Page 410 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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388 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
the expenditure of all money placed in your hands, and you will receive continuous support.
In times of great stress, print circulars and leaflets by the ten-thou- sand, and get them into the hands of the People, calling for their help. Our 42,000 copies of the "Wild Life Call" (sixteen pages) were dis- tributed by organizations all over the state of New York, and along with Mr. Andrew D. Meloy's letters to the members of the New York State League, aroused such a tidal wave of public sentiment against the sale of game that the Bayne bill was finally swept through the Legislature withonlyonedissentingvote! Andyet,inthebeginningnotoneman dared to hope that that very revolutionary measure could by any possibility be passed in its first year in New York State, even if it ever could be
It was the aroused Public that did it
This volume has been written (under great pressure) in order to put the whole situation before the people of America, including the zool- ogists, and to give them some definite information, state by state, regardingtheneedsofthehour. Lookattheneedsofyourownstate,in the "Roll Call of States," and you will find work for your hand to do. Clear your conscience by taking hold now, to do everything that you cantostopthecarnageandpreservetheremnant. Twenty-fiveorfifty years hence, if we have a birdless and gameless continent, let it not be said that the zoologists of America helped to bring it about by wicked apathy.
At this juncture, a brief survey of the attitude toward wild life of certain American institutions of national reputation will be decidedly pertinent. I shall mention only a few of the many that through their characterandpositionowespecificdutiestothiscause. Noblesseoblige!
The Biological Survey of the U. S. Deoartment of Agriculture is a splendid center of activity and initiative in the preservation of our wild life. The work of Dr. T. S. Palmer has already been spoken of, and thanks to his efforts and direction, the Survey has become the recognized special champion of preservation in America.
The U. S. Forestry Bureau is developing into a very valuable ally, and we confidently look forward to the time when its influence in pre- servation will be a hundred times more potent than it is to-day. That will be when every national forest is made a game preserve, and every forest rangerismadeagamewarden. Letushaveboththosedevelopments, and quickly.
In 1896 the American Museum of Natural History became a cen- ter of activity in bird protection, and the headquarters of the New York State Audubon Society. The president of the Museum (Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn) is also the president of that organization.
In several of the New York State movements for bird conservation, especially those bearing on the plumage law, the American Museum has been active, and at times conspicuous. No one (so I believe) ever appealed to the President of the Museum for help on the firing line without receiving help of some kind. Unfortunately, however, the pre-