MIGRATORY BIRDS, JACK RAB
BITS, AND A LITTLE. POLITICAL
MELANGE IN THE U. S. SEN ATE
(Continued from I. m*-Issue. >
Mr: Shipsfead. Mjf.v President, I
think the Senafor from Arkansas has
stated that very well I um in favor
of establishing' these shooting
grounis. It possibly should be done
by the States; but here is the situa
tion so far as shooting ducks, is con-'
cerned now;.
It so happens thntonly at certain
places on a lake is the shooting good,
on what we call the. duck passes.
There are certain places where the
ducks come into a lake or go out; and
the practical situation is that almost
all of those, places ar.e now owned by
private parties . who have enough
money to buy them, and, owning
these places, they have the right to
keep everybody else away. As a re
sult there are very few places where
the average man or boy can go and
have any place, to shoot at all. He. is
out of it ...
t mysell used to belong to tour or
five different shooting clubs, not be
cause I had a great deal of money—
be.cause I did not—but it was a mat
ter of convenience. We had a club
house, we had a place to sleep, we had
a place to cook our dinner; but it be
came repugnant to me to stand there
and enjoy the sport of shooting ducks
and then Have some boy or some
other man come along and have some
one in the crowd chase him off. It.
became so repugnant to me that I re
signed from all of those clubs to
which I used to-belong. I think it is.
absolutely un-American, in spirit that
a few men.-simply because they have
the money. . to. buy these shooting
places, shall have the right to them
and keep everybody else off. It is not
sportsmanship. A good sportsman is
a gentleman, and not a hog. I have
no. sympathy, with a game hog. A
game hog is a man who wants to hog
all the game. If he has money enough
to. buy the. shooting grounds arid hog
the shooting to the exclusion of
others, he. is a game hog and not a '
sportsman. The game does not be-'
long to him. As the law now stands
hei has the advantage, because he can
hog the shooting by buying the
grounds where the birds can be hunt
-*tL
Mr. Blease. Does the Senator think
that this, bill and the present law are
for that very, purpose—to bay a few
places for rich people to shoot and
keep the poor devil from havung any
place at all?
Mr. Shipstead. It is not necessary
ro buy places for the rich people, be
cause they already have bought the
duck passes.
Mr. Bloase. Down in my section of
the- country: that is getting to be a
very serious problem. Rich people are
buying up these large tracts of land,
sod they are having these game pre
serves, as they rail them—
Mr. Shipstead. I think it is a very
un-American idea.
Mr. Blease. And it is getting so!
that the ordinary poor man has not
iny place to fish or hunt. I think this
bill is simply for the purpose of
strengthening that.
Mr. Shipstead. If I thought this
1 McGrath
Fresh Fruits
Candies!
Tobaccos
Pipes
Cigarettes
Soft Drinks
Cigarette Holders
Geo: Mutchler
Proprietor
bill was tp. accomplish that 1 would
be .very much opposed to it.
Mr. Blease. That is the reason why
I asked the Senator the question, be
cause that is exactly/ the result of the
present law.
Mr Shipstead. At the present
tinieT
Mr. Blease. Yes.
Mr. Shipstead. Oh, yes; the pres
ent law gives a man the right to. do
thatand he can keep other people
away from shooting. I say I think
that is an un-American idea. 1 re
signed from several clubs myself be
cause that was the practice, and it
was very repugnant to me. Under this
bill, as I understand, if it is properly
administered the Federal Government
will buy certain places where the pub
lic can go and shoot under proper
regulations, so as to give the ordinary
man a chance to shoot. That is my
understanding.
Mr. Blease. How would the Senator
like to vote for a law to prohibit all
shooting for five years?
Mr. Shipstead. Personally, 1 should
he willing to quit shooting for five
years. Personally, I should he will
ing to do away entirely with the
shooting of migratory fowl for the
next five years in the interest of con
servation. Of course, a lot of people
do not agree with me, and 1 do not
think that the. people of the United
States would be in favor of tha kind
of a law now. So far as I am con
cerned, in order to save the wild life
of America and to atone in part for
what I have done in the past, I should
be willing to prohibit shooting, and I
myself would be willing, if it would
help the preservation of the wild life,
to quit shooting the rest of my life.
Mr. Blease. I do not think a man
should go that far, Mr. President; hut
I do think we should have some law
that would not only protect the birds
and game but would protect the poor
man from tha present impositions
that are being put on him by rich
people buying the large tracts of land.
