Such organizations as these do not exist in other cities; and this is very unfortunate.  New Orleans should be a center of protectionist activity for the South, San Francisco for the Pacific slope, and Chicago for the Middle West.  Will they not become so?

TWO INDEPENDENT WORKERS.—­At the western edge of the delta of the Mississippi there have arisen two men who loom up into prominence at an outpost of the Army of Defense which they themselves have established.  For what they already have done in the creation of wild-fowl preserves in Louisiana, Edward A. McIlhenny and Charles Willis Ward deserve the thanks of the American People-at-large.  An account of their splendid activities, and the practical results already secured, will be found in Chapter XXXVIII, on “Private Game Preserves,” and in the story of Marsh Island.  Already the home of these gentlemen, Avery Island, Louisiana, has become an important center of activity in wild-life protection.

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CHAPTER XXVII

HOW TO MAKE A NEW GAME LAW

THE LINE OF ACTION.—­In the face of a calamity, the saving of life and property and the check of fire and flood depends upon good judgment and quick action at the critical moment.  In emergencies, the slow and academic method will not serve.  It is the run, the jump, the short cut and the violent method that saves life.  If a woman is drowning, the sensible man does not wait for an introduction to her; nor does he run to an acquaintance to borrow his boat, or stop to put on a collar and necktie.  He seizes the first boat that he can find, and breaks its lock and chain if necessary; or, failing that, he plunges in without one.  When he reaches the imperiled party, he doesn’t say, “Will you kindly let me save you?” He seizes her by the hair, and tries to keep her head above water, without ceremony.

That is to-day the condition and the treatment necessary regarding our remnant of wild life.  We are compelled to act quickly, directly, and even violently at times, if we save anything worth while.

There is no time to depend upon the academic “education” of the public by the seductive illustrated lecture on birds, or the article about the habits of mammals.  Those methods are all well enough in their places, but we must not depend upon them in emergencies like the present, for they do not pass laws or arrest lawbreakers.  Give the public all of that material that you can supply, and the more the better, but for heaven’s sake do not depend upon the spread of bird-lore “education” to stop the work of the game-hogs!  If you do, all the wild life will be destroyed while the educational work is going on.

Often you can educate a gunner, and make him a protectionist; but you never can do it by showing him pictures of birds.  He needs strong reasoning and exhortation, not bird-lore.  To-day it is necessary to employ the most direct, forceful and at times even rude methods.  Where slaughtering cannot be stopped by moral suasion, it must be stopped with a hickory club.  The thing to do is to get results, and get them quickly, before it is too late!