The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-12-03
WRITES G[ORG|ANS
ABOUT GAME LAWS
Wallace Forced to Decline In
vitation to Make Address
ALABAMA PLAN EFFECTIVE
Dynamiting of Streams Has Been
Practically stopped-Game Laws
Benefit Rich No More Than
Others.
ALABAMA PLAN EFFECTIVE


State Game and Fish Commissioner John
H. Wallace. Jr., has been extended an in
vitation from the Georgia Fish and Game
Protective association to deliver an adj
dress before the convention of that body
at Waynesboro, Ga, on December 8, 1909.
In the letter of invitation Barchail An
drews, secretary of the Georgia associa-
ton. employs this language: "All the
sportsmen of this state have great ad-
miration for you for what you have
done and are doing toward the cause of
the preservation of the natural resources
in Alabama
Owing to conflicting engagements Mr..
Wallace finds it impossible to accept the
invitation of the Georgia sportsmen, but
before the meeting. In part 1t is as
follows:
Your favor propounding to me certain
questions relative to the operation of the
game and fish law in this state, with a
view to adopting similar system in
Georgia, has interested me greatly.
Birds and game know no state lines,
hence in order that the people of Ala
bama may derive the highest benefits un-
der our most excellent statutes for the
preservation and protection of birds and
game, it Is imperative that our bordering
states should enact strong laws looking
to this end.
Local game laws are failures; they are
never respected and are openly and no
toriously violated. The cause of the per-
sistent infraction of local laws Is that
there is no specially constituted service
to enforce them, and no one feels cared
upon to prosecute his neighbor. Such a
condition existed in Alabama prior to the
Inauguration of our present system
THE law requires that every person in
Alabama who hunts on lands other than
he owns or rents, or who hunts outside
of the voting precinct of his residence,
must pay 81 for such privilege; that every
person who hunts outside of his county
of residence, who does not hunt on lands
owned or rented by him. must pay IL
cense fee of s.; that every person who IL
a nonresident of this state, who hunts
in Alabama, must pay SIS.
sit may surprise you to know that with
our agricultural class of people the game
law Is exceedingly popular. The farmers
have recognized the fact that some pro-
lection must be extended to the game, or
the time would come when there would
not be vestige left in Alabama.
THE idea that game laws are statutes
made for the benefit of the rich is an ex-
ploded theory. The money king, desiring
sport, has but to step aboard his palace
car and be whirled In few hours to a
veritable sportsman's paradise, where he
can find in pristine abundance In the
primeval forests every species of game
that could delight the hunters heart. The
ordinary citizen is prevented on account
of his limited means from making these
excursions, and If he Is to partake of
game and enjoy the sport found in hunt
Ing it. he must capture 1t near at hand.
Hence the game laws are directly benefi-
cial to the common masses.
"A few people In Alabama have object
ed to the statute prohibiting the sale OF
game, but practically all have been paci-
fed, and but few infractions of this stat
ute now occur Despite the fact that
there were many local laws prohibiting
the sale of game. until the establish
ment of the department of game and fish,
game was sold In every county In the
state In direct violation of law. The pot
hunter cannot be checked in the pursuit
of his murderous vocation in q surer way
than to deprive him Of a market for his
wares.
Formerly the fronts of many markets
were strung with hundreds of game birds
and animals, which stood out as a naus-
eating sight to those who knew Of the
practices resorted to to extinguish SO
much wild life. The price of game was
so high that the ordinary citizen could
not afford to purchase 1t as an article Of
food, hence only the rioh were enabled
to partake of such delicacies. The law
prohibits the sale of game, whether taken
within or without the state. This makes
our law effective, for were the sale of
game, imported to Alabama, to be per-
mitted, 1t would only be an invitation to
the pot hunters within our borders to
continue to slaughter the game within
the state and to smuggle 1t into hotels
and restaurants, where 1t would be sold
under the guise of having been secured
from neighboring states.
THE last legislature passed resolu-
lions memorializing Congress to establish
a fish hatchery in Alabama. This bill has
already passed the Senate and will prob
ably pass the House before Congress ad-
journs.
THE sportsmen Of Georgia would enthu-
siastically support model and modern
game law system. The state game and
fish commissioner should be placed on q
salary payable out of the game and fish
protection fund. which should be created.
and into which all moneys derived from
the sale Of hunters licenses should be
paid. The state of Georgia under the Ala
bama system would collect not less than
$4,000 annually, and tho department of
game, flsh and forestry could be conduct
ed with great benefit to the masses at an
expenditure of not exceeding $4,000 per
year The surplus should be expended in
the importation OF foreign game birds.
such as pheasants and Hungarian quail.
and in the construction and operation OF
fish culture stations.
I'VE have strong laws In this state
against dynamiting. and we have secured
a number Of convictions under these stat-
utes. The murderous dynamiter, prior to
the establishment Of the present vigorous
service for enforcing the f1sh law, was In
his glory. Conscious of the enormity of
his crime, this creature stealthily APP
prooached the body Of water he had
marked as a spot where the destruction
caused by the explosion Of the cartridge
he threw would be made complete, and
after throwing the deadly machine ran