Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-01-24

government rather than in defens,
of any proposed law, fathered by
a game protective association, doe.
not change the real issues to DC
considered by the legislature in en-.
acting new game law, or in the
modification of the old one, to any
material extent whatsoever.
My article neither expressed MOI
implied a defense of the Anglo.
1Saxon's destructive tendencies just
for the glory of killing or for ar
Exhibition of great skill as a MIN.
rod, yet Mr.. Shepard asks me tC
eXplain why the buffaloes, elk, an.
| telope, etc, once so numerous on
the plains and in the hills of New
Mexico, have become practically
exterminated.
Mr.. Shepard knew that my YER
dict to his indictment of the Anglo
Saxon race would be guilty. y
Most of that destruction of game
however, was done before the en-
Iactment, by any territorial or state
Legislature, of any game laws re-
stricting the killing of the buffalo
elk or antelope.
Then, too, there has been the on
ward march of civilization and set
Element which is, as it should be,
encouraged by chambers of com
merce and commercial clubs, for
the development of the industrial
interests of the state, and with this
settlement, all over the state, on
farms, ranches and in the town and
cities, the game, as well as the
Indian who, many years ago, roam
ed the lands now embraced within
the borders of the state, at will and
hunted and fished to his hearts
content, had to give way to this
growth and development even to
the extent of partial determination,
for it is a fact too we'll known to
admit of argument, that where the
Anglo-SaXon settles and develops
a country, wild life, and the wilds
as the home of wild life, gradually
disappear.
Would Mr.. Shepard have condi-
tons in New Mexico back as they
were in the days of the old settlers :?
Does he expect any game commits
sion to be able to bring back into
this country the millions of buff
falo which once grazed the plains?
1t would be ridiculous to picture a
great herd of ten thousand buff
faloes sweeping down through the
streets of Carlsbad tramping TO
powder the pedestrians and various
vehicles that happened to be in
their pathway, or a conglOmeratiOn
of auto parts, tourists, and buffa-
loes in a grand collision out on the
public highway as a result of the
work of a created game commits
sion for the propagation and pro-
lection of these, now almost eX-
tinct, wild animals.
The day of the buffalo is passed
A few antelope and mountain sheep
and although these are
of noxious animals goes
on more rapidly than in the past,
they, too, will disappear, not by
the hand of man, but by the an
imals which roam with them in
the wilds.
My article in the issue of Jan
uary 10 did not even hint at the
'inalienable, Unborn, indisputable
right of every free-born American
to destroy great public resources as
long and as fast as it pleases him
to destroy them" as it was inti-
mated by MIR. Shepard that | had
said. That part was injected by
Mr.. Shepard so he could tear it all
up in what followed My plea was
for the preservation of game in the
b. 10 nf oil
the people at the same time, and
for the enactment of state law
that would encourage the destruc-
ton of noXious animals and that
would not favor any special in
terests or make it possible for any
special organization to reap an ad-
vantage over that possessed by any
Was that idea wrong?
In whose interests was the state
created?
No game warden nor game COM
can ever hope to accom-
plish much toward the preserva-
ton and propagation of game in
New Mexico without the co-opera-
ton of the residents in each par
ticular section. The local resident
are, then, not to be dis
regarded, as intimated by Mr..
but should be brought
into cooperation in game protec-
ton. To try to establish any game
preserve for the propagation and
protection of game birds and ami
mails without this cooperation
would require an army of guards
that, financially would swamp the
state.
My statement, which Mr.. Shep-
ard COntradicted that one panther
would destroy more deer in year
than all the sportsmen who go into
the woods, in an open game sea-
son, from any one locality, was not
of my own origin, but the state
ment of an old time resident of
New Mexico who has spent many
years in the hills where he has
watched the destruction of game
by this animal. He saw, too, a two
year-old deer downed by two
eagles, and any resident of the
will tell that the lambs
of the mountain sheep, as we'll as
the fawns of deer, are the common
prey of eagles. And the same thing
might apply to other noxious ami
mails, Game in New Mexico is in
creasing, thanks to the good work
of the U. S. biological survey in de-
predatory animals.
My article opposed the organi-
zation of a commission consisting
of q limited few because of the
power that might" be usurped by
some particular warden who could
easily abuse his powers. This was
no more of a reflection upon the
members of the New Mexico Game
association than the leg
stature conveys upon the citizens
Of a state when 1T enacts legisla-
ton making it unlawful to do GER
.ain things which yet, they have not
done. If my suggestion of what
might partake of an oligarchial
form of game government, or Oh
what might be done by an I'M