the aristocratio system. This is