St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-10-19
But ]. W. Titcomb VIII Not Ask
for Reappointment as Fish and
Game Commissioner.

An article having appeared in
some of the state papers to the eff
feet that Harry Chase of Bennington
is a candidate for state fish and
game commissioner and of possible !.
opposition to the reappointment of
j. w. Titcomb of Lyndonville be-
cause he could not devote his whole
time to the duties of the Office the
editor of this paper sought an inter-
view with Mr.. Titcomb. This Ques-
ton was asked: "Are you a can
didate for reappointment as fish and
game commissioner?
Mr. Titcomb replied
81 am willing to hold ~the Office
if I am not required to devote my
whole time to it. / can't undertake
at my time of life to do clerical
work, of which there is a tremendous
amount in connection with the Ii
cense law and the general admins
tration of the Office of commissioner.
I am not in the Office for what there
is in it, I am paying out of my sal
ary $50 month, in addition to what
the state allows, for Office assistance.
If I wanted to devote my time to
fish culture or to the fish and game
interests / should have either re-
mained in Washington as chief of
the division of fish culture in the
u. S. bureau of fisheries or accepted
a position offered me by one of the
larger western states since my re-
turn to the state at compensation
more than double that which the
state of Vermont allows. When Mr..
Thomas resigned nearly if not every
newspaper in the state said very
complimentary things about my TAX
ing the position which I held before
I went to Washington for a period
of 12 years. When the governor
asked me to take the position, feel
ing I could be of some service to the
state, | accepted it. I do not intend
to embarrass the present administra-
tion by asking for a reappointment.
If Gov. Mead offers the position to
me I shall try to serve the state to
the best of my ability.
cit is immaterial to me whether
the state reduces the compensation
of the commissioner if proper provis-
ion is made for assistance in the Office
and the employment of number
of wardens, who shall devote their
entire time to their official duties
and be properly compensated there
for. I think we are now frittering
away large sums of money in the
warden service without commensur-
ate results. I find we now have about
460 county and deputy wardens.
Any man intelligent enough to per-
form the duties of warden with all
the powers which the Office confers
upon him should be able to earn in
other walks of life more than the
$3.50 and So per diem now author
lied by law.
tsOur fish hatchery has for a num-
hOY of r. 6iCoroRn IN no
state. I believe the hatchery should
be maintained in manner which
would be credit to the state or
abandoned entirely"
Mr.. Titcomb's Views.
In an interview in Montpelier
Mr. Titcomb outlined some ideas
he has regarding desirable changes
in the fish and game laws. He
stated that he favored the repeal of
the law permitting the shooting of
does.
! He believes in repeating the doe
law and lengthening the buck sea-
son to Is days in November. He
quotes government authority as
stating that if last years slaughter
is allowed to continue it will not be
long before Vermont is back where
it was 20 years ago. Mr. Titcomb
also favors an amendment to the
law, which under proper restrictions,
will give farmers the right to shoot
atsalI seasons deer that are damag-
ing their crops. He thinks the state
is paying out altogether too much
money for damage done by deer
and that this would greatly diminish
the amount by confning the deer al
lowed to be killed to bucks. He
urges a law for the appointment of
IA sa1aried game wardens and one
chief warden in lieu of the number
less and itinerant Wardens under the
present system. He pointed out that
Rutland had II deputies and two
game wardens. Better service, he
urged, could be secured throughout
the state if the men were paid
monthly salary during certain sea-
sons. The expense to the state
would be no more than under the
present system and the results OBJ
tanned, in an intelligent enforcement
of the laws, much greater.