The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-02-07

states be Investigated. Thousands
upon thousands of acres of farming
i land have been preserved by city and
nonresident spor;smen. who, in order
To hunt. arc forced TO pay the farmers
for shooting privileges. Under the
general plan, the sportsman usually
leases the farmers hunting rights, the
consideration being the payment by
the former OF the lattcr's land taxes,
the farmer becoming the game warden
OF his own land. The land taxes fire.
puently amount to as much as 10 cents
nm acre in the morA highly cultivated
districts.
The farmers OF North Carolina very
generally fdvor this system. for it re-
lieres them not only of a considers bic
| tax. but of the nuisance Of large num-
hers OF village and city people tramp
ing through their woods. fields aud
pastures. source of much ANNOYANCE
in the country. \ section in which
iand IS taken up in this way by sports
men soon becomes dotted with shooting
lodges. for the upkcep of which much
local labor is employed and large
sums of money expended in the neigh
norhood' Instead. therefore. of adc
quatc game protection. as proposed in
the rutherford Moncur, bill working
a hardship upon the farmer It actually.
creates resource of a reul market
value. in addition to the economic value
of the fcathercd farm hands. which
I,n al
crops. The farmer soon learns to re-
gard his shooting rights as a thing of
value just as he does his water rights
his standing timber, his ice pond. his
nshins rights, his surplus manure. etc,
etc.
In the event he desires 10 hunt oil
mis- own land, he willingly pays 81 for
county license. for it is that very
license which indirectly makes his own
farm more valuable and perhaps pays
his taxes Then, too the license sys-
tenn breaks up i large class of country
idlcrs. who do nothing for scvera.
months in the year but scour the fields
and woods when hunting is free to ALI
In the South 1t forces hundreds of n.-
sroes TO work on the farms for a liv-
'hs. who otherwise cast aside lerit-
mate labor and earn prccarious live
lihood as hunters
Any one who has ever visited TN,
country districts of Virginia in No
Ycmbcr will recall how the roads and
woods and iie!ds are ;hickly paopled
with so-called hunters. nine-tentns of
whom arc trcspass.rs, without the
slightest respect for property of any
kind 1t is impossible to estimate the
loss in cattle and in forests due to the
carclcssness of this class. for to them
hundreds Of fires arc annually due.
Again. a passenger on any ono Of
our railway lines during the hunting
season secs hundreds of city folks.
men and boys, who, with cur dog and
gun. dovastate the country districts.
This class pays absolutely nothing For
the privilege. and deprv,s the farmer
of what is really his property. Why
should these people be permitted 10
hunt without contributing something
for the privilege? There arc bu, six
States in the Union where they can
do it. Hunting is not an inaiicnable
right amy more than is oystcrins or
the ownership of water power. The
shvagss so considered It, but even they
were restricted to certain areas coon
after civilization took charge Of tho
country
The effect OF the proposed law would
he, in Virginia as clscwhera, that the
rural landowner and all who lived on
his land would still hunt thereon With
out paying for the privilege. but that
the city man would either have TO pay
the farmer for hunting privileges or
not Indulge in the sport Yet it has
been said that this law would not be
fair TO the farmer 1t is suggested
that any farmer who is thus misled
write to some friend in North Carolina
or in Alabama and satisfy himself as
to the conditions in those States.