Rights of Public Constantly Flouted

Forest and Bird, Issue 39, 1 February 1936, Page 15

Rights of Public Constantly Flouted

One wonders what the shade of Abraham Lincoln, hovering over the United States of America, to-day, would think of his famous plea:— I “That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

When Jay N. Darling (a famous caricaturist) took office as Chief of the United States Bureau of Biological Survey, he had high hopes of an administration which could prevail for the general public against the callous selfishness of sectional interests. He fought hard; he fought well—but he was beaten. He was the “irresistible force against the immovable object”—and the stodgy object won. Here are words of “Ding” Darling on his resignation:—

“I have come to realize that most of our wildlife conservation troubles are due to lack of organization among those who are interested but ineffective in the conservation of wildlife. There is no mass strength to enforce adequate legislation and executive attention to wildlife interests. Every other element of American life has a national organization to get effective results. Wildlife interests remind me of an unorganized army, beaten in every battle, zealous and brave but unable to combat the trained legions who are organized to get what they want.”

“There is great truth in this statement,” comments “Nature Alagazine.” “The money interest involved on the side of those who want wildlife so that they may kill it has resulted in the organization of this minority To get what they want.’ They have built up a fiction that they own the wildlife and they defend that fancy with ample funds and power.

“If the makers of cameras, the owners of railroads and the manufacturers of automobiles that carry people to recreation areas deriving much of their allure from the existence of wildlife, or the producers of innumerable items of use to those who seek the outdoors would realize the value at stake things might be different. They might see the wisdom of protecting wildlife and providing the means to combat the money power of the arms and ammunition makers who seek to keep the killing going. There arc more people fundamentally interested in perpetuation and increase of our renewable natural resources in wildlife than there are those seeking to destroy these resources. But Air. Darling is right; they are unorganized.”

In New Zealand the Forest and Bird Protection Society offers the national platform on which all public-spirited New Zealanders can stand for the permanent welfare of their country.