Page 284 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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262 QUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
be floor manager for your side, a clear and concise list of your speakers, carefullyarrangedandstatingwho'swho. Thatbeingdone,youhave only to fill your own ten minutes and afterward enjoy the occasion.
The Value of Accuracy.—It is unnecessary to say, in working for a bill, always be sure of your facts. Never let your opponents catch you trippinginaccuracyofstatement. Ifyoumakeoneseriouserror,your enemies will turn it against you to the utmost. Better understate facts than overstate them. This shrewd old world quickly recognizes the •careful, conservative man whose testimony is so true and so rock-founded that no assaults can shake it. Legislators are quick to rely on the words and opinions of the man who can safely be trusted. If your enemies try to overwhelm you with extravagant statements, that are unfair to your cause, the chances are that the men who judge between you will recognize them by their ear-marks, and discount them accordingly.
Work with Members.—Sometimes a subject that is put before a legislative body is so new, and the thing proposed is so drastic, it becomes necessary to take measures to place a great many facts before each mem- ber of the body. Under such circumstances the member naturally desires to be "shown." The cleanest and finest campaigning for a reform measure is that in which both sides deal with facts, rather than with personalimportunities. Withagoodcauseinhand,itisapleasureto prepare concise statements of facts and conditions from which a legis- latormaydrawlogicalconclusions. Wheneverabillcanbewonthrough in that way, game protection work becomes a delight.
In all important new measures affecting the rights and the property of the whole people of a state, the conscientious legislator wishes to know how the people feel about it. When you tell him that "The wild life belongs to the whole people of the state; and this bill is in their interest," he needs to know for certain that your proposition is true. Sometimes there is only one way in which he can be fully convinced; and that is by the people of his district.
Then it becomes necessary to send out a general alarm, and call upon the People to write to their representatives and express their views. Give them, in printed matter, the latest facts in the case, forecast the future as you think it should be forecast, then demand that the men and women who are interested do write to their senators and assemblyman, and express their views, in their own way! Let there be no "machine letters" sent out, all ready for signature; for such letters are a waste of effort, and belong in the waste baskets to which they are quickly con- signed. Themembersoflegislativebodieshatethem,andrightly,too. They want to hear from men who can think for themselves, give reasons of their own, and express their desires in their own way.
The Press and the Newspapers.—It is impossible to overestimate the influence of the newspapers and the periodical press in general, in the protection of wild life. But for their sympathy, their support and their independent assaults upon the Army of Destruction, our game specieswouldnearlyallofthemhavebeenannihilated,longago. Editors