SHOTGUN. AUTOMATIC 16 AUTOMATIC The Cuarrman. Now, I assume, Mr. Bovee, that you are speaking in the interest of the industries which you represent Mr. Bover. Yes, sir. also are all The Cuamman. And are you in favor of what we all regard as a very laudable object, that of the preservation of game ? so, Undoubtedly Bover. Mr. sir. And interested in the protection of the game. industries these If the game is to be killed off of the face of this continent, the business of the manufacturers of the Winchester rifle and the Winchester shotgun and all the other arms that they manufacture—and it is the same with the Remington They Arms Company—is going to be swept away in that respect. believe in legitimate limitation as to the number of quail and partridge and deer which may be killed, and that within the season. They are in favor of all such limitations. Mr. Kiereer. Do we understand by your statements that Mr. Shields has submitted to this committee what the President said in quotation marks? I have Mr. Bover. I understand only what the record shows. read the letter from the President to Mr. Shields protesting against the publication of the article which has been submitted to the committee. Mr. Kiepver. It is not claimed, as I read it, that it is in quotation marks—what the President said. Mr. Rei. It does not purport to be quoted at all. It says at Mr. Kuxrrrr. No; it does not purport to be quoted. | : the end of the interview: In his latest book, of Pastimes an. American Hunter, the President says written by the and then proceeds to give a quotation from a book That is in quotation marks, of course. President. Mr. Bover. I will show ‘you the publication that the President referred to. Here is a publication in the New York Sun of Friday, The letter of the President was written after February 10, 1906. that publication. Mr. Kuxprer. matter. I did not want the committee to be misled in this Mr. Bover. I do not wish them to be misled, and I thank you for louse on When he saw January 17, what SHOTGUN. and the conversation views the President quote him. The President’s “By all means. You may turned held, 17 upon Mr. the Shields automatic asked shotgun. permission to reply, as given by the magazine, was as follows: say I regard that weapon as a serious menace to the bird life of this country, and that I am heartily in favor of the laws to prohibit its use in the hunting of birds and wild animals. enactment of Shields, you and I have lived through the time when the buffalo and the antelope were everywhere on the plains; when great herds of elk could be found in almost any range of mountains west of the Mississippi; when mountain sheep traveled in great bands, even down in the Bad Lands of the upper Missouri River. In those days we did not think it would ever be necessary to restrict the killing of game. We did not realize then that wild animals could be photographed alive in their native haunts. ; . “We have lived to see all these conditions changed. The head hunters, the skin hunters, and the thoughtless sportsmen have swept these herds of noble wild animals off the earth or have decreased their numbers to such an extent that all we ean do now is to preserve and perpetuate the remnant. “We have seen the prairie tain States where woodcock and the chicken noble species remain. “Mr. Shields, with you the wild Hereafter thoughtful energies to the preservation of what mitted at all it should be with a view to the making of big bags. ing and turkey exterminated they were once abundant. We have seen ruffed grouse decimated until but pitiable sportsmen the quail remnants should bend their utmost is left, and where shooting can be perto the preservation of species rather than I want you and all the sportsmen of this country who understand have to that you in cerand the of these and they my hearty are work- sympathy in your efforts to save our wild animals from extermination, and that I will do all in my power to aid in your work.” In his latest book, Pastimes of an American Hunter, the President says: “True sportsmen, worthy of the name, men who shoot only in season and in moderation, destroyers of the do no harm whatever to game. is, of course, the kind of game record of rot after he has is any man who slaughter, who leaves The most objectionable butcher who simply ducks and deer and of all game kills for the sake prairie slain them. Such a man is wholly obnoxious; shoots for the purpose of establishing a record chickens to and, indeed, so of the quantity of game killed. To my mind this is one unfortunate feature of what is otherwise the admirably sportsmanlike English spirit in these matters. The custom of shooting great bags of deer, grouse, quail, and pheasants, the keen rivalry in making such bags and their publication in sportsmen’s journals are symptoms of a spirit which is most unhealthy from every standpoint. It is to be earnestly hoped that every American hunting or fishing club will strive to inculcate among its own members and in the minds of the general public that -anything like an excessive bag, reprobated.” any Mr. Powrrs. destruction for the sake of making a record, | is to be severely : Did I not understand Mr. Shields correctly to say that calling it to my attention. Mr. McKiyney. Is it not your understanding that he quoted the while he did not in his magazine put what the President said in quotation marks, as the language of the President, he sent the interview Mr. Lioyp. The President says that in the letter which he read. nd, Mr. Bover. He does not say that he is favorable, as I understa . character this of on to this bill or to any propositi ion Mr. McKinney. He says that he is favorable to the preservat of game. referMr. Bover. Here is the publication that the President had The 1906. 10, February of Sun York New the in reported to, ence follows: as is and 1906, 19, February dated is letter of the President as prepared by him out to newspapers, and the newspapers changed it and published it in that way, putting that language in quotation marks ? Mr. Bovesr. I understand that to be the fact; but it is a significant fact that in two newspapers in New York City the quotations from the President are in the same form—in the New York Sun and the New York World. The Cuarrman. After all, while we all of us have a very high regard for the President, and for his opinions on all questions, is this question of the construction of what he said and wrote to Mr. Shields at all vital in this controversy? Mr. Bovzr. I do not think so; I think it ought to have been left out entirely. The Cuarrman. And ought we not to get down now to the question of the bill? President as being favorable to his view ? [From the Sun, Friday, February 16, 1906. ] sportsmen—Pleads President to matic shotgun elk and condemned buffalo—Killing preservation for as threatening for sake of of wild extermination record animal life—Auto- of birds—Cuase of the unsportsmanlike. protection will be touched President Roosevelt’s views on the subject of game G. O. Shields, who is president upon in the next issue of Shields’s Magazine. the President at the White of the League of American Sportsmen, called on A s—06——2