Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-12

almost gone. Men used to make a
good living in fishing for these craw-
fish at Point Firmin and nearby terri
tory, but their occupation now is gone.
Sportsmen limit themselves, but the
market pirate defeats the best meas
ures.
In the matter of quail the good eff
fects of competent law, rigidly en-
forced proves the need of similar law
and it's enforcement for the protection
of all game and fish. Some four or
five years ago a limit law and close
season were declared and the wholesale
slaughter of quail ceased. AS result
we now have plenty of quail and they
are multiplying rapidly. The Mosaic
clause of the law, which forbids any
man to sell and any man to buy quail,
no matter how or when shot, and
makes the limit per bag twenty-five
birds. has been the cause of this good
result.
The valley quail is a characteristic
bird of California, and but for this
drastic and sorely needed law would
now be extinct.
our needs in Southern California
are peculiar, and that is why we need
such a man as Prof. Charles E. Hol-
den of Pasadena for commissioner of
fish and game. He is conversant with
these needs and is sportsman and
scholar enough to understand and meet
them.
In European countries, where game
laws have existed for centuries, the
people observe them as a second ma
ture, but in this country all men claim
game as an inalienable possession and
forget that it is really the property
of the state and should be conserved
for the benefit of all the people.
There should be unlimited Jurisdic-
ton in the matter of game laws, the
only thing to avoid being class leg1sla-
ton.
There should be a federal game law
which would meet the needs of all the
states to protect all game in the breed
ing seasons. The present law, called
the Lacy act, provides for the inter-
state traffic, but on this coast there
should be federal law that would pro-
tect all the game in all the coast In all
breeding seasons. The sportsmen or
this coast should get together on this
pressing problem and frame up such
a law. and there is hope they Will DO
SO, as the general trend of opinion Is
that some such step is necessary TO
save game from extinction.
All the states have game laws, but
in none of them are the laws enforced,
and so the common result is that game
and fish are being eXterminated
wherever men can easily reach their
haunts.
Our legislators in California are and
have been generally fair to the re-
ouirements of sportsmen, but the mar
ket interests always keep a strong ana
well equipped lobby in Sacramento
and good intentions generally give way
to persuasion.
There is one bright light in all this
dismal circle of sportsmen's interests
and that is in the very efficient SER
vices rendered the law and the cause
of Game and Fish Warden h. ID.
Pritchard, This man is a walking en-
cvclopedia of knowledge of his duties
and a fearless and constant visitor 10
fine haunts of pot hunters and all
who set the law at defiance, and the
fact that game and fish are>yet TO De
| had in Southern California is due
| largely to Pritchard's good work In
catching and furnishing offenders. With
| state commission out of politics and
| q Southern Californian of known abll-
itv in its membership, with competent
laws and their rigid enforcement ana
| few such deputies as Pritchard, we
| should soon have game and fish as OF
wore. and the state and her people pc
henefted in many ways. l repeat, the
| 6sh and game of California in their
wild state, and as an incentive to
snortsmen from other states and from
foreign countries, are more valuable
Zach wear to the people as a money
nroducer than the combined total value
II fine fish and game industry, and 1t is
20 nress this fact home to the people
that these notes are written.