The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-08-29
NATURAlISTS GET AFTER DR.. LONG.

Everybody's Magazine, which started
the mature faker" controversy. give,
it fresh impetus in the September
number by publishing a symposium OF
the opinions of group of eminent
naturalists who side with President
Roosevelt. Nearly all of their expires.
sions are directed against DIR. W. J.
Long and some of them are, in part. as
follows:
William I. Hornaday, director of the
New York Geological Park: CONTRARY
to the rule of indignant naturalists
generally, l must say a good word for
William j. Long. His books have fur.
nished me much amusement. To Judge
by his modest little schoolboo onIy
God himself could know the wild Great.
ures as DR.. Long claims to know them
and only the Omnipotent eye could see
the things Mr.. Long claims to have
SEEN"
DR.. j. A. Allen, curator of mammal.
ogy and Ornithology in the American
Museum of Natural History: "From
DIR. Longs point of view, the opposi-
ton of naturalists is due to his success
commercially as writer of nature
books; his wares, he claims, are forcing
theirs out of the market and thev are
consequently envious and revengeful.
and call him bad names to iniure him
with the great public to which he SO
successfully appeals. Unfortunately for
this explanation, the naturalists who
have watched the incoming of Long
with deepest regret and concern. do NOT
write popular books on natural history
and are thus in no way his commercial
competitors
E. w: Nelson, of the Department of
Agrlcuiture: mo such birds and beasts
as appear in these books have been met
by any OF my many naturalist and hunt
ing friends nor by myself, in all our
Wanderlngs from Arctic to tropic Amer
lea; and yet the least of these writers
must be able, If taken at his word, to
hnd them on almost any vacation morn
ing"
Dr. Z. Hart Merriam, chief of the
United States Biological Survey: "Af-
ter prolonged study, | have at length
hit upon what l flatter myself is the
real secret of the process by which W.
j: Long endOws animals with new cum
ming and new habits. The Rev. DR..
Long is possessed of that rare gift
which DR.. Carroll D. Wright called the
Creative Memory. A nature writer
blessed with the Creative Memory does
not have to go about wasting valuable
time waiting and watching for animals
to appear and do something. For him
it is quite sufficient to walk in the
woods or fields until an animal is seen,
or, If the animal is shy, until its track
is encountered. He may then HE home
ward with the assurance that the Crea-
tive Memory will do the rest"
George Shiras, who has hunted in
the North for thirty-six years: "W. j.
Longs latest book, Northern Trails"
is largely devoted to the wonderful an
tics of the timber wolf with Newfound-
land for its stage. In long trip through
the Wild northwestern portion of New
foundland saw no signs of wolves and
understood from the guides that they,
likewise, had been unable to find any
trace of these animals in recent years.
about five hundred American and
English sportsmen hunt big game in
the island of ewfoundland every year.
and as none of these has killed wolf,
nor even seen one in recent years, they
will unanimously vote that the doctor,
having abandoned his degree of d. D.,
should have conferred upon him the
new one of p. P.-Patron Prevaricator
of the Ancient Order of Ananias."