Page 278 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

256 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
sportsmen was founded in 1885, and is the oldest of its kind in the United States. Its members always have supported the cause of pro- tection, by law and by the making of game preserves. In all this work Mr. George Bird Grinnell, for twenty-five years editor of Forest and Stream, has been an important factor. As stated elsewhere, the club's written and unwritten code of ethics in big-game hunting is very strict. In course of time a Committee on Game Protection was formed, and it actively entered that field.
The National Association of Audubon Societies.—This organi- zation was founded by William Dutcher, in 1902, and in 1906 it was endowed to the extent of $322,000 by the bequest of Albert Wilcox. Subsequent endowments, together with the annual contributions of members and friends, now give the Association an annual income of §60,000. Itmaintainseightwidely-separatedfieldagentsandlecturers and forty special game wardens of bird refuges. It maintains Secretary T. Gilbert Pearson and a number of other good men constantly on the firing-line; and these forces have achieved many valuable results. After \'ears of stress and struggle, it now seems almost certain that this organi- zation will save the two white egrets,—producers of "the white badge of
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This splendid organization is one of the monuments to William Dutcher. Morethantwoyearsagohewasstrickenwithparalysis,and nowsitsinaninvalid'schairathishomeinPlainfield,NewJersey. His mind is clear and his interest in wild-life protection is keen, but he is unabletospeakortowrite. Whilehewasactive,hewasoneofthemost resourceful and fearless champions of the cause of the vanishing birds. To him the farmers of America owe ten times more than they ever will know, and a thousand times more than they ever will repay, either to him or to his cause.
The Camp-Fire Club of America.—Although founded in 1897, this organization did not, as an organization, actively enter the field of protectionuntil1909. Sincethattimeitsworkhascoveredawidefield, andenlistedtheactivitiesofmanyofitsmembers. Inordertoprovide a permanent fund for its work, each year the club members pay special annualduesthataredevotedsolelytothewild-lifecause. TheCommittee on Game Protective Legislation and Preserves is a strong, hard-working body, and it has rendered good service in the lines of activity named in its title.
The American Game Protective and Propagation Association. —This is the youngest protective organization of national scope, having beenorganizedin1911. ItsactivitiesaredirectedbyJohnB.Burnham, for five years Chief Game Protector of the State of New York, and a man thoroughly conversant with the business of protection. The organization is financed chiefly by means of a large annual fund contrib- uted by several of the largest companies engaged in manufacturing firearms and ammunition, whose directors feel that the time has come
to the bird fauna of the United States, as in a similar manner it has saved the gulls, terns and other sea birds of our lakes and coast line.
cruelty,"