The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1910-04-14

self-respect. Under the act man
is permitted to fish with hook and
line, yet if he catches more than Re
wishes to eat he cannot sell them,
and if he does, he is liable to punish
ment, because he must prove that
the law was not violated, a COM
plete reversal of the promise of the
Constitution, which requires that a
man must be proven guilty before
he can be punished, but under
this miserable law a man must
prove his innocence or go down
into his pocket to help support a
game warden.
No, the people will not stand for
such legislation, neither will all Of the
members of the Audubon society
stand for it; they have been misled
and are convinced that the laws ask
ed for go too far, are too drastic,
and they would never have sub
scribed to the membership Of the
society had they known the extent
the leaders of the society were go
ing. We have information that there
are members of the Audubon soci-
ETY. who will have nothing more to
do with it. When they joined it, it
was to lend their aid to reasonable
protection of the game and fish, but
they did not intend to deprive the
people of privileges they have en-
joyed always; these people are con-
vinced there is more behind the Au-
dubon society movement than mere
protection of the birds and fish and
they are going to come out of it.
There is no doubt that good citi-
zens everywhere favor protection for
the game of the forests and the fish
of our streams, and the people up
the-State are not blessed with these
gifts of nature such as are the peo-
pie of the low-country, yet the votes
secured for the passage of this dras-
tic legislation came from the men,
bers of the up-country who did not
understand thaconditions and voted
that way because of their promise to
the gentlemen interested in provid-
ing a fine position and good salary
for the chief game warden and his
appointees.
The original bill providing for the
chief game warden sought to give
him salary of $500 year, more
than the. Governor gets, and he was
to appoint the game wardens under
him. but the salary was cut down to
81 900 for the chief and the war
dens to 81, 200, but in their eager
ness for the juicy plum the trainers
of the bill slipped up in providing
for the appointment, and Mr. Rice
will have to cool his heels by wait
ing until the next Legislature meets,
because the appointment made by
the Governor must be approved by
the Senate before the appointee can
be commissioned. We understand
that Mr. Rice will continue, and that
he has instructed the county war
dens that the work will 60 on under
the direction of the society as here
tofore, but where Mr. Rice or his un-
der wardens get any police authority
from we do not see, because the re-
cent act providing for "a chief
game warden" has a repeating
clause, and this act has been ap-
proved by the Governor. So we say
to the county wardens that before
they interfere with any hunter or
fisherman they had better take a
wise precaution to find out what
their rights are. 1t is our opinion
that these men are out of office, and
have no more authority than any
other citizen. Hence we would ad-
wise them not to sit in a boat with a
fisherman to watch whether or not
he throws back into the water the