Mr. Shipstead. As I understand
this bill it would do that. It would
provide some place where the average
man can go, under proper regulations,
and enjoy the sport, of at least being
outdoors with a gun, even if he does
not get any game.
mr. Lienrooi. 1 snouia lute to asK
the Senator a question. Is it not true
that even if the strictures that have
been made against, the shotgun manu
facturers be well founded as to their
interest in this hill. the only way in
which the bill could benefit them
would be through the greater oppor
tunity for people to hunt this game,
and, therefore, there would be a
greater demand for shotguns?
Mr. Shipstead. I think that is true.
Mr. Lenroot. It. is a perfectly le
gitimate interest on the part of the
manufacturers.
Mr. Shipstead. I thing so. I do
not think that is a legitimate objec
tion to the bill.
According to this bill, no ground
can be purchased for a sanctuary or a
shooting ground without first obtain
ing the. permission of the State. The
State has a right to say whether or
not it will permit the Federal Govern
ment to come in and establish a
refuge or a shooting ground. That,
seems to protect the right of the
State. The fact that a license fee is
lollected may he objectionable. It is
a fee of a dollar. It is collected only
from men or women over 1G years of
age. It permits the little boys to go
out with their shotguns and shoot all
they please, and a man can hunt on
his own land without having to pay a
license fee. The proceeds of the fees
are to be used to purchase these
grounds for refuges and for shooting
grounds and for the proper adminis
tration of the law. The money will be
collected only from those who do the
shooting, those who enjoy the life of
hunting; and it seems to me that no
one can complain about the fee of. a
dollar, provided this (aw- will accom
plish what I think, it wil accomplish
and what its sponsors think it will ac
complish. If it is improperly admin
istered, Congress can at any time re
peal the law;.
Mr. King. Does this provision for
licensing, which will bring every per
son who uses a shotguw within the
penalties of Federal criminal law un
less he has a Federal license for
shooting even in the open season for
game, and the provision giving the
Biological Survey—because that is the
organization which will administer the
law—the authority to promulgate a
thousand or ten thousand rules and
regulations, according to their desire,
i krut the, violation of either would cori
j stitute it crime subject to indictment
and trial in a. Federal court, not the
j State court, comport with the Sen
I ator’s idea pf the right of every citi
I z('n to be tried by a jury of the vic
inage of the alleged crime. Is not the
I Senator shocked and somewhat re
I sentful at the thought that a boy who
i wants to shoot has to get a Federal
license to shoot in a State, and if he
| violaea some little rule or regulations,
perhaps of which he has never heard,
because it has been promulgated here !
in Washington- and thousands are;
promulgated here by these bureau-'
crats—he is indicted by a grand jury
and is. haled to the Federal court hun-'
dreds of miles away, and then tried 1
by a jury of twelve men in a Federal
court? Does the Senator quite relish
the superimposition upon the individ
ual citizen of a little more autocracy,
and the subjection of the people to
penal provisions which may number
hundreds of thousands, for the viola
tion of which they are to he dragged
hundreds of miles away, in many of
the States to Federal courts, indicted
' by Federal grand juries, and tried by
Federal juries?
Mr. Shipstead. No; 1: would not
relish that at all.
Mr. King. That is the. obnoxious j
thing to me in this bill. I despise
bureaucracy. 1 hate this intereference
by petty Federal officials with the
rights of individuals, and it is ob
noxious to me to thik of citizens being
dragged hundreds of miles away from
home, to be indicted by a Federal
grand jury, arid tried by a Federal
jury, for the violation of some little,
petty rule or regulation promulgated
by some bureaucrat here in Washing
ton. It is as repugnant to me as it
was to Americans a hundred years
and more ago to be dragged across1
the ocean to be tried by English
juries, and against which odious prac
tices protest was made by the Declar
ation of Independence.
Mr. Norbeck. Mr. I’resident, wo
have had a great deal of experience
under the present migratory bird law.
When that was pending it was said
that boys would be indicted by grand
juries and hauled hundreds of miles
away from home, and so forth, under
that law. We have, had many years
of experience and the results are not
what was predicted. The results were
as much out of line with the predic
tion as they will be in this case.
Mr. King. May 1 say to the Sen
ator that if lam compelled to speak
on this bill I will call his attention,
from the vast amount, of data I have
here, to the boasting of Federal offi
cials as to the numberof prosecutions.;
May I say that if this bill becomes a
law there will be more, rules and reg
ulations and there, will be more ar
rests and convictions, assuming that!
these new regulations will be. violated, j
The provision for Federal licenses j
alone will bring several million citi- j
zens within the penal provisions of I
Federal law and' make a potential
criminal of every, man who uses a gun
without having, taken out a Federal
license.
