MIGRATORY BIRDS, JACK RAB
BITS, AND A LITTLE POLITICAL
MELANGE IN THE V, S. SENATE
The Vice President. The question
is on the motion of the Senator from.
SJouth Dakota, (Mr. Norbeck) to pro
ceed tp the consideration of Senate;
bill 2607. entitled “A bill for the pur
pose of more effectively meeting the'
obligations of the existing migratory- ,
bird treaty with Great Britain by the •
establishment of migratory-bird refu
gees,” and so forth.
Mr. President. The effect "f this
hill is so far-reaching upon the i
sportsmen of this country, that I think j
amendments are. needed to it of such j
a nature that the hill should not he
taken up for .consideration at this
time. I think the bill should he laid
aside and some, amendments to. it con
sidered and., agreed upon bef ore, it is I
brought up in the Senate for discus-;
sion. I am particularly concerned
about Section 9 of the bill, because it' j
the bill should pass, as Section 9 now ;
stands, everybody who wants to do
any hunting in the United. States will
have to take out a Federal license, un- j
leas he wants to-hunt.only on land,
which he owns or shall have*, leased...
That means that as soon as any man j
in the country goes, out t<> hunt and
obtains a Federal-license we must
have Federal-inspectors, in those com
munities to-see that-he does not vio
late that lioense. Under, this bill we
are going to set un p system of game
wardens all- over the United States.
Mr. Norbeck. Mr. President, will
the Senator from Washington yield
for a question ?
Mr. Dill. I -yield -
Mr.) Norbeck Is. not tha* exactly
what we-have under the present mi
gratory bird treaty. not T
Mr. Dili; vVig have jin. such' law as
thfe one now -proposed'..
Mr. i Norbeck. Wherein iscthe dif
Mr. Dill. The difference is that this
hill provides- that everybody who goes
hunting must 6btain a fedst&l license.
If lie shall get Federal - license, the
money goes in the Treasury, and 40
per cent of-jt may' be spent in the
employment of {Federal game war1
dens. The number of game wardens
in this country would thereby be muU
fciplied tremendously.
Mr. Norbdck. I want to say for the
information of the Senator"thatj. ac
cording to‘ the best' estimate I can
make, the bill will possibly call for the
appointment of one or two wardens
for each State. My State, for in
stance, at the present time, has 15 or
16 State wardens.
Mr. Dill. Why not limit in this bill
the amount that may be expended for
game wardens?
Mr. Norbeck. The opposition cru
this bill comes from two sources. Pri
marily this is a bill to establish, bird
refuges. The establishment of shoot
ing grounds is' one feature of the bill,
but primarily it is to protect game
fro mextinction. The opposition is
from those who warn uo> hunting
whatever, on the1 one band, and, on
rhe other hand, it. comes from those
who want a free license to hunt and
dd not want any, interference by the
Federal Government.
Mr. Dill- The Senator can make
that characterization of those of us
who ar<f apposed to this hill if he
wants tfot.
i McGrath
Fresh Fruits
Candies
Tobaccos;
Pipes
Cigarettes
Soft Drinks
Cigarette Holders
Proprietor
Geo. Jlutchfer i
!
Mr. Norbeck. The Senator on yes-1
tewjtay stated his opposition to the
bilii
Mr. LitH, What I said was that I
was opposed, to,creating bird sanctu-,
aries and having a portion of them
used as public shooting; grounds, and
this morning I am talking about the
proposal to make every rnan in the
United States who wants to go out j
and hunt, unless he hunts on his own
ground, buy a Federal license, the pro- j
ceeds of such licenses to the amount'
of 40 per cent to be used to pay game |
wardens who will lie Federal ap- i
po in tee sv
Mr. Norbeck. Let me correct the
Senator’s statement. Not every man J
who wants to hunt hut every man
who wants to hunt migratory birds
must take outt a. Federal license to
do so.
Mr. Dill. Oh, well, migratory birds.
