Milford chronicle., 1918-05-10
HUNTERS LICENSE FEE.
Farmer Feeds the Birds While Sports
men's Money ProVeides Protection
for Them


This IS the third Of series 81 articles
deains wirh the question Of replacing
ou D-.1ware's Statute Books the .aw
providing an anuua, tax Oh those who
-aoo;-e3mmonN called the hunters II
c-nse Zee.
IH previous Articles reference vas made
10 the fact ,ha. .hege was rather wide
spread misrepresentation among those
who do not shoot as TO the hunters Ii
cense
For Instance. it was stated that many.
mistakenly. thought possession of a IL
ceuse gave the privilege Of going upon
land privately owned
Again. il was stated, that many were
under the impression that the general
public IS taxed for the maintenance u the
paid forces that protect wild life (the
game Wardensl. whereas the funds for
this come wholly from the hunters IL
ceu~e which is imposed only on those
who shoot
Stil again. mention was made Of the
fact that game wardens. supported by
the hunters license fees. were a neces-
,sry force in restraining our alien popu-
t5ton from the slaughter OF birds in
valuable 20 the farmer from the consump-
zion of insects and weed seeds.
on this occasion some attention will be
gwen the relations Of The man who owns
a farm and the man who wants % shoot
on that farm. The term commonly ap-
Piled 20 the latter Is "sportsman." In
conversation recently with a friend who
is an officer IN one Of our large farmers
organizations said.
DO you know. there Is nothing a far
mer 80 reseuts as the presumption On
the part of those who shoot in putting
themselves in class separate and dis-
tinct from their fellow citizens. and call
ing themselves 'sportsmeu'."
why" continued my friend farmers
contribute just as many men 20 the class
called 'sporysmeu as do any other ele-
ment in our population"
Clnddiy had never looked al the
thing that way and. while do not think
th1, sportsmen worthy the name arro-
gate any special virtues 20 themselves.
ann we'll aware Of the thousands Of
splendid men throushou, the country
who live on farms and enjoy nothing bet
ter chan AN occasional day behind a brace
OF good dogs IN the field. No one has a
better right 20 the ti-le Of "spOrJsmen"
than these.
II is upon the farms of our country
that most Of our game, exclusive of water
fowl, finds its sustenance and il is no
wonder that the man who owns the farm
feels a proprietary interest IN it,
on the other hand, as We have tried
10 show in preceding articles. IL is the
man wOh shoots who pays the bill for
the protection Of both game and nom
game birds. the insect and the weed
seed consumers. Bird life will not ma
terialjy increase whore there is not or
ganized protection Of il. whereas where
such protection does exist the increase I
Is due in large measure 20 the patient
untirHs efforts OF the ORGANIZATIONS of
men who shoot feeding birds in stress of
winter weather. trapping the vernin tha,
prey three hundred and sixty-dve days
in the year on our bird life. keeping the
po, hunters out Of the field and similar
activities that spell the difference be-
tween a depleted and an abundant bird
life
The man who shoots asks no legal en- .
actment giving him the right % 90 ua- (
hidden on farm lands, but he does a * /
that he be allowed 20 tax himself II Or 4
der TO bring about effective, systematic /.
protection Of the wild life Of Deiawar /
With the increase that he knows viii .
come he is willing 10 take the chance +
Of securing permission 70 hunt from
friends among those who own farms.
American history. so far as the writer
has read IT, does not record another in
stance in which any section Of our citi-
zen has requested the right 20 tax itself
or lawful purpose and been refused