Citizens may be forbidden to shoot
migratory birds out of season without
requiring them to take out a Federal
shooter’s license. If you take the
licensing feaiure out of this bill,, the
sponsors of.the measure will have no
Further interest in it. They will aban
don the bilL They have no interest in
the protection of game for the pur
pose of conservation.
Mr. Norbeck.. Under one of the
provisions of. this bill additional au
thority,, would be conferred' upon Unit
ed States commissioners.
Mr. King. I doubt the. constitution
ality:—
Mr. Norbeck. Something was' said
on xhe floor yesterday against the con
I stiurtionality of the whole proceeding,
! bu the Supreme court of the United
Mr. King. No; I beg the Senator’s
j States has passed on that question,
i pardon. The Supreme Court of the
• United States never has held, and in
i my judgment will not hold—and I
| wish it might—that you may estab
i lish inferior courts, and I presume the
attempt- is made to make these com
missioners inferior courts, for the
j purpose of trying cases for violation
of Federal statutes or Federal regu
lations.
May £ say to the Senator that I in
troduced a bill four years ago-—I
doubted its constitutionality, but I
wanted the Judiciary Committee, of
| which I was a member, to examine
it—for the purpose of relieving our
■ Federal courts of those little police
1 whisky cases. My bill provided that
the commissioner should hear th
pleas and try the eases. But the .Tv
diciary Committee promptly sair
“You can not do that. No one can b
ried in the United States for a viola
tion of a Federal law except hy a jur
of twelve men, after presentment b;
a grand jury.”
So that we find now, much as w
would like to have many of the pett;
police cases that are tried now in thi
Federal courts handled by magis
trates and by commissioners, we cat
not do it.
Mr. Shipstead. I am not in sym
pathy with the idea of making a police
court out of a Federal district court
That idea is very repugnant to me.
Mr. King. I knew it would be.
Mr. Shipstead. 1 do not like to see
people dragged away several hundree
miles from their homes for the pur
pose of trying them for a minor of
fcnse, and 1 would consider the shoot
ing of a duck 15 minutes after the
proper hour a minor offense. 1 thin 1
this law should be administered wit!
a good deal of discretion.
Mi-. King. Bureaucrats exercise the
discretion always against tile individ
ual and in favor of the Government.
Mr. Shipstead. When they do that
I do not think they do anything foi
the Government. They hurt the Gov
ernment every time they do hat. The>
damage the Government and thej
cause people to lose respect for thi
Government when they do that, in m\
opinion.
1 thought possibly that under thi
ll ill, with these commissioners, if a
man were caught violating the law
he would know, a , a rule, whether he
were guilty or not guilty, and he
could pay the fine. If that should be
held to be unconstitutional, I would
in-.'MtitiA* very mu«,n u» vou i<>! a mi:
under which anyone migh he dra •
several hundred miles into a Federal
court to answer for an offense of suck
a minor character as a minor viola
tion of a regulation under the admin
istration of the game laws.
1 am absolutely opposed to making
a police court out of a Federal, dis
trict court. I have no-sympathy at all
with the people who stay awake
nights thinking up schemes to put
somebody in jail. 1 am vt-ry much in
terested in the conservation of the
wild life of America. I would like to
see the boys and the girls of future
generations have a chance to enjoy
the wonderful thrills fed by people
who learn how to enjoy the outdoors.
1 can appreciate the i t ions that
are offered to this bill. Of course, it
is true that there is ahva\ something
to be said on both sidi f any ques
tion, and that alway leads to a dif
ference of opinion.
1 thought this explanation was due
the Senate. I felt that 1 would not In
doing my duty if I did n ay a few
words what this bill would do. As I
said in the beginning, a faulty admin
istration, an unreasonable enforce
ment of its provisions a d of the
game laws, would wreck i:. by making
it unpopular. I think it should be en
PROFESSION VL
Mrs. Jean McLean
Notary Public
Tokotna, Alaska
; Du Rand’s
■ Cafe and
; Hotel
Flat City
? forced with a groat deal of discretion,
- and public sentiment will be built up
, in support of the enforcement of the
■' Federal game laws. If we can do that,
-' we will preserve the wild life of
! America, as we have enjoyed it.
(Continued in Next Issue.)
. “That bird is the biggest egotist I
r ever met.”
. “Yes, he used to boast he under
. stood the Einstein theory, and now he
! claims he knows what the Chinese are
J fighting for.”
—
Hubby—-I miss the old cuspidor
j since it’s gone.
Wifey—You missed it btfore—
that’s why it’s gone.
—
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