Show ABOUT THE BUFFALO buffano BU FrALO ON the loth of march ns as stated in our dispatches of that time a buffalo bill passed the united states house of representatives Representative si making it a crime to kill female buffaloes a 0 I 1 any time and male buffaloes except under certain restrictions there are no wild buiral buffaloes oes in utah still in consequence of early travelling velling tra memories and otherwise the buffalo subject is n not ot without interest to our eur readers the che bill was presented in the house by mr bir fort from the committee on Territories with a recommendation men dation that the same bame do pass the bill was to prevent the useless slaughter of buffaloes within the territories of the united states the first section provides that it shall he hereafter rea fter after be unlawful for any person who is not an indian to kill wounder woun dor in any manner destroy any female bu buffalo traio fralo of any age gge found at large within the boundaries of any an of the territories of the unit united e states the second section provides that it shall bo be in jike like manner unlawful for any such person to kill wound or destroy in said territories any greater number of malk male male maie buffaloes than needed for food b by such person or than ca can ean n be usel used cured or preserved for the food of other persons or for the market it shall be lu in like manner unlawful for any such person or persons to assist or be in any manner engaged or concerned in or about such tin xin lawful killin killing gj wounding or d destroying es of any such buiral buffaloes oes that any person who shall aall violate the provisions of the act shall on con vichien vict vic tion tien 11 forfeit and pay to the united states the SUM of loo for each mence fence of and each ench bit buffalo fraio fralo so unlawfully killed wounded or destroyed shall be and constitute a separate of fence and on a co conviction for a second offense offence may be committed to prison fora for a period not exceeding thirty days day and that all united states judges justices courts aad and legal tribunals in said territories ahall have jurisdiction in cases of the violation of the law the bill is defective in not including clouding the frontier states at least such as a nebraska and kansas and also in not providing for the application of the law in existing territories when they shall have become states as colorado for instance soon may similar penalties might also have been extended to the dost destruction st of female deer and of male deer except under specified restrictions as the indians indian s depend for subsistence and clochi clothing ng more orles ories or less upon deer as well as upon buffalo but it may have been that the committee and the house djs sub tub ed to leave the re regulation gu lation of the subject in states to the several states themselves if so it would be well in every state where the buffalo does roam in native wildness to supplement this congressional law by a state law similar in intent and meaning unless such a jaw law already exists tife the congressional lawwill jaw wili will practically apply only to montana dakota wyoming colorado new mexico exico Bl and possibly portions of arizona the states of minnesota nebraska kansas and texas and perhaps one or two others where the buffalo may wander will not be affected by it and therefore so far as they are concerned it will be entirely inoperative in the course of bf the discussion I 1 in n the house upon the bill it was nas bb ejected to because that it was supposed to be often difficult to distinguish the fhe sex of the animal when h hunting it that it excepted indians from the operation of the ohp bill that it was partial in its provisions that the secretary of the interior hadsall had sald said sald said that the indians could never be civilized until the buffaloes were extinguished that the buff buffaloes kloes only fed indians that the bill would be worthless in point of fact as a preventive measure that indian depredations editions were committed chiefly by buffalo hunting parties that it was not wise for congress to make mate game preserves for indians and that the bill encouraged cou raged informers and tho moiety bp business siness the foll following owing dwing statements were also made some of them in answer to these objections it was estimated that thousands of buffaloes verol verel annually slaughtered for their theli skins alone thousands more for their alo aio alone ne and thousands perhaps hundreds of thousands thousand in utter wantonness with no object whatever except to destroy them there was no difficulty in reference to the distinguishing of the sexes buffaloes were valuable for food and clo blo clothing thing both for white men and indians many blany frontier set ulers llera depended largely upon buffalo meat for food for their households buffalo meat was regularly served on the tables of stations on the kansas pacific railroad in kansas and colorado the meat was valuable and the wanton destruction of the animals ought to be stopped the indians did not wantonly slaughter buffaloes but white men did and no one act would better please the indians than the pre pie bention of such wanton slaughter such legislation ought long ago to have been effected hunting parties sometimes of foreigners would go on the plains shoot down buffa loe ioe boeg 3 for r sport port and leave them to rot and were protected and escorted by the military in so doing if it was right to starve the indians into civilization by destroying tile the buffalo it was right to effect that civilization also by destroying all game birds beasts and fishes siles fi and roots and grass too which supported the animals and tho indians the following extract was read from a santa fe paper the buffalo slaughter which has been going on ort tile the few years on tho plains and which in creases every year is wantonly wicked and should be stopped by the most stringent enactments and most vigilant enforcement of the law A 1 united sto states ites surveying parties report that there are two thousand hunters on the plains killing these animals for their hides one ohe party of sixteen hunters report having killed buffaloes during tho the past summer an extract from a letter from gen hazen was read as follows 1 I know a man who killed with his hia own hand band ninety nine nino buffaloes in one day without taking g a pound of the meat the buffalo for food has an intrinsic value about equal to an average texas beef or say twenty dollars there thero iro ire are probably no less than a million of these animals oil on the western prairies if the government owned a herd of a million oxen they would at least take steps to prevent this tills wanton slaughter tile the railroads have made the buffalo so accessible as to present a case not dissimilar an extract from a letter from A G brackett lieu lieutenant tenant col coi colonel 0 nel nei second united states cavalry was also read the following being the essential part of it the wholesale butchery or of buffaloes fa oes upon the plains is as needless as it is cruel hundreds and hundreds of them have been killed in the most wanton manner or for their tongues alone it is time that something should be done for their protection and I 1 trust you will make an effort to have congress interfere in their behalf it is an abuse of language to call the killing of harmless and defenseless defenceless de buffaloes sport so far as tile the people of this territory are concerned carefulness in these matters as regards both buffalo and deer was always the rule although of very late years owing to the influx of a different class or of people deer have been becu killed more than ought to have been the ease case yet we do not nol know that they have hav been killed wantonly or that their carcases when killed were not lot made available for food by the persons 1111 iiii killing ing them oz 01 for fur sale saie for nood rood to others |