The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-14
LONG HITS ROOSEVELT AGAIN
ACCI SEES THE PRESIDENT or IN
SPRING ATTACKS.
Declares That Mr. Roosevelt HAS Written
10 Nsturalists Asking Them 20 Dis
cre,It Long Says the President Is
HACK OF o n l~surrOuxhs's Article.

cretlt Long says the President Is
BACK OF John I~surroughs's Article.
STANFORD, Conn. July i3.-In the July
number If the outlook is an article from
John Burroughs, the naturalist, entitled
President Roosevelt, Nature Lover and
Observer" II is very complimentary to
the President, and following on the heels
uf Mr.. Burroughs's visit to the President
- regarded IA significant by DIR. William
) Long and his friends. last week Ernest
lugersou, a naturalist, went over to Oyster
BAY on the Presidents invitation. A day
or two later he came out with a letter at
lacking DR.. Long.
The OutioUk's article has brought out
another interview with DIR. Long, whom
the President attacked as a nature faker.
pr. Long accuses the President of hiding
behind nature writer's in an effort to dis
credit him and says he knows of letters
the President has written TO some nature
writers asking them to attack him..
Mr.. Roosevelt is at the bottom Of hat
whole gathering article" he said. Read
for Yourself and see with what infinite
ca relessness he has arranged the details,
So that his flattering clerk would fall over
every significant trifle, from the little bird
10 the deer's tail and the bears skin. IL
is simply a repetition of his first alleged
interview, in which he attacked me and
proclaimed himself the worlds authority"
on game animals. Instead OF being the
worlds authority he is known to he abso-
lntely mistaken in his dogmatic opinion,
and instead of being a great naturalist
he was shown from his own books 70 be
chiefly a game killer, with a frightful record
Of slaughter.
These records are now being copied
all over the country, and Mr.. Roosevelt
finds himself suddenly ON the defensive.
And what is he doing? l have been on a
little still hunt myself, and find that he
j, writing to other naturalists inviting
them to visit him and asking them to
attack me, and so divert attention from
himself and from the real question at issue.
Instead of meeting the real Issue Of truth
ard honor like "a man, he Tetires behind the
Official silence. lie gives IL out publicly
that | avn TOO mail game to shoot at twice
Meanwhile he in privately writing To other
naturalists, asking them, with all the subtle
Influence Of Presidential favor, TO take shots
AT the same small game which he missed,
and which, instead of running away, began
most uncomfortably TO shoot back.
Il don't mean now the jealous Old man
whose hatred of ne has become an obses-
sion, nor the ~sycophants who curry favor
with the President 10y rushing into print
an his defence. l mean naturallsts who
have something to say, to whom he has
written asking them to attack me aud also
have had the manlinesS TO refuse TO do his
Lirty work, leaving him to face the issue
which he himself has raised. | know where
there Is one OF these unsuccessful letters
and would ask nothing better than to pub
lsh il. Ii would be a most interesting COM
Inentary on the ways and methods of the
worlds authority!
AS for the article OF MIR. Burroughs l
need only 10 point ont two things: First,
he is praising his influential friend; and,
second, he il attacking another man of
whom he il intensely jealous. That is a
combination to make n special plea6er
whose hands are tied and who cannot be
considered seriously.
Just one paragraph shows the whole
spirit Of his patron better than the " hole fat
tering article. Il is the very last para
graph, in which MIR. Burroughs quotes from
one of ehe Presidents latest books AZ follows:
hunters should be nature lovers. !
1t is to be hoped that the days Of wasteful,
boastful slaughter are past and thai from
now on the hunter will stand foremost in
working for the preservation of the wild
life, whether big or little And Mr.. Bur-
roughs eXclaims, Surely, this man Is the
rarest kind Of a sportsman
Now that sounds fine, like his talk OF
the square deal but II is not from Mr..
Roosevelt's preaching but from his practise
that we are 10 Judge the kind Of man he is.
In that same book from which Mr.. Bur
roughs quotes | find Mr.. Roosevelt's own
record of a bear hunt in the spring, when
mother bears are weakened by the long
winters fast and by the care of their young.
In his previous books we find plenty of that
'wasteful. boastful slaughter which he
now piously deplores; but with his changed
heart we may look hopefully for some
thing different. On this last bear hunt.
aided by his savage pack of dogs and hunt
ers, he killed eleven bears, all weak mother
animals and their helpless cubs.
-In a word. he kills of all the bears in
the whole region and all hope of a further
supply and then breaches Of game pro-
lection. and even proclaims that all true
sport smen should strike hands in the effort
TO save our few remaining game animals
from destruction.
Here is more pure, unadulterated sham.
We could listen to such preaching il we
had first seen Mr.. Roosevelt shake hands
with himself and let nine or ten OF those
mother bears and their cubs 60 free; and
we could tolerate his talk of the square
deal if we had first seen him Offering il to
any animal or man that crossed his trail
or that happened to differ with him. This
balloon OF a great naturalist and sportsman
is too thoroughly punctured TO ever fly
again in the face of those who can read
his own records. | think | need offer no
further mmen on this 'rarest kind OF a
and his fiattering clerk"
Asked If he would give the names of the
naturalists to whom the President il said
10 nave written DR.. Long said:
NO: | don't want to drag anybody else
into this controversy. If thy choose to
enter that ia their own affair. | have a
score Of letters here from Mr.. Roosevelt's
own friends and political supporter. Natu-
rally | would like to use them, but of course
! cannot unless the writer's themselves
make them public"
Asked il he had anything further to say
in regard TO the Presidents original attack
Dr Long answered
Yes, I nave something very decided TO
say. Here"
He showed the reporter afidavits with
dra wings OF game from naturalists and
whose positions certainly give
them the right TO speak.
Here is proof enough to satisfy any
reasonable man that ! was alb .oluttly right
in the caribou-wolf matter and hat Mr..
Roosevelt was as absolutely wrong. !
want enough to satisfy even an unreason-
shle man" he added. The delay IL due :
simply TO the difficulty of finding my wit
ressos. who are now in the interior OF
Alaska and Labrador. | shall OF course }
r.nI!s,I th,g. ,-a,f, anil uiya Mr. RnnaayalY