believe that only one out of every 500 _conscientiously_
stops shooting when game becomes scarce, and extinction is impending.
All of the others feel that it is right and proper to kill all the game
that they can kill _up to the legal bag limit_. It is the reasoning of
Shylock:

"Justice demands it, and _the law_ doth give it!"

Especially is this true of the men who pay their _one dollar_ per year
for a resident hunting license, and feel that in doing so they have done
a great Big Thing!

This is a very deadly frame of mind. Ethically it is _entirely wrong_;
and at least two million men and boys who shoot American game must be
shown that it is wrong! This is the spirit of Extermination, clothed in
the robes of Law and Justice.

Whenever and wherever game birds are so scarce that a good shot who
hunts hard during a day in the fields finds only three or four birds, he
should _stop shooting at once, and devote his mind and energies to the
problem of bringing back the game!_ It is strange that conditions do not
make this duty clear to every conscientious citizen.

The Shylock spirit which prompts a man to kill all that "the law allows"
is a terrible scourge to the wild life of America, and to the world at
large. It is the spirit of extermination according to law. Even the
killing of game for the market is not so great a scourge as this; for
this spirit searches out the game in every nook and cranny of the world,
and spares not. In effect it says: "If the law is defective, it is right
for me to take every advantage of it! I do not need to have any
conscience in the matter outside _the letter of the law_."

The extent to which this amazing spirit prevails is positively awful.
You will find it among pseudo game-protectors to a paralyzing extent! It
is the great gunner's paradox, and it pervades this country from corner
to corner. No: there is no use in trying to "educate" the mass of the
hunters of America out of it, as a means of saving the game; for
positively it can not be done! Do not waste time in trying it. If you
rely upon it, you will be doing a great wrong to wild life, and
promoting extermination. The only remedy is _sweeping laws, for long
close seasons, for a great many species_. Forget the paltry
dollar-a-year license money. The license fees never represent more than
a tenth part of the value of the game that is killed under licenses.

The savage desire to kill "all that the law allows" often is manifeste