Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-08-03
IETTERSTOTHE:EDIT0R
THE GAME LAWS
or of The TeIeernhh;

To the Editor of The Telegraph:
! e a in the Telegraph of Thursday,
July 81, an interview given out by Au-
gustus Wildman,. candidate for the
Legislature, in which he resents a reso-
luton passed by the local branch of
the Hunters and Anglers Association.
resolution was presented n read by
members who have not been taking an
active part in the Hunters and Ang-
lers' meetings.
The meeting was a regular meeting
of the Hunters and Anglers and not
called for any special purpose. Mr..
Wildman declares the charge in the
resolution is a malicious line; the truth
of the statement doubtless will soon be
substantiated by those who presented
1t, as it seems to have plenty of evil.
dence. We are more concerned with
the reason given by Mr.. Wildman for
casting his vote in favor of this bill.
The argument he refers to, that vas
so convincing, that our representative
cast his vote in favor of this bill, that
5000 of his constituents had signed pc
titions against, is an old wornout state
a man h mad the statement before
the game committee of the 1911 ses-
sion of the. Legislature that 1.-THE aver
age man did not know what was good
for him; therefore the Legislature
should tell him."
This man coined this argument and
The figures given that only 3 per cent.
of u population hunt, or are interest
ed in hunting. is so misleading, that we
wonder at Mr.. Wildman using them. or
admitting he was misled by them. The
returns from the various counties of
the uni of hunters licenses taken
out in 1914, shows that 800, 900 men and
boys were willing to pay this tax for
the privilege to hunt legally. The
statement has been credited to the
game department that the number who
these figures up to 100000. We do not
hesitate to add that the number who
would not be tagged. but would
rather allow their guns to stand idle lie:
sportsmen who are directly interested
in cunning. OF this number at least
100000 are heads. of families. The
members of these families are al. in
directly Interested in this sport their
number multiplied by FIVE gives a total
of 100000; thus we have a grand total
population. Did Mr.. Wildman consider
this? or did he just take the speakers
word for it?
Furthermore. the speaker Mr.. Wild
that properly analyzed by our legisla-
tor, probably would have saved him
from an embarrassing situation. as it
directly refutes the point that was so
convincing to Mr.. Wildman. The argu-
ment was that a residence hunters
license would create a fund to protect
and care for our birds. without this
law these birds would be exterminated.
and should that occur the earth would
be uninhabitable within ten years on
account of the accumulation of insect
pests.
DR.. Kalbfus uses the same argument
in his letter of transmittal published
in the Digest of the Game, Fish and
Forestry laws. contending that the
wild birds, in the destruction of insect
life, saved to our agricultural districts
an annual sum equal to the cost of the
Panama Canal.
II this statement is correct. surely
more than 3 per cent. or % per cent. of
our peonle should be interested in the
work of supporting the game depart
ment.
In view of the above. we would ask
Mr.. Wildman, was 1t fair to the sports
men to tax them to create a revenue,
the purpose of which was to support a
measure that meant the preserving Of
the human race? We have Heard a
number of arguments advanced as a
reason for supporting this game tax
law, but non so lame as the one ad-
vanced by our representative.
! A HUNTER AND ANGLER.