The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-11
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INTERPRETATIONS BUREAU
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director,
Washington. ID. C.
A1NtER1CAN IEGIoN OF HUNTERs


AMERICAN LEGION OF HUNTERS.
Washington, Dec. S.-Despite the
fact that war has boosted the price Oh
ammunition to unheard of heights,
and that many young sportsmen are
spending the season in training camps,
the legion of hunters seems to have
taken the field this year in almost un-
diminished numbers. Early returns
made by the New York state conserva--
ton commission show that ten thou
sand sportsmen went deer hunting in
four New York counties and that they
killed 1,755 deer and So bear. 1t is
interesting to note that less than one
man out of every five got his buck; SO
that every deer killed furnished an ex-
cuse for at least five men to take
vacation in the woods.
The experts of the Biological sur
vey. who make a careful study of the
hunting habits of Homo Americans,
have some startling figures to offer as
! to the prediction of Americans Tor
field sports They estimate that no
less than five million persons go hunt-
ing in the United States every year.
When you reflect that this means one
person out of every twenty in the
country, and that majority OF the
| twenty are women and children VINO
never hunt, you realize that Americans
are nation of hunters, and that they
are remarkably persistent about fol-
lowing their favorite sport in the face
| of a steadily decreasing supply OF
game. and a rapid growth of large
| cities.
A New Spirit Manifest.
| A few years ago it looked as tho
1.-THE hunters would put an end to their
own sport by destroying all of the
game Now a new spirit is manifest
The federal government and the states
are cooperating in works OF con-
seryation. The federal migratory
game law is given credit by leaolns
! conservationists for having saved the
| wild fowl from extinction for another
century at least Upland game blrds
are still dwindhng in numbers, but
their protection on government reser
yations and large private estates, ana
| the enactment of rigid state laws OF
{ fers u reasonable hope that they, TOO,
will pass the danger point, and begin
to increase before they have been re-
! duced to the point where recovery OF
abundance is difficult if not lmpos-
sible. TIE thing most needed now Is
| federal action to save the big game
of the west. An excellent bill mas
been INTRODUCED in congress providing
for game refugees on national 1orests'
which would definitely settle the ar
! fl -ulty. 1t has, of course, been Tor
gotten in the rush of war legislation
have the slightest interest in wlid
things, should not forget it. 1t Will
come up again. Its passage means
| that protected reservoirs" of Wlld
life would be established on many or
the national forests, and that they
would serve to stock the surrounding
mountains Unless some such action
is taken, the Americans that are now
growing up will never see an elk or a
mountain sheep or black tan oeer
Just now the American sportsman
has some special claim to considera-
ton because of his usefulness as a SOL
der A man who knows how to take
care of himself outdoors, shoot a gun
and ride a horse, is distinctly farther
along toward becoming a soldier than
the one who does not know any OF
these things This has been OFTEN
pointed out. 1t is not the only SIDE
of the case. however. In the present
mobilization, city men are often farlns
somewhat better than those from the
country because they are more ac-
customed to collective effort, more
adaptable, and more of them have
some acquaintance with technical APP
alliances other than guns which play
such a large part in modern warfare.
Wandering Traits of Character.
The fact of the matter is that the
hunter, and the predatory and wan
dering traits of character which hunt
RnRendGT,
hunting, have not much of place In
our modern machine made CiviliZa-
ton. Devotion to routine work and
ability toward cooperation are what
count for progress these days; not
love of excitement and destruction. In
some sense the man who goes hunting
is archaic he belongs to another age.
A good many modern thinkers and
writer's have sensed and expressed this
fact. Bernard Shaw has written an
essay in which he attacks as barbaric
all "killing for fun" The late Jack
London took much the same viewpoint
in an interview not long before his
death. Professor Veblen, an acute
critic of modern institutions, says that
hunting is an archaic, occupation, and
that the love for excitement, depreda-
ton and wandering which motivates
it are traits that do not fit into the
modern scheme of things.
OF course. no sportsman concurs in
these criticisms. His annual taste OF
primitive excitement holds a place tr
his heart from which no amount OF
theorizing could GUST it. He knows
that it seems good to him, and be-
lieves that it is good for him. AND
yet among the five million hunters ir
: America, no philosopher has arisen tC
, set forth the theory of his sport, tt
defend its rights to a place in so.
r ciety.
/ One factor which all the critics O.
hunting SSSIu 70 OVERLOOK Inar maj
remains necessarily an animal o.
prey, and that if he did not eat othel
+, animals, they would eat him or q
4 least, his sustenance., This is prett,
clearly shown by the depredations o
: animals that are not regularly hunted
S for sport. The government has jus
); stated that rats and mice eat 5000, 900.
600 worth of food every year in tn
United States. The wolves, coyote
5 and panthers in the west have becom
= SO bold and destructive in their depre
r dations that the federal government
!. has been compelled to make an appro
priation and hire men to hunt them
e Thus we may be said to have a small
= standing army to defend us from tn
depredations of wild animals. And Il
some sense, the amateur sportsman i
. in the same position as the citizen sol