THE NEW YORK TIMES, 
 
 
     BEARS IN    ALASKA 
 
  More than the proposed in- 
crease of protection for ithe big 
brown bears in Alaska will have 
to be provided if their extermin- 
tion in the near future is to be 
preventea.  The demand for a 
change of present regulations 
has resulted in investigation of 
conditions on the islands and 
mainland.   The Department of 
Agriculture a shore time ago is- 
sued an announcement of revis- 
ions in the protective laws Which 
wil become effective in July. 
Sportsmen and persons interest- 
ed in the conservation of wild 
life have made independent in- 
quiries for several years past 
and their conclusions are far 
from coinciding with those on 
which the Government bases its 
proposals. Senator Walcott, Mr. 
Stewart Edward White and mem- 
bers of the National Association 
of WildJ Lifeq Conservationists 
spent many months observing 
the conditions, and their assur- 
ance that the plight of the big 
bears calls for immediate action 
to save them from extermination 
deserves serious consideration. 
  The bears are not evenly dis- 
trihiited throug houit their total 
 
 
range, but are concentrated on 
four islands.   There they are 
easily accessible to salmon-fish- 
ing vessels and to residents of 
near-dy islands where foxes are 
raised for furs. Till 1930, resi- 
dents were forbidden to kill the 
bears during the Summer, but 
for the past two years any one, 
whether sportsmen, residents or 
fishers, could kill the bears at 
any season. During the Summer 
the hides are worthless, but the 
meat is used by the farmers to 
feed the foxes. The result of in- 
discriminate slaughter has been 
a noticeable decrease in num- 
bers in this short time..  It is 
proposed to give complete pro- 
tection to the bears on one is- 
land, which is not one of the four 
where more than half in     the 
total bear territory are found. To 
protect this unimportant island 
and leave the others open    to 
destruction is insufficient for 
preserving the species. 
  Admiralty Island, one of those 
with the largest bear population, 
could be set aside as a sanctu- 
 
 
APRIL 29, 1932 
 
 
TIHE NEW YORK TIMEW 
 
 
ary. It iS one of the most beau- 
tiful along the line of the inside 
passage  0to  Alaska,   heavily 
wooded with virgin timber, and 
an ideal situation for a national 
park.   Residents  have   urged 
clearing it, using the timber for 
wood-pulp and destroying all 
wild life.  Poison is suggested 
as the easiest way of getting rid 
of the bears.   Conservation of 
the natural beauty and of the 
wild life of the continent, not 
its useless destruction, should be 
the American aim. It would not 
cost a cent to make Admiralty 
Island a sanctuary, for it is Gov- 
ment property and now brings in 
no revenue. Washington should 
turn for a moment from the, in- 
vestigation of bears in  Wall 
Street to the contemplation of 
the Alaskan variety, which will 
be completely wiped out in a 
few years unless adequate pro- 
tection is soon provided. 
 
 
ing victory for the association 
alter a minor conflict. 
The most serious disturbance ac- 
companied by shouts, challenges, 
threats and a frantic pounding 
of the chairman's gavel for order 
was precipitated by the demand 
of John M. Holzworth, chairman 
of the Alaskan bear committee 
of the New York Zoological So- 
ciety, that the association ratify 
the action of the directors last 
December in approving the estab- 
lishment of Admiralty and Chi- 
cagof Islands in Alaska as a 
wild-life preserve for the brown 
and grizzly bears. 
  In the face of a motion to refer 
his resolution asking ratification 
to the board of directors. Mr. 
Holzworth persisted, amid hisses 
as well as applause, in reading 
a letter written by T. Gilbert 
Pearson, president of the associa- 
tion, to the Massachusetts Audu- 
don Society, marked as a copy to 
State and local societies. 
  The letter, as read by Mr. Holz- 
worth, recited a resolution of the 
directors f a v o r i n g Mr. Holz- 
worth's plans for the wild-life 
preserve in Alaska, and    com- 
mended his suggestion that can- 
didates for Congress be influen- 
c d to pledge their support to 
legislation to assure the Alaskan 
sanctuary. 
 
 
OCTOBER 26 1932. 
 
 
ALASKA BEAR ISSUE 
 
     STIRS AUDUBON ROW 
 
 Societies Meeting in bproar Here 
   As Politics Is Blamed For 
       Biocking Sanctuary 
 
   MUSKRAT ALSO AT STAKE 
 
 Insurgents Charge Wild Life Is 
 Preserved For Favored Interests 
    But Protest Move Fails. 
 
    The annual meeting of the Na- 
 tional Association of Audubon 
 Societies was thrown into an up- 
 roar yesterday