Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1913-11-21
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
"A FINE REASON"


the charge OF fishing within the pro-
hibited 200 feet of fshway. This
man had tried to inform himself
upon the law. lie had inquired OF
a local warden regarding the limit,
but had inadvertently mistaken the
proper limit as the authorities had
failed to properly mark it. The old
man told the judge that he was un-
able to fight the case, and that as it
appeared he was guilty If the law
had been correctly quoted to him,
he would enter a plea Of guilty. The
minimum fine was imposed, but the
governor was at once petitioned to
set aside the penalty in this instance.
This story of Rosencrans was taken
as a text from which the Medford
Mail-Tribune preached a screed up
on How Not to Prosecute" in the
course of which County Attorney Mil
Ter, Attorney General Crawford and
Josephine county in general came in
for the usual lambasting from the
Bear creek dictator of fish legisla-
tion and the expounder of Rogue
river fish lore The screed follows:
County Attorney Miller of Jose
phine county though new in the
country, is evidently imbued with
the old Oregon idea, for instead of
seeking to enforce the law he is busy
trying to find way not to enforce
II.
The fish warden arrested man
for fishing within 200 feet Of the old
Grants Pass dam. lie plead guilty
and was fined $25. A petition has
been prepared asking the governor
to pardon the delinquent, because he
did not know he was within the limit
though fishing Off the dana fine
reason
Now comes the county attorney,
whose brief residence in the county
gives him the appearance of being
carpet-bagger, seeking to find
way to permit violations of the in
tent, spirit and wording of the law,
with almost as much righteousness
as shown by Attorney General Craw-
ford along the same lines.
If the recently arrived county at
torney will study fish lore he will
learn that there are only two kinds
of native trout in Rogue river, the
rainbow and cut-throat, and both are
migratory. The so-called black
spotted or mountain brook trout is
cut-throat stunted by its cold
water environment The steelhead'
is sea-going rainbow, and the So
called salmon trout is a sea-going
cut-throat Nearly all rainbow
30 down to sea after the first year
some however, remain in fresh water
the year around. The small trout
caught in Rogue river are young
rainbow (steelhead) and cut-throat,
and many of them are really young
salmon on their way to the sea.
THE county attorney will also
find, if he consults the 1913 fishing
laws that the steelhead is classified
as a trout IN the Rogue river, as It
should be, though on account of the
greed of commercial fishermen 1t is
called steelhead salmon in other
streams. SO as to permit their being
taken commercially though any
wel-Intormed packer knows they are
not salmon lie will also find that
the law prohibits the taking of any
trout ten inches IN length at this
season of the year
"a dam in stream stops the pro
gress Of FISH and holds them until
they locate the FISH ladder. Il is
to protect them while locating the
ladder that the law was enacted.
And the county attorney is sworn to
uphold the law and prosecute its vio-
lators not seek to find o way where
by they maye break the law by con
iuring mp technical Quibbles.
Prosecution OF game law viola
tlons will not meet much success un-
less the county attorney act as prose
sutor instead Of attorney for the de-
Tense"
There were doubts as to the guilt
Of Rosencrans The law is ambiguous
and contradictory upon the point un-
der which ne was arrested. In one
place the limit from a hshway is
placed at 200 feet; in another only