Marble Hill press., 1920-07-01

shoot "u' that breaks up the pair Tor ihc season.
Well four lrHrs after the pIgcouhullug 90
ShirnS hIlt. John u. Weeks utrndur, in tie
hpBs" the same hui with slight modification.
NuiuuE ram" 81 it lie introduced 10 again In
l'sp and again la igil while ni the same time
George T. Mclean introduced q similar blll In 20"
senate" In ih" spring ~ 1912 committee hearing,
un N" b.ll verr begun.
Roth these bills mentioned migratory game
birds only. Now. there are only about "a game
birds" Mr.. Pearson said mrdIiaiyrly. rufiue his
pipe and there arr l.2up Kind, ~ bird, iu North
America. There ARE - VBrblrrs alor. Ia the
eastern part ~ the United states. Therefore,
the Audubon society urged that IN" hil b.
changed To apply 70 all migratory birds and this
change NRs adopted nni pa, before congress.
THE bill became a law on March I. 1914: OK
President Tar signed if or the morning that he
gave az his ofhcr one ~ his last official acts.
Authority was given to %" department ~ asr'-
culture then. to ~ ahead and max" the rulc-
governing the killng ~ birds The department.
~ agriculture did not know anything about birds,
they turned Il over 20 special branch " the
department. the Biological survey Three men
~ the biological survey drew up lot of r"gula-
tious and announced them to the states lumc-
dIateJy there was ronr ~ objections from all
over the country and an ~ the states thought
their rights had been Iufruscd
Then came test ease put In BIG Lake, Ark
n Killed rtpt IN NI'ia''on or the regulations.
lie was arrested aud ih, federal Judge Tor the
Eastern district ~ Arkansas declared the ted.
rral migratory bird laws illegal The case OF
course Then went 90 The supreme court of the
United States. The supreme court very hos.
tile and the case dragged along for several
months Finally the supreme court dtd a very
unusual thing II asked the department ~ acri-
culture to r,state ltS case. from which We under
stood that the court was tie, and the ca,e Wa,
,F... -.
In the period ~ waiting which followed Ellhu
Root came to our assistance. This may be de-
clarcd unconstitutional and everything lost he
said but may be- able to heat e. 4 treaty
Is not subject tn revision boy the supreme court
SO Why not get these ideas written into treatyg
Immediately the machinery was set In motion
which would turn the bin into a treaty. After
a great deal Of trouble arrangements were finally
concluded with Grent Britain for Canada and
the treaty drawn up. But n treaty is n
dead letter unless congress by law states wha:
department shall enforce it--that Is every treaty
requires an enabling act.
Il went down TO Washington and spent six
weeks there trying to arouse interest In the epa.
bling act for treaty, The treaty was ratified
by congress on September -, 1916, and year
or so later the enabling act was passed Then
the government, remembering the tremendous
amount Of abuse heaped upon them after III.
to have committee 10 find ont what the people
wanted, and they appointed national committee
of frs, dozen and later about 20.
"Soon after this In Missouri some men went
hunting and violated the regulations and were ar
rested. The referred to the Supreme
court and on this case the present decision is
based holding legal the enabling act and thus
protecting the treaty"
This very wise decision makes quite clear the
position of state rights when It comes to birds.
II says:
.'The state, as we have intlmated. POUNDS its
claim OF exclusive authority upon an assertion of
title to migratory birds, assertion that is en-
bodied in statute. No doubt II Is true that as
between a state and Its inhabitants the state may
regulate the killing and sale Of such birds but 1t
does not follow that its authority is exclusive OF
paramount powers To put the claim of the state
upon title is to lean upon slender reed. Wild
birds are not in the possession OF any one; and
possession Is the beginning Of ownership. The
whole foundation OF the states rights is the
presence within their Jurisdiction OF birds that
yesterday had not arrived, tomorrow may be In
another state and IN a week 1000 miles away. II
We are to be accurate We cannot put the case Of