Page 275 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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THE ARMY OF THE DEFENSE 253
New Jersey.-—Alabama reminds one of New Jersey, and of State GameCommissionerErnestNapier. Ihaveseenhimonthefiring-line, and I know that his strong devotion to the interests of the wild life of his state, his determination to protect it at all costs, and his resistless con- fidenceinaskingforwhatisright,havemadehimapowerforgood. The state legislature believes in him, and enacts the laws that he says are right and necessary. He serves without salary, and gives to the state time, labor and money. It is a pleasure to work with such a man. In 1912 Commissioner Napier won a pitched battle with the makers of auto- matic and puinp guns, both shotguns and rifles, and debarred all those weapons from use in hunting in New Jersey unless satisfactorily reduced to two shots.
Massachusetts.—The state of Massachusetts is fortunate in the possession of a very fine corps of ornithologists, nature lovers, sportsmen and leading citizens who on all questions affecting wild life occupy high ground and are not afraid to maintain it. It would be a pleasure to write an entire chapter on this subject. The record of the Massachusetts Army of the Defense is both an example and an inspiraion to the people of other states. Not only is the cause of protection championed by the State Game Commission but it also receives constant and powerful support from the State Board of Agriculture, which maintains on its staff Mr.E.H.ForbushasStateOrnithologist. Thebird-protectionpublica- tions of the Board are of great economic value, and they are also an ever- lasting credit to the state. The very latest is a truly great wild-life- protection volume of 607 pages, by Mr. Forbush, entitled ''Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds." It is a publication most damaging to the cause of the Army of Destruction, and I heartily wish a million copies might be printed and placed in the hands of lawmakers and protectors.
The fight last winter and spring for a no-sale-of-game law was the Gettysburg for Massachusetts. The voice of the People was heard in no uncertain tones, and the Destroyers were routed all along the line. The leaders in that struggle on the protection side were E. H. Forbush, William P. Wharton, Dr. George W. Field, Edward N. Coding, Lyman E. Hurd, Ralph Holman, Rev. Wm. R. Lord and vSalemi D. Charles. With such leaders and such supporters, any wild-life cause can be won, an^^where
Pennsylvania.—The case of Pennsylvania is rather peculiar. As yet there is no large and resistless organized body of real sportsmen to rally to the support of the State Game Commission in great causes, as isthecaseinNewYork. Asaresult,withapaltryfundofonly$20,000 for annual maintenance, and much opposition from hunters and farmers, the situation is far from satisfactory. Fortuntely Dr. Joseph Kalbfus, Secretary of the Commission and chief executive officer, is a man of indomitablecourageanddetermination. Butforthisstateofmindhe would ere this have given up the fight for the hunter's license law (of one dollar per year), which has been bitterly opposed by a very aggres- sive and noisy group of gimners who do not seem to know that they are grievously misled..