Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-04
 @TRAP P-zz zI Ia| and (1A N FIELD AI
CONSERVE THE FOOD SUPPLY
 BY CONSERVING THE GAME
John B. Burnham Spikes the Move O.: P1.'rofiteers' to RemoNe Law Re- strictions and Permit the Wholesale Slaughter of Game.
By John B. Burnham

tective Association.
 A countrywide agitation has re- gently been started to remove law re- strictions and permit the wholesale killing of wold game. It is argued that this would furnish a large supply and reduce the present high cost of living. Thos who are behind this wartime measure" are men who would profit financially and they are gaining sup porters among would-be market hunt CTS, bon viYants, and some real people who imagine food would actually be cheaper as a result. It is urged as a patriotic measure.
 Those who have made lifelong study of game conditions in this coun- try do not agree with the prop agandists. The celebrated writer. Frank Forester, 70 years ago said that the beginning of the twentieth century would find this country game less. He said the fields and swamps and woodlands would be depopulated and silent, and he gave a S his reason American disregard of laws and the spirit of the spendthrift which char acterized the sportsman of his day.
 Sport for Sports Sake.
 The reason that we have any game today is that the nation has vastly inn
 
 respects. We have good game laws and improved enforcement of laws, and instead of the sentiment, Nothing succeeds like success" which used to be translated by the shooter in game bag terms Americans today have adopted the vastly better motto, Sport for sports sake
 Game laws at present are founded on the basic principle of frugality. Seasons and bag limits are designed to permit the taking of the natural in crease in such a manner as not to de- plete the breeding stock. Laws pro- hibiting the sale of game are designed to give greatest measure of opportuni- ty to the greatest number.
 Where the sale of game is per- mitted few market hunters hog it all and the rich epicure eats the re- suit. Why should we change a system which has grown out of years of sad experience and under which rich an,' poor alike may share in Nature'S $ largess for one whereby good flyers , who can pay from one to five dollars for a bird are the chief beneficiaries
 Such a change would mean that we would have no game in two years. Taken as a whole. the game of the country is not holding it's own. To turn loose the forces of destruction would mean it's annihilation. Game makes soldiers. It is better for us to have a lot of men familiar with guns and camping and tramping g than few experts who make their living for a short time as butchers.
 Hunter Is Gest Fighting Man.
 Every war in which this country has been engaged has proved that the h1In fighting men. Most of our Presidents have been field sportsmen. The rev. olution was won bN hunter soldier, and such men in 1918 will give us confidence and cause for pride in the present world war struggle. Without game we cannot have hunters, and national health and safety would sug- fer accordingly.
 | The supply of existing game if ii were all killed in one year or two would not reduce the high cost o1 living. There are 1S0,000,000 cattle sheep and hogs in the United States l today and about that number are killed annually for food. Less than 10000 game animals, chiefly deer, are killed per annum, and any considerable in crease in this kill for any district means annihilation.
 Probably taking weight into con sideration, there is five to ten thousand times as much meat supplied each year from domesticated animals as iron animals. The ratio would no doubt be equally large when poultry and gamt birds were considered.
 This country has to live after tht war, and what man has yet to come 1 forward to advise that all vattle bt killed to meet the emergency?
 The breeding game animal and bird. are equally needed for the future. Why kill the goose as long as tht eggs suffice for present needs?
 Present Laws Are Good.
 While the game which is killed anC eaten is not a large supply as compared with cattle and poultry, it is an i'm, portant food item nevertheless, and a. such it is being utilized to the bes possible advantage. For every pount of game eaten a similar amount O beef, mutton, pork and poultry is re leased for consumption. No game ii wasted.
 Under present laws in many parts O the country for long, periods game i. the only meat eaten by many people This is as it should be. The argumen that the killing of game should b, stopped for the period of the war i, order that the facilities of the cartridg, I compjanies and powder manufacturer, be devoted wholly to the turning ou of war ammunition is, in view of tn, facts cited, not based on common sene, reasoning.
 How many times have we been taId
 "A