The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1916-09-08
THE FOLLY OF 1857 AND
THE LESSON OF 1916

The report of select COMMITTEES Of
the senate of Ohio in 1857 on a bin
proposed to prtect the passenger
pigeon follows:
The passenger pigeon needs ne pro-
lection. Wonderfully prolific, having
vast forests of the north as its breed
ing grounds, travelling hundreds Of
miles in search of food, it is here to-
day and elsewhere tomorrow and no
ordinary destruction can lessen them,
or be missed from the myriads that
are yearly produced"
The quest is closed, hope abandoned.
The passenger pigeon is absolutely
eXterminated. Not one individual of
it remains alive. How many there are
in Haywood county at the present time
who can remember the myriads of
pigeons that semi-annually visited
here. You have seen the heavens black
with them for hours. AS one flock
followed another, oftimes the sun was
obscured, while farmers were in dark
ness and in shadow We have no way
of Judging of the future but by the
past. Lift the veil now, and look at
the stories Of the bison, the passenger
pigeon, the wild duck, etc. As reason
ing beings it is our duty to heed the
lessons of history.
For educated, civilized man to ex-
terminate a valuable wild species Of
living thing is a crime. The wild
things of the earth are not ours to do
with as we please They have been
given to us in trust, and we must ac-
count for them to the generations
which will come after US and audit
our accounts
Every intelligent person knows that
the deadly shot gun is rapidly exter-
minating every bird that is classed
as game" and which legally may be
killed, even during two and a half
months of the twelve. The market
gunner slaughters as if we were all
starving.
Out of the enormous mass of men
who annually take up arms against
the remnant of wild life and are called
"sportsmen," | believe that only one
out of every five hundred conscien-J
tiously stops shooting when game be-
comes scarce and extinction is inn
pending. All the others feel that Il IN
right and proper to kill all the gssas
that they can kill up to the bag limit
1t is the reasoning of Shylock:
Justice demands it, and the law
doth give it." "a
Especially is this true of the men
who pay their one dollar per year for
resident hunting license and feel
that in doing so they have done
GREAT BIG thing.
This is deadly frame of mind. Eth
ically it is entirely wrong; it is the
spirit of determination clothed in robes
of law and justice. The bag limits, on
which vast reliance is placed to pre-
serve the wild game, is fraud, de-
fusion and snare.
In Haywood county the over-iberal-
ity of the laws, both in the bag limits /
and open season, are to blame for two
thirds of the carnival of slaughter,
and the successful evasion of the law
is responsible for the other third.
Unfortunately the men who shoot
have become possessed of the idea that
they have certain inherent, God-given
rights to kill game. Now, as a mat
ter of fact, sportsman with one
hundred dollar gun in his hand, two
hundred dollar dog at his heels, and
five one hundred dollar bills in his
pocket, has no more right to kill COW
ey of quail than a millman has to
elect that it shall be let alone for the
pleasure of his children.
The time has come when people who
do not shoot must act. The sportsmen
alone will never save the game. The
people who do not kill must act indie
pendently. Do not attempt to pass
laws that will please everybody. The
more the hunters are displeased the
better for the game. The hunters
form small and insignificant minori-
ty of the whole people.
The game of state belongs to the
whole people of the state. The su-
preme court of the United States has
so decided. Greer VS.. Connecticut) |
Heretofore the cunning minority |
has been debating the game laws Of |
the state, and the result is progressive
determination. Why please one man
at the expense of SO others? The
game belongs to you as whole and
not to the gunners alone. The great.
patient, and sometimes sleepy MAORI
ty has vested rights in it, and it is for
It to say how it shall and shall not be |
killed.
| believe our local regulations should
be replaced by uniform state law.
not exceeding 30 days for quail shoot
ing.
The sale Of game should be forbid, |
den at all seasons.
Spring and late winter shooting Of |
all game should be stopped.
1t should be unlawful in hunting or
shooting birds, or animals of anvil
KIND, to use any automatic or repeat |
ing shot gun or pump gun, or any shot
gun holding more than two cartridges
Permit dogs to run at large only be-
tween October LIST ond the last of Feb
ruary.
AS general proposition it is better
to shorten our season rather than To
resort to closed seasons running over
a period of years as in Soma ~ -