Evening star., 1945-12-01
Letters to The Star
Favors Abolishins Unwanted
Black Duck Refuxe
To the Editor Of The Star:


Black Duck Refuge
To the Editor Of The Star:
Asking the editors OF The Star to
print letter advocating the passage of
a so-called local bill on the face of it
seems unreasonable because your read
ers are concerned chiefly with matters
of wider scope
However, do hope that can con-
vince you that the bills introduced in
the House by Representatives Bates and
Lane of Massachusetts, to abolish the
Parker River wildlife refuge, covering
20 square miles in the small Essex
County of Massachusetts,, should pass
This project should be abolished.
If it were a plan before the United
Nations Organization to take property
away from residents OF 2O-mile area
in Czechoslovakia, Greece or even Ger
many every newspaper would be alert
Three times Gov. Tobin has come to
Washington to plead for restoration of
this area to the people, who in some
cases have held it through many gen.
erations for over 300 years. Not a line
has any Washington newspaper ever
printed about this worst land grab in
my 40 years of watching the Federal
Government.
The land is being grabbed for the pur-
pose OF encouraging black ducks. These
birds live on clans, and this has been
proved by postmortem examination of
stomachs of hundreds of the ducks The
clam industry at Ipswich yields $500, 900
year in income to the clammers and
those who in turn do business with the
clammerS. The ducks yield nothing but
the sport of shooting at them. The
clam industry is prehistoric. Settlers at
Ipswich bought the banks from Indians
before Manhattan Island similarly was
acquired. 1t now Is under scientific con-
troll by specialists who have worked out
regulations to yield the maximum guam
tity of clans of the best flavor.
The Interior Department, refusing to
make any positive statement as to its
plans for this great area, merely has
asked: How do you know we would de-
stroy the clam banks?" The people
know because 1t Is a part of the wildlife
program to do everything to encourage
the black ducks.
People getting eviction notices are
promised use of their homes under a
permit" which expires annually and
is issued only to them while there is
need for the food which they are pro-
ducing on their farms. The permit
denies them the right to have a cat or
dog. 1t makes squatters of people who
have proudly occupied the same land
back through the ages.
The Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior
Department, has taken the attitude that
its job is to provide for wildlife and has
denied that it has anywhere in its
functions any concern whatever for
human life.' Human life, 1t seems, comes
under other agencies.
What has most outraged the people of
this area and of the State is the high
handed manner in which this land was
seized last winter in the midst of snow
storm, just before the Legislature met to
pass law that now forever forbids any
Federal control of this kind without sub
mission of a full program for State ap-
proval.
A few tracts of land, amounting to
about $4,000 were bought by the Fed
eral agents under the pretense that in
each case all but the particular tract al
ready had been obtained. Direct buying
yielded so little, even under this kind of
pressure, that a court order was OBJ
tanned for taking" the whole area.
John P. Marquand, the famous writer,
has home in the very center of this
territory. In the area also is the oldest
boarding school in America. The school
will not be bought-only the land on
four sides, thus leaving it in the center
of mosquito-infested bog to be created
for the comfort of the black ducks.
Because this is just local matter only
three or four members of the Agricul-
ture Committee heard the testimony of
the Governor and leading State officials
protesting against the project. One
member of the committee said after
ward: 1T would be very unusual for this
committee to urge abandonment of a
project backed by a Federal depart
ment." He seemed to think that he was
sent here to sustain anything done by a
department, no matter how many hui
man rights were trodden down.
EDWIN ]. HEATH.