The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-20
BIRD LOVERS VICTORS.
MARKET LOBBYROUTED
Forty State Legislatures the battle-ground Monied
 Forces Beaten.

| New York, May 17.-That less than a j thousand bird lovers have successfully
 opposed the combined interests of the
 commercial bird killers in a majority
 of the forty state legislatures just ad-
 journing was announced here today. Backed only by the fve-dollar contri-
 buttons of it's 965 members, the Ma tional Association of Audubon socie-
 ties has ended general legislative campaign in which, recently received reports show, the market hunters with practically unlimited funds at their disposal have been in almost every in- stance routed or held in check. With the life or extermination of the birds hanging in the balance, the Audubon
 workers have scored signal victories in Texas, Connecticut, Alabama, South
 Dakota, West Virginia and Oregon.
 At the cost of over a S1,000 hard fought campaign has just been won
 in Texas, where extensive market in-
 terests sought to repeal former Audu-
 bon legislation for the protection of
 the wild fowl of the entire state and
 the Mississippi valley. Here a game
 commission has also been legally es-
 tablished and a nonresident hunting
 license required after the most de-
 termined stand by the Audubon forces. In Wisconsin the active in- terests of the commercial shooters and game dealers are still making desper- ate attempts to have the law against spring shooting repealed and in Con- nectieut the same subtle influences have worked agianst the enactment of such law In Connecticut, however, a law against the unsportsmanltke potting of the feathered home seekers of spring is to-day established. The | model law which embodies every feature of Audubon work for the well fare and protection of bird life, has been adopted in West Virginia and | South Dakota and has been retained | on the statute books of Oregon afterI prolonged fighting. From the most | lax to the most stringent Alabama | has been induced to change her bird l laws and to establish a game commis- sion as we'll In New York a strong market lobby is at work to prevent | the shortening of the sale season and | the doing away with the privileges of :. cold storage.
 Millions for the lobby, but not one cent for open defense" has been the principle of the Audubon opponents the country over Against such a | battle line the association has been able to array only such force of edu- cators, ornithological experts and speakers as. the very limited contribu- tions of their individual members could support. It is considered re- markable that an organization, de7 pendent chiefly upon the i've dollar bills of less than a 1000 members eighty per cent. of whom live in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania should have been able to stand off the funded market interests in every section of the country.
 We have had our defeats as well as our victories in this most crucial year for the birds of the nation" said William Butcher president of the as sociation at its headquarters, 141 Broadway, to-day; but, even with our limited funds, we have been able to make a good stand against the forces of the commercial bird killers. We are the only Thoroughly organized force to combat this powerful infu- ence, which would in a few years bring about the externination of our most valuable bird species, if left un- opposed for a single legislative ses- slon Our association takes entire charge of these legislative fights. ably | supported by the local Audubon bod ies, and that we have not been uni-