The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-10-27
WILLIAM T. HORNADAY. Director, New York Geological Park.


 nightly to harmonize with his en- vironment, and survive. Naturally, 1t is the newest of cuntries that contain the most wild life. 1t is the way OI the average frontiersman to make war on the game, and war on every man who seriously attempts to protect it nom his onsluaghts.
 In every country, new or old, the utilization of the wild game, and its perpetuation or extinction, are all de- terminaDle by the memorable rules of logic, and of reasoning from cause to effect.
 The interests of great number ofpeople are reparamounttoth to theinteresto of d few. To the conservationist of nat ural resources, waste is abhOrrent, and the exterimnation of valuable species is crime. The robbery of posterity is wicked and repulsive: and all robbery deserves to be either pre- vented or punished.
 In every well-settled country con- taining a fair supply of game birds, game and fur Quadrupeds and food fishes, the questions involved in the taking and utilization of those assets of nature create an irrepressible con- flct. Every country produces its an nual crop of uncompromising destroy CTS, and some countries contain few real conservators.
 The western world contains few fanatics of the oriental tyl.e to whom all killing is abhorrent and wicked. The white races of men believe in the doctrine of legitimate sport and sen- sible utilization: but the game hog is a constant menace.
 The game-hog is factor with which every government and every individ- ual game protector must reckon. In the slaughter of game he has no conscience, and to him game laws are an intole :able evil. He is utterly devoid of sentimental O.: scientific interest in wild life. and he will go far to kill the last representative of a species in order to boast of it.
 Some game-hogs who are honestly ignorant of what they are, can be educated out of their evil ways, and reformed but others can not be. The last annual report of the New York State Conservation Commissioner, George D. Pratt, contains this strik- ing passage regarding the confirmed game-hogs of the Adironacks who slaughter deer illegally, and for whom no one can pl, the excuse of ignor- ance. Commissioner Pratt says:
 An analysis of the violations thus reveals that they were due not to dissatisfaction with any one law, but to general contempt for the Conser- vation Law per SC. The protectors, disguised as sportsmen, were all re- Quired to report whether the hunters in the camps to which they were as- signed operated on the general plan of killing practically anything that saw, and more than two-thirds of the protectors answered this question in the affirmative. The result of this Infn m of ic chn in that came within the protectors inn mediate knowledge,-in most cases under their personal observation Forty-six were bucks, A were does, and II were lawns of both sexes. It was a matter of great interest in one camp that one man had killed eight does in the season, while another at the same camp, by singular coin cidence, had killed eight bucks.
 "There were many more illegally killed deer than those mentioned above" says the Commissioner. "re- garding which the protectors obtained evidence that resulted in settlements or convictions. Cases arising from the 1917 work were settled for $3,511.50 They involved 79 individuals and more than 125 violations. Already in 1918, cases have been settled, with a total recovery so far of $4,245.00. The 1918 cases alone will number between 200 and 300 when all have been closed
 "The commission wishes particu- larly to point out that the violations of the deer law involve, no particular class or locality more than another Men of all walks of life are involved, and even some women, who deliber- ately stood upon runways in wait for deer that were being run by dogs. Efforts to correct the old Outworn point of view regarding wild life a point of view that would make game the property of whoever can get 1t, regardless of law-must accordingly be directed to every class and To- cality."
 Now, in the making of laws, 1t is always necessary to make the laws adequate to curb the worst elements. No sooner is new game law enacted than the human vultures who prey