Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-07-06
prising to all. The substance of what
no aafd follows.


prisinR to all. The substance of what
he said follows:
Mr.. President, Members of the
Maine Sportsmen's Fish and Game
Protective Association, Ladies and
Gentlemen: President Roosevelt in one
of his books says that the chase is
among the best Of all national pas
times; it cultivates that vigorous man.
illness for the lack of which in a nation,
as in an individual, the possession Of
no other qualities can possibly atone.
Fish and Game laws have been In
existence in some parts of the country
from the earliest times. After our first
parents were driven from the Garden
Of Eden, thorns and thistles came
forth, and man ceased from eating
herbs bearing seeds and fruit and
turned his hand to killing and eating
flesh, even as Nimod, the mighty
hunter before the Lord. Laws for the
protection of wild animals are u pro-
duct of civilization. The more civilized
a State, the broader and more humane
avill be these laws.
"SavaGes arc ruthless ANA Nasr"ful in
their destruction o! "r'nlai lie.
Anciently but few anirli"i> were pro-
tected for the use of the rulers. The
Normans passed laws foi the protec-
ton of deer. The Saxois. like the
Romans, guarded their forest pre-
serves. The fascination of the chase,
INDUCED in for years, became SO in
wrought in, the English mind that it
formed the principle recreation of the
people, shared in alike by mobiles,
princes, priests and peasants, evOk-
ing a world Of romance and legend in
Robin Hood tales. and a sturdy, semi
warlike pride. The exercise formed a
school Of stalwart, .out-of-door men.
whose descendants Of like taste have
invaded the remotest isles of the sea.
and girdled the earth with the Colonies
of England.
1.-The pomp and dignity of the chase.
was pursued by the highest clergy, and
the sad result of want of skill by an
Archbishop Is quantity disclosed in
the trial of the Archbishop at Canter-
bury for accidentally killing a game
keeper instead Of a deer in the forests
of Bromshill. in the year 1921, as re-
ported at length in Volume 2 of
Corbetts State Trials.
1.-The right of the crown to all wild
game thus claimed and established in
England, became part Of the common
law, and was inherited by the Ameri-
can Colonies; and thus while game in
our Republic became the property Of
the people, the duty of its care and
protection fell upon the different States
Of the Republic, and in the territories
upon Congress.
The great distinction to be ever borne
in mind between the game laws of
Europe and those in America is that
the former were passed for the prOtec-
ton Of game for n class. while the
laws of the Republic are passed for the
preservation Of game for the use of all
the people.
The former encoune cred the hostility
Of all the people say the aristocracy;
baton of all the people. rich and poor.
for they are passed and maintained
for the good of the people at large.
Yet too often many complain Of The
injustice of our laws, which prev,t,t
them from fishing when and where
they please.
The earliest recorded game law is
found in the 22nd. chapter Of Deuter-
onomy, enacted by Moses. and never
repealed. where It is forbidden to take
q bird from her nest.
The earliest game law in America
was the act of the Assembly of
Virginia of 1899, where close time on
deer was made from January to July.
Penalty for illegal killing, 500 pounds
Of tobacco.
In 1870 Maryland passed an act upon
the same subject, which recites the
evils of constant shooting. (which evil
practice il not put a stop to. may in
q few years entirely destroy the spec
les of deer. to the great damage of the
good people of this Province" and a
close time was established from Jan
uary to September. Penalty 400 pounds
Of tobacco.
South Carolina followed in 176S with
an act prohibiting the killing of deer
during the same time. under a penalty
of 40 shiIlings, proclamation money.
Both of these acts prohibited night
hunting by freight, or as we call it
now I'm Observation-Disclosures
The earliest game law in Kentucky
WAS DdSSeu Ill ltJl. anu Pptetteu
heath hen. partridge quail and wood
cock"
Laws thereafter multiplied In many
of the colonies and states.
Massachusetts. from tho earliest
times, had laws :or tlte protection If
fish. The Plymouth Colony ordained
among its very first law that fowl
ing. fishing and hunting BE- free to all
the inhabitants Of this government.
provided that all orders from time to
time made by this general court of the
due regulation of fishing and fOwling
be observed"
We find that as early as 1852 the law
prohibited the catching of fish before
they had spawned" and in 1741 a law
was passed providing for fishways in
DAMS" and prohibiting 1.-THE netting Of
fish," and from that time to this the
state OF Massachusetts has-1c ~
gagged in the struggle to pptect fish
and game.
In 1890 when Maine became a sover-
eign State, huge havoc was being,
wrought among the herds of gap.e
with which the forests teemed. and
among the fish in our inland waters.