Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-03-08
SAVE The BUFF LO.
TIE MOVEMENT FOR THIS Is
GAINING GROUND.
Ernest Harold Baynes Tells Of the Men
and Societies Assisting in This
Work-The Real Ameri-
can Animal.

Work-The Real Ameri-
can Animal.
The movement for the preservation 4
of the last few hundred specimens of
American buffalo, not long since the
most numerous of the earth's big man.
mails, is rapidly gaining ground. The
deep regret of the American people at
the fact that their grandest native ami
NAL has all but disappeared, finds ex-
preston in a hundred ways. Naturalists
and true SportSmen are meeting, both in
public and in private, not to discuss the
advisability or the possibility Of pre-
serving the animal-those points have
been decided once and for all by the best
authorities in the country-but to con-
slider and formulate wise plans for its
preservation. Naturalists who have
never lectured or spoken in public be-
fore are raising their voices in this
cause; they know that if they have any
thing to say in the interest of the bufia-
%, they must say it at once or it will be
700 late. And men, aye, and women, too,
who are not naturalStS, but who are low
erS of things which live, are helping the
movement by expressing to others their
interest in it. Those who can write well
are writing strong letters and articles for
and many others of less ability are writ
ing the best they can, and by reason of
their great earnestness these are oftimes
quite as eloquent as those who have
more finished style.
The interest of scientific bodies is be-
ing aroused, and almost every day We
hear of some spOrtsman'S club or nat
ural history society discussing the SUBJ
ject of the buffalo and passing resolu-
lions expressing sympathy with the
movement now on foot to save him.
Some have gone even further than this,
and are even now agitating the question
of organizing a national society, whose
object shall be to arrange for the preser-
walton Of the typical American mammal
The first step has been taken, the men
and women who took it are in earnest,
and it is safe to predict that, before the
buffalo has grown his heavy coat to pro-
tect him from next winters cold, his
friends will have gathered around him
in force, for the purpose of protecting
him from the colder hand of the fate
which now threatens his existence. And
when these people have once organized
l believe that the preservation of the
bison will no longer be one of the objects
which should be accomplished" but
rather one of those which must be and
shall be" accomplished.
Tn Mt Sc,
that those who are now, and who for
months have been, working SO hard for
this cause, should be assured of the CO.
operation of all who have the interest OF
our native animals at heart The sue
cess of the movement would be benefi-
c1al to the entire nation. and therefore it
should have the support of the nation.
That means the support of the reader of
this article, just as much as that of the
man in Cincinnati, or st. Louis The
preservation of the buffalo is probably
dependent on governmental action in the
matter since in the hands of the govern
ment alone will it be quite safe from
those who are continually Offering big
prices for heads and hides. In other
words, the matter is in the hands of the
people, and my reader is one of these.
Every set of resolutions that is passed,
favoring the movement; every letter
addressed to me at Meriden, N. H.. will
help the cause of the buffalo, and will
bring nearer to us the day when this
great animal will be out of danger. In
the entire United States there are now
only 600-odd buffaloes, exclusive of those
confined in public parks and gardens,
and which cannot be counted on to assist
in the perpetuation of the race. The ma
jority of these are in three herds, the
Corbin herd at Newport, N H.; the Pab-
lo-Allard herds in Montana, and the
James Philips herd in South Dakota. II
tuberculosis or other contagious disease
were to carry off any one of these herds.
the fate of the race would probably be
sealed, as even now there are none too
many strains to allow for the necessary
interchange of blood. This danger could
be avoided at once if the government di-
vi0ed these herds into smaller ones and
provided for their maintenance on sep
arate reservations.
While speaking on this subject with
an old plainsman the other day, he re-
marked:
We'll, there is no other native animal
toward which Americans should have so
kindly feeling as for the buffalo; II has
done more toward the civilization of the
country than all the rest put together
To the explorer and early settlers'it was
an unfailing supply of the best kind of
food, and many hundred times have
thirsty tradvelers been more than CRATE
full for the water which collected in the
buffalo wallows. And who shall say how
MANY thousands haua ON iorod tho Luz