Marble Hill press., 1920-07-01
Y VI
lYJ

I ss" a ~, r'rs .yr, .. 'ASS'rI' n. Ta, ssr. s
aud hiurblls ~ a marsh AZ >cyssa. No Il real
~ was a distinguished party. In u we're Attorney
general Frank MrlIulsirr of Missouri. J. k"y'
nolds ~ Kansas Ciy. = Numoarc. Kansas
,1iy. and NJ ; Bodtnc and CLARENCE Evans Of
Paris. Mo.
Hut congress had previously passed the fc'i-
-raI mlsratu, hi-l act. which among other thing
prohibits sprlas shooting uf water f"wl How
came Il then. that the attorney general ot the
state ~ Missouri Ia ID" party
well be- vas "frum Missouri" The Missouri
foks have to h- shown sou know And Attur-
ney General M,AIri,tcr and his friend, had an
idea that the migratory bird nct vas uucunstitu'
tioual They liked to shoot ducks-sprlne. a.
we'll as fall-aui they proclaimed thut the act
intericrcd with tie sovereignty ~ the state %
Missouri and with the property rights " the pco-
pie Of Missouri
50 Attorney General McAllistrr " Missouri
and hts friends went hunting March :, 1919
Moreover. thcy dldnt care Who knew 1t. Maybe
they even tipV"d il ofr 80 the federal game war.
IDEAS Anyway, the federal game WHrdrns put In
an appearance aud arrested the attorney general
and his party. The party was arraiguct NJ Gin.
ton Mo McAn!sier took the case into court ask.
ine for an injunction 10 restrain the federal game
war,lens FROM enforcing the law, Federal judge
A. y Van ValArHhursh held the law constitutional
and the state Appealed 10 the United States Su.
preme court
To George Shiras III. and Ehu Root the
millions uf hrd,lnycrs owe gratitude. Su do the
millions ot gardeners and farmers "ho, with the
inssCttvornus birds gone, would he eaten M by
their insect foes George Shlras, member OF
congress FROM Pennsylvania. began the hght away
back in 1904. Eiihu Root--possibly the most com
mandIug intellect In the country today-cinched
the victory.
nd M.
ficer of the National Association of Audubon SO
cieties who has also big share in the victory,
Is a widcawake citizen and thoroughly familiar
with the situation Lc; him tell the story Of the
long hard fight. Says Mr.. Pearson
George Shlras III. was man of means who
was interested In good works, In looking over
the situation In reference TO the protection OF
birds he discovered that the states all had differ.
ent seasons In which migratory game birds could
be shot and that what the situation really amount
ed TO was that game birds could be shot In DIFF
ferept psrts OF the country all through the year.
lie decided that the only way TO remedy this state
of affairs which would In time result In the ex'
tipction of game birds, was TO put the matter un-
der government control and thus do away with
the constant and everlasting wrangltng OF the
states So he introduced a bill In congress for
the protection Of migratory birds 1t was re-
ferred to a committee ana put IN pigeonnoie'
and that was the last OF IL.
Before this time the only protection law IN
force In the States the Audubon law. which
we succeeded In getting enacted in all but about
eight states This, however, did not prohibit the
selling of birds. In 1910 we brought about the
prohibition Of the sale Of aigrcttes.
"In theory. the state game laws worked nice
w. and II could be shown on paper that each
.ts,e could have Its chosen shooting season and
.t,l, there would be no dying out Of birds. But
IN practice they did not work so we'll Take for
instance, duck shooting-when the ducks start
.erth in the spring they are mating and II you