thing for good sportsmanship in this country. Measures pertaining to
game and forest protection, and matters of sport generally, always have
had, and always will have, his cordial approval and co-operation. He is
heartily in favor of the forest reserves, and of the project for
establishing, within these reserves, game refuges, where no hunting
whatever shall be permitted. Aside from his love for nature, and his
wish to have certain limited areas remain in their natural condition,
absolutely untouched by the ax of the lumberman, and unimproved by the
work of the forester, is that broader sentiment in behalf of humanity in
the United States, which has led him to declare that such refuges should
be established for the benefit of the man of moderate means and the poor
man, whose opportunities to hunt and to see game are few and far
between. In a public speech he has said, in substance, that the rich and
the well-to-do could take care of themselves, buying land, fencing it,
and establishing parks and preserves of their own, where they might look
upon and take pleasure in their own game, but that such a course was not
within the power of the poor man, and that therefore the Government
might fitly intervene and establish refuges, such as indicated, for the
benefit and the pleasure of the whole people.

In April, 1903, the President made a trip to the Yellowstone Park, and
there had an opportunity to see wild game in such a forest refuge,
living free and without fear of molestation. Long before this
Mr. Roosevelt had expressed his approval of the plan, but his own eyes
had never before seen precisely the results accomplished by such a
refuge. In 1903 he was able to contrast conditions in the Yellowstone
Park with those of former years when he had passed through it and had
hunted on its borders, and what he saw then more than ever confirmed his
previous conclusions.