Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-01-25
Mr.. carIeton's Candidacy.

Any public servant, upon whom de-
wolves the responsibility for the en-
iforcement of law, who reads his duties
Iaright and enforces that law without
fear or favor, will make enemies.
This is true of every official who seeks
to protect the law abiding citizen from
the selfishness of the strong or I'M
scrupulous. Perhaps no set OF laws Is
more unpopular with the unenllghten-
ed and the selfish than those which
have been enacted for the protection
of fish and game. 1t is within COM
paratively few years that SUFFICIENT
number of citizens in any state nave
been educated to the advantages OF
restricting the killing of fish and game
to make even such lax laws as existed
in the beginning, capable of enforce
ment.
In the State of Maine the education
of the people to the necessity of pro-
tecting this asset is due largely to the
I intelligent, painstaking and fearless
efforts of single individual. He
found such fish and game laws as ex-
listed when he took office to be as little
used as could well have been the case
had they never been enacted. He un
dSrtook their vigorous enforcement,
but supplemented those efforts by US
| ing such influence as he POSSESSED to
procure the enactment of better laws
and to educate the people to the adj
vantages which would rebound to the
State of Maine if wild game and fish
were so protected that, not only would
no species become extinct, but that
the numerical strength Of the game
might be increased.
Hon. Leroy r. Carleton of Winthrop
| does not claim to have performed any
such part in the protection and propa-
cation of our fish and game as the
foregoing would imply. His friends
| say that for him. He has performed
| the duties Of his office honOrably, eff
| ficiently, fearlessly and constantly.
| Whether he is permitted to continue
in office or not he has left the stamp
of his work upon the fish and game
laws of our State. Whatever is done
| in the future along these lines would
| have been impossible were it not for
the foundation he has laid so well.
As we said in the beginning, a man
who deems it his duty to enforce the
law as laid down in the statute books
| finds himself the object of much adj
verse criticism. 1t is believed that
never before in the history of Maine
office where there was any sort of a
contest, received such strong en-
dorsement from every section as Mr..
Carleton has already received for re-
appointment. These endorsements
have come in no uncertain language.
He has been criticized for alleged
sins of omission and commission,
and in presenting himself as Il candi
date for reappointment, he realized
these unwarranted charges. He did
not think, however, that he would be
compelled to meet new charges of
equal absurdity. 1t seemed that he
was doomed to disappointment
Tho latest charge is as follows:
1T is generally believed that it was
through Mr.. Cartoons influence that
the $4,000 appropriated by our Legis- |
lature to be used at the ST. Louis EX- |
position to represent our good old |
State was used to insult that State by |
representing it with a log hut
Mr.. Carleton had no more to do with |
that exhibit at the St Louis exposi-
ton than he had with DR.. Cooks claim
to having discovered the North Pole.
Such statements as that quoted do
more to harm the man who concocts
them than they do to the man at |
whom they are aimed
Inc bangor News states the case
fairly and clearly, in the following
editorial:
when Mr. Carleton came to the
place the fish and game interests of
Name We're cared for with a lax
hand, and all over eastern Maine,
men were chasing deer with hounds
n close season and open season,
ana other men We're sending out
cards from sporting camps offer
ing to furnish a deer for S5-no
deer, no pay" Partridges and
ducks and other Maine game birds
We're sent through to Boston and
other markets by the barrel and
the crate, and reputable market
men were caught in carrying on
the traffic in an open manner, and
until the Carleton prosecutions
were undertaken nobody was fined
or inconvenienced in any way. Be
fore the days of Carleton, Maine
song birds and insectivorous birds
were exposed for sale openly upon
the streets in many of our cities
and towns, and nobody had the
,l- -.