The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-10-06

THE DISCUSSION GOES ON
the Editor Ocala Banner:

OuI UIlllSISFIdI Sport is dCCuSlOul'
ed to having all the talk first, middle
and last, when he stands in the pull
pit, and he seems to presume on this
recognition being given him when ap.
pearing in the papers. Now, the Rev.
Mr.. Coleman knew when he wrote his
first article that Messrs Rogers, Bull
lock and myself We're responsible for
the new game law-as it was strictly
a Marion county bill-and he proceed
ed to jump upon all three of us, and
| say he did know just what he was
doing. He says he has been accused
OF kicking up this disturbance for po-
litical purposes.
He might have been further accus-
ed Of raising this issue on account of
financial spleen.
He further knew just as we'll when
he began his first article and wrote
or had indited his other articles that
it would cause disturbances in our
community, as he does now.
Isn't this shame upon a man who
is supposed to be carrying the ban
ner OF peace to every human soul,
but instead carries a fire brand to
scatter discord and strife among our
people? He says he has been in our
state six years. This may be so. l
think he has been in Marion county
about three years; yet he undertakes
to dictate our laws for US; knows
more about what Marion county
needs in the way of game laws than
our oldest inhabitants. He may have
known how to handle all game, from
the buffalo and coyote to the skunk in
his northwestern home, but this is no
reason why he should presume to
know what the Marion county people
should have in this game matter.
Had he confined himself to the
laws in the Good Book, which he was
supposed to have come among us to
eXpound, then his sphere and position
never would have been questioned
He now puts himself up to champion
a sport that is not humane, when re-
sorted to purely for fun. I do not
think he can find a justification of
his actions in the life of the Lowly
Nazarine, who showed the carpenter
plane, plucked the roasting ears or
caught the fish only for the physical
necessities, and not for sport.
Rev Mr.. Coleman says if the peo-
pie themselves are lett TO conserve
the agme by. protecting it on their
own lands. using it only as their
needs required. that possibly one man
in twenty might do so; but the rest
would not.
Now, l have very much higher
opinion of our peoples intelligence
and honesty than this brother has. 1t
may be that after he has gotten it
out of his head that he is a Solomon
and a Moses combined, he may find
that the Marion county people don t
need his services along this line of
enlightenment as much as lie now
thinks. l have lived among and with
the Marion county people for nearly
thirty-seven years, and have always
found that their honor, honesty and
intelligence rank up with the best cit
izenship of any state in the Union.
Mr.. Coleman asks why this same
game law was not gwen to Sumter
county? In reply will say that Sum-
ters representative in the lower
house, (Mr. TerrelD, who lives in
that county, and is more intimately
associated with his county people
than / am, did not ask for any change
in his county local game laws. Had
he done so I would have helped to
have given him what he thought his
people wanted.
Mr. Coleman asks: Does the fact
that the senator owns a tract of land
near Lake Bryant account for the
prohibition of running deer with dogs
east of the Oklawaha river?" l an
swer that it does not. No part of the
new game law affects me in a direct
personal manner. AS to ownership
of lands near Lake Bryant | claim
that privilege, upon which land sew
eral white men are constantly en-
ployed. If there has been a turkey
or a deer upon this property for the
past twenty years I do not know it;
nor have l killed either a quail or a
squirrel upon this property for this
same length of time. The property
has a high fence surrounding most
of it, and no large wild game is sup
posed to get into the enclosure.
In reply to the dig that the revered
gentleman thinks he has given me
when he says: Il certainly do pity a
man who has to bear the responsible
tiles of such law, and at the same
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