Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-01-13


blythe threatened extinction of game
birds will he demonstrated through the
latest scientific Investigations by gov
ernment authorities at Washington.
Waterfowl and shore birds will be
shown in their natural capacity Of de-
stroying the anopheles mosquito, as
we'll as many other recognized disturb
ers of deadly germs. Gulls and many
other varieties Of sea and inland water
experts to be wholesale destrOyers of
grasshoppers and multitude of the in
sectS which cause an annual crop and
forest loss of nearly a billion dollars,
or more than the entire national debt,
according to the most recent calcula-
lions of the government bureau of en-
tomology. The case Of Salt Lake City,
whose people have erected a monument
/ to the gulls that saved all their crops
| will also be cited.
In every one of the forty-four state
! legislatures which convene i'll the new
year special efforts will be made to OBJ
/ tain legal provision for this game
census, says the New York Post.
Where a hunters license law is al
| ready in force the addition of q law
| to enforce the recording Of all game
| birds and animals shot will be urged.
| 1t is proposed. in order to protect the
true sportsmen and to detect market
hunters, to punish failure to report the
! seasons shoot by forfeiture of Ii
cense and false returns by proceeding
as against perjury. Specialsblanks for
| the PURPOSE are being prepared as an
attachment to all hunters license cards.
| When the purpose and necessity of
| this widespread checking up of the
nations game bag are realized by the
| people at large, the labor of COM
| piling the records of the individual
prowess of millions of hunters will be
begun. In this gigantic task the Off
GERS of the National Association of
Audubon Societies have been prom
Used the hearty assistance of the di-
rector of the national conservation
commission. of which their organiZa-
| ton has become Il coordinate branch
by special invitation of the author
tiles at Washington. This conserva-
ton movement they will forward rs
one of their principal activities for The
new year, together with their regular
] work of education, bird care on reser-
yations and legislative campaigning
for general bird protection.
''The conservation of the dying races
of the game birds and animals of this
continent is an object for which we
are finding every true sportsman ready
and eager to cooperate" said William
butcher, president of the National As
ISOLATION of Audubon Societies, ut its
headquarters in New York city Tx
other day. THE proposed census i;
| the only sure way of determining tn,
extent of the existing commercial bir(
; butchery and the means to check it
Though we shall, of course. have t,
fight the organized and financially pow
erful market hunters at every step TO
ward this end, feel sure that the sup
port of the Sportsmen will help III
greatly and that we may rely upol
the. support of every patriotic Amer
[ lean as well. The whole public deb
of this nation has just been reporte,
as 1907 ,349, 1J1. With a known annua
loss of many millions more than thi
: due to the growing inroads of the in
sects which our game birds destroy.
: do not think Americans can ignore thi
: subject much longer"