Five years ago Alabama set her house in order.  The slaughter of song and insectivorous birds has been so far stopped as any Southern state can stop it unaided by the federal government, and those birds are recognized and treated as the farmers’ best friends.  The absurd system of attempted protection through county laws has been abandoned.  The sale of game has been stopped, and since that stoppage, quail have increased.  The trapping and export of game have ceased, and wild turkeys and woodcock are now increasing.  It is unlawful to kill or capture non-game birds.  Bag limits have been imposed, but the bag limit laws are all too liberal, and should be reduced.  A hunter’s license law is in force, and the department of game and fish is self-supporting.  Night hunting is prohibited, and female deer may not be killed.  A comprehensive warden system has been provided.  As yet, however, Alabama

  Permits the shooting of waterfowl to March 15, which is too late, by
  one and one-half months.

  The use of automatic and pump guns in hunting should be suppressed.

  There should be a limit of two deer per year, and killing should be
  restricted to deer with horns not less than three inches long.

The story of game protection in Alabama began in 1907.  Prior to that time, the slaughter of wild life was very great.  It is known that enormous numbers of quail were annually killed by negro farm hands, who hunted at least three days each week, regardless of work to be done.  The slaughter of quail, wild ducks, woodcock, doves, robins and snipe was described as “nauseating.”

The change that has been wrought since 1907 is chiefly due to the efforts of one man.  Alabama owes her standing to-day to the admirable qualities of John H. Wallace, Jr., her Game and Fish Commissioner, author of the State’s policy in wild-life conservation.  His broad-mindedness, his judgment and his success make him a living object lesson of the power of one determined man in the conservation of wild life.

Commissioner Wallace is an ardent supporter of the Weeks and Anthony bills for federal protection, and as a lawyer of the South, he believes there is “no constitutional inhibition against federal legislation for the protection of birds of passage.”

ALASKA: 

  The sale of game must be absolutely prohibited, forever.

  The slaughter of big game by Indians, miners and prospectors should
  now be limited, and strictly regulated by law, on rational lines.

  The slaughter of walrus for ivory and hides, both in the Alaskan and
  Russian waters of Bering Sea, should be totally prohibited for ten
  years.

  The game-warden service should be quadrupled in number of wardens,
  and in general effectiveness.

  The game-warden service should be supplied with two sea-going
  vessels, independent for patrol work.