The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1908-12-10


ei.ps suforwsA 4 ,hry havs lhe sup
.4ft n III hunesa psaple The attempts
. fas made n tie Nrw knglaad States
: eunri lsws or the r-gisiret'en ~
Inniers have noi ysi msi Nth enilf'
accsss. Ths !. b. h. drplafssi. ieF
what : ms,si needed nav ~ elrek ~
IT biri. and gatise . 1''r
ashns b. eniotce game snd hird lA"r'
nd license laws iafuisb money Tor
.arh endorsements. New England
people are ready enough " adept
.yslsm 81 registration which taxes non
residents or alien hunters. hni Ne are
ao. 80 ready 10 enact laws 10 ias our /
.els.s. This selfish attitude defeats
pur purpose; for without las for the
u resident hunters VI"
other hunting license laws cannot he
fully enforced.
Connecticut and Massachusetts are
now the only New England State thsi
have complete. effective system Tor
the registration Of resident, non'resi-
dent and alien hunters The Aassa
ehnsetis Law does not go into effect nn'
N January first. 1899. All the other
New England States license nonresident
hunters Maine and New Hampshire
also license alien huntersl, but they
40 no, register or license resident
hunters: and right here their laws fail.
One Of the prominent factors IN OPPOSE
ton 10 the enactment OF compfehen'
siye law for the registration OF resident
hunters Is the feeling among country
neonle that they should have absolute
liberty 10 roam the woods and heids oil
their nativ. land, and kill whatever
aud wherever they please. This spirit,
however laudable il may seem TO some
people At first sight, is too likely 10
develop into total disregard for the
rights Of others. II such uubrldled
liberty is 10 be given TO the farmer and
woodsman. il must, IN fairness, be
given also the city sportsman and the
hordes of poor people 1.-THE city. There
has been altogether too much OF tins
unrestricted hunting by both natives
and foreigners, and our game Is dlsap
pearing.
There are two ways in which this can
be stopped. The first is TO stop all
hunting. The second is to allow hunt
ing but restrict it; and require those
who hunt the game 10 pay for It's pro-
lection and propagation. The hrst OF
the above propositions falls by its own
weight. Any bill embodying tins Tea
sure would be killed at once by the
hunters of any state, The proposition
to license the hunter is, therefore, our
only resource, il we are to continue u
have game to hunt.
| Practically every civilized country on
the face of the earth has a hunting
license. The United States have been
almost the last TO adopt 1t. Fifteen
years ago very few of these states had
such a law Now nearly all have non
resident hunting licenses; twenty-fom
have resident, and sixteen have alien
hunting licenses.
These laws have given such satisfac
ton that no state having once passed
such law has ever repealed It, Inc
Canadian Provinces have hunting II
cense laws and high fees.
The objects of the law are % to pro
teet the birds and game, for the bene
lit of the people Of the state, l2) Il
provide n revenue for this purpose
and for the propagation of game, IS
to protect the property of the farmers
from the depredations of vagabont
hunters.
The old system of procuring reve
nue by state appropriations IS lneili
Gent for il is impossible to secure AIDE
auate appropriations; most OF the war
dens are unpaid, and it is notoriou
that law enforcement is lax.
Under registration system the fund
for enforcing the law are provided u
exact proportion TO the number OF hunt
tiers. These moneys increase automa
tically as the number of hunters IN
ereases. In some states the neon
derived in this way already exceeds on
hundred thousand dollars annually,a AN
is steadily increasing.
THE NONRESIDENT LICENSE LAW.
This law is based on the princlpl
that the game of a state belongs to he
people. 1t is intended TO protect th
game from irresponsible outsiders an
to furnish some revenue for the en-
! forcement of the law. As its prov
sions were enacted by one state afte
another il swept the country, for eac
state was bound in self defence, TO fo
. low her neighbors in such legislatio
or else see her game decimated by th
/ people OF neighboring states.
The fees for nonresident license
range from $40 to $50 in the Unite
States and in Newfoundland the fee
500.
THE ALIEN HUNTING LICENSE.
The Alien License is framed TO pre-
vent hunting by class Of unnatnralI7
ed foreigners. ignorant Of our laws
. like many Italians, Greeks. etc, VIII
kill not only game but all living thing
thai can be eaten, and who destro
, song birds by the million. Today ihes
people form the greatest menace 10 tn
bird life of the New England States
! The fee is $40 TO sl5.
Both the above laws are ineffectiv
nnless accompanied by n resident i
! cense law. which requires all hunter
, to carry license; for il is often impo'
sble for an officer to determine, IN tn
. deld, whether a man is either nou
I ..a.d.nt 80 tho 4tafa "A resident ar n