orking thirty years
ago. During the past thirty years the destruction of our game birds has
been enormous, and the insectivorous birds have greatly decreased.

The damages annually inflicted upon the farm, orchard and garden crops
of this country are very great. When a city is destroyed by earthquake
or fire, and $100,000,000 worth of property is swept away, we are racked
with horror and pity; and the cities of America pour out money like
water to relieve the resultant distress. We are shocked because we can
_see_ the flames, the smoke and the ruins.

And yet, we annually endure with perfect equanimity (_because we can not
see it_?) a loss of nearly $400,000,000 worth of value that is destroyed
by insects. The damage is inflicted silently, insidiously, without any
scare heads or wooden type in the newspapers, and so we pay the price
without protest. We know--when we stop to think of it--that not all this
loss falls upon the producer. We know that every consumer of bread,
cereals, vegetables and fruit _pays his share of this loss_! To-day,
millions of people are groaning under the "increased cost of living."
The bill for the federal protection of all migratory birds is directly
intended to decrease the cost of living, by preventing outrageous waste;
but of all the persons to whom the needs of that bill are presented, how
many will take the time to promote its quick passage by direct appeals
to their members of Congress? We shall see.

The good that would be accomplished, annually, by the enactment of a law
for the federal protection of all migratory birds is beyond computation;
but it is my belief that within a very few years the increase in bird
life would prevent what is now an annual loss of $250,000,000. It is
beyond the power of man to protect his crops and fruit and trees as the
bird millions would protect them--if they were here as they were in
1870. The migratory bird bill is of vast importance because it would
throw the strong arm of federal protection around 610 species of birds.
The power of Uncle Sam is respected and feared in many places where the
power of the state is ignored.

The list of migratory birds includes most of the perching birds; all the
shore birds (_great_ destroyers of bad insects); all the swifts and
swallows; the goat-suckers (whippoorwill and nighthawk); some of the
woodpeckers; most of the rails; pigeons and doves; many of the hawks;
some of the cranes and herons and all the geese, duc