Mr. Norbeck. It does not apply to
any o thergame.
Mr. Dill. If he does not hunt any
thing but jack rabbits it is all right;
but a man who goes out hunting
wants to be able to shoot whatever
game is available to be shot at. I see
no necessity, because we want to en
act a law to establish sanctuaries for
birds, to establish bird reserves, that
we should enlarge the bill so as to
provide a great Federal system of
game wardens in this country. I
think most of the States have bird re-!
serves or sanctuaries for game, f |
approve of them most heartily; £■
think they are very desirable; but wo
do not allow anyone to hunt on them;
at least that is not allowed in my.
Stale, and- I do not think it is allowed
in most States.
Mr. Norbeck. They wilt not be- per
mitted to be hunted on Under this bill.
Mr. Dill. This bill specifically pro
vides for granting of licenses to hunt
on certain lands to be purchased by
the commission.
Mr. rsornecK. les; on iTuam
of them; in other words, the proposed
law does establish grounds on which I
there may be no hunting, whereas at!
the present time there are no such
grounds. Therefore it is a conserva
tive measure.
Mr. Reed of Missouri; MrM. Presi
dent—
The Vice President. Does the Sen
ator from Washington yield to the
Senator from Missouri?
Mr. Dill. I yield.
Mr. Reed of Missouri. I wanted to j
inquire, since the jack rabbit has been ;
spoken of in a disrespectful manner:
here this morning—
Mr. Dill. Not disrespectfully.
Mr. Reed of Missouri. Why the;
jack rabbit’s rights, privileges and ini-'
munities should not be guarded and.
why his offspring should not be con
served quite as much as those of a
jacksnipe? What is the difference in j
principle ?
Mr. Dill. I simply stated in answer |
to the Senator from South Dakota
that a man might be able to shoot a
jack rabbit without a Federal license,
but that was about the only game an
imal he might shoot.
Mr. Reed of Missouri. What I want
to know of the Senator from South
[ Dakota is, if if birds are to be pro
| tected why we should refuse to in
clude jack rabbits ? Why should we
J not look after the jack rabbit? He
' certainly is as innocent and inoffen
sive as is any of the birds. Why
should we confine our affection and'
our protection to birds? There is not
anything I know of that is more' en
thralling than to watch an able-bodied
jack rabbit undertake to. beat a- gray
hound across an 80-acre: piece of
ground. That is the most sportsman
like element of the whole hunting
business..
Mr. Diir. Of course we do not have
sanctuaries for jack rabbits.
Mr. Reed of Missouri.. Why not?
Why can not these sanctuaries be
made places of refuge'for jack rab
bits? Why should the j^ck rabhit be
excluded?
Mr. Dill. I have no desire to dis
criminate against the jack rabbit, but
this bill does not include, jack rabbits.
Mr. Reed of Missouri. I know the
Senator has no such desire, but I
think the Senator from South Dakota
omits entirely from the realm of his
affectionate regard this moat innocent
of all animals, the jack rabbit.
More than that, during- the long
hard winters that, occur-ity the North
when the farmers are oppressed by
hard times the jack rabbit is of a
great deal more account so far as
meat is concerned than is the jack
snipe. I am just inquiring from the
Senator from South Dakota why he
iia» overlooked the jack rabbit?
Mr. Norbeck. MrM. President, if
;he Senator from Missouri desires to
iffor an amendment to include the
iack rabbit, I am sure the Senate will'
>e glad to consider it.
Mr. Dill. I think it would be about
is reasonable to have a sanctuary foe
jack rabbits for a certain period of j
die year, and then cut off a certain I
trea and say that a man can get a J
icen.se a n>l go in and shoot them on
me side of the line thus established,1
is it is to have a hii d sanctuary and (
.0 say, “On this side you can shoot
t»irds and on tiie other side you can
sot.”
The reason that T think this bill
iught not to be considered in its pres
ent form without being entirely ■
changed, is that tin re has been a
propaganda abroad in this country for.
migratory bird sane! iries. We have
all received letters and telegrams and
have been called out and interviewed,
and have been asked in the name of
the sportsmen of the country to help
enact legislation that will give us bird
sanctuaries. I do not know hut what
1 myself have written letters—I think
1 have—saying I was not opposed to
such legislation, but was in favor of
it. However, when 1 come to look at
this bill I find that instead of being a
bird sanctuary bill merely it is a fall
to set up a lot of game wardens in
this country and make every man who
wants to do any hunting obtain a
Federal license, 40 per cent of the
proceeds of such license to be used in
the administration of.the law.
Mr. Norbeck. Mr. [’resident, I want
again to correct the Senator. A very
small part of the hunting of this
country is for migratory birds. The
bill does not include partridges or
quail or prairie chicken or pheasants
and other game of that nature which
is covered by the State laws. Undei
this bill possibly one or two Federal
wardens might be appointed in the
States. I aip sorry that it will not be
possiole to provide tor more, so mat
the law may be adequately enforced
Mr. Dill. I think the Senator would
like to have all frame regulated from
Washington, D. C. The Senator said
a while ago that, those of us who are
opposing this bill were in favor of
free shooting without any restrictions.
Mr. Norbeck. No; the Senator as
serted that he wanted sanctuaries but
objected to the shooting.
Mx. Dill. I said shooting in bird
sanctuaries.
Mr. Norbeck. The bill does not pro
vide for shooting in sanctuaries. I
wish to correct the Senator in that
respect. The shooting is to be on the
shooting grounds.
Mr. Dill. Yes; the Government buys
a certain orea a certain area of
ground, and it says that ground is a
bird sanctuary, but a certain part of
it is a shooting ground.
Mr. Norbeck.) The Government
might buy two areas of ground and
have one used as a sanctuary and the
other as a shooting ground.
Mr. Dill. Why buy the shooting
ground ?
Mr. Norbeck. Wh> not?
Mr. Dill. Why should the Govern
ment provide a Federal shooting
ground for people who live in a par
ticular community?
Me. Tyson. Mr. President, I should
like to ask the Senator why should
the Government enact; game laws at
all? Why should it take any interest
in game?
Mr. Dill. Because it is desired to
preserve the game and make it possi
ble to have shooting.
Mr. Tyson. Exactly; hut is it de
sired that only men who have fortunes
and can hire places where they may
shoot, or is it desired that the general
public may have the right to shoot ?
Mr. Dill. Of course, if the Govern
ment is going into the business of
supplying shooting grounds in every
community that is one thing, but if it
is going into the business of supply
ing bird sanctuaries in certain sec
tions of the country and then estab
lishing shooting grounds alongside of
them, which will only serve a few
pie who live there, it is quite a differ
ent thing.
The proposal to establish bird sanc
tuaries, the proposal to establish bird
reserves in this country is not new.
Practically every State has them;
practically every State has places
where game is protected. I know
that in my State there is not an hour
of the day or night in winter or sum
mer when anybody can shoot game on
those reserves. In case he does, he
is prosecuted.
Mr. Kendrick. Mr. President, will
the Senator yield?
Mr. Dill. I do.
Mr. Kendrick. Even though State
laws are sufficiently rigid, and even
though they are fully enforced, do< .
the Senator believe that the individual
States would find it possible to pro
tect migratory birds?
Mr. Dill. I think they protect them
reasonably well. All of our States
have game laws protecting migratory
birds as well as other kinds.
Mr. Kendrick. These laws merely
protect them during the time tin y are
within the borders of the State.
Mr. Dill. Yes.
Mr. Kendrick. But what about the
birds that cross all State lines?
Mr. Dill. The States do not provide
any shooting grounds for the birds to
alight in and he shot at by hunters
who pay for licenses.
Mr. Kendrick. But that is quite
aside from the question.
Mr. Dill. That is a part of this bill.
(Continued in Next Issue.)
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