Page 298 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
Enact bag-limit laws, in very small figures.
Stop the sale of all native wild game, regardless of its use, by enacting a Bayne law. Enact a resident license law, and provide for a force of paid game wardens.
Stop the use of machine shot-guns in killing your birds.
ThestateofDelawareisnearlytwentyyearsbehindthetimes. Can it be possible that her Governor and her people are really satisfied with thatposition? Wethinknot. Idaresaytheyareafflictedwithapathy, andgame-hogs. ThelattercaneasilybackupGeneralApathytoan extentthatspells"nogamelaws." Inoneact,andatoneboldstroke, Delaware can step out of her position at the rear of the procession of states, and take a place in the front rank. Will she do it ? We Lope so, for her present status is unworthy of any right-minded, red-blooded state this side of the Philippines.
District of Columbia:
The sale of all native wild game, regardless of its source, should be stopped im- mediately, by the enactment of a complete Bayne law.
If game-shooting within the District is continued, on the marshes of the Eastern Branch and on the Potomac River, common decency demands the enactment of bag- limit laws and long close-season laws of the most modern pattern.
Just why it is that gross abuses against wild life have so long been tolerated in the territorial center of the American nation, remains to be ascertained. But, whatever the reason the situation is absurd and intolerable, and Congress should terminate it immediately. As late as
1897, and I think for two or three years thereafter, thousands of robins were sold every year in the public markets of Washington as food ! As a spectacle for gods and men, behold to-day the sale of quail, ruffed grouse, wild turkeys and other American game, half way between the Capitol and the White House! Look at Center Market as a national "fence" for the sale of gaine stolen by market gunners from Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Pennsylvania.
It is time for Congress to bring the District of Columbia sharply into line ; for Washington must be made to toe the mark beside New York. The reputation of the national capital demands it, whether the gods of the cafes will consent or not.
Florida:
Shooting shore birds and waterfowl in late winter and spring should be stopped. The sale of all native wild game should be prohibited.
A State Game Commissioner whose term of office should be not less than four years,
and a force of salaried game wardens, should be appointed.
A general resident license should be required for hunting.
The killing of does and fawns should be stopped, and no deer should be killed save
bucks with horns at least three inches long.
The bag limit of five deer per year should be two deer; of twenty quail, and two
turkeys per day should be ten quail and one turkey.
The open season on all game birds should end on February 1, for domestic reasons. Protection should be accorded doves, and robins should be removed from the game
list.