We can readily understand the new hue and cry against conservation that the sheep men now are raising.  Of course they are against all new game and forest reserves,—­unless the woolly hordes are given the right to graze in them!

Many men of the Great West,—­the West beyond the Great Plains,—­are afflicted with a desire to do as they please with the natural resources of that region.  That is the great curse that to-day rests upon our game.  When the nearest game warden is 50 miles away, and big game is only 5 miles away, it is time for that game to take to the tall timber.

But in the West, and East and South, there are many men and women who believe in reasonable conservation, and deplore destruction.  We have not by any means reached the point where we can think of stopping in the making of game preserves, or forest preserves.  Of the former, we have scarcely begun to make.  The majority of the states of our Union know of state game preserves only by hearsay.  But the time is coming when the states will come forward, and perform the serious duty that they neglect to-day.

Let the statesmen of America be not afraid of making too many game preserves!  For the next year, one per day would be none too many!  Remember, that on one hand we have the Army of Destruction, and on the other the expectant millions of Posterity.  No executor or trustee ever erred in safeguarding an estate too carefully.  Fifty years hence, if your successors and mine find that too much land has been set aside for the good of the people, they can mighty easily restore any surplus to the public domain, and at a vastly increased valuation.  Give Posterity at least one chance to debate the question:  “Were our forefathers too liberal in the making of game and forest reserves?”

We can always carve up any useless surplus of the public domain, and restore it to commercial uses; but none of the men of to-day will live long enough to see so strange a proceeding carried into effect.

The game preserves of the United States government are so small (with the exception of the Yellowstone and Glacier Parks), that very few people ever hear of them, and fewer still know of them in detail.  It seems to be quite time that they should be set forth categorically; and it is most earnestly to be hoped that this list soon will be doubled.

THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.—­This was the first of the national parks and game preserves of the United States.  Some of our game preserves are not exactly national parks, but this is both, by Act of Congress.

It is 62 miles long from north to south, 54 miles wide and contains a total area of 3,348 square miles, or 2,142,720 acres.  Its western border lies in Idaho, and along its northern border a narrow strip lies in Montana.  It is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, and it is guarded by a detachment of cavalry from the United States Army.  The Superintendent is now a commissioned officer of the United States Army.  The business of protecting the game is performed partly by four scouts, who are civilians specially engaged for that purpose, but the number has always been totally inadequate to the work to be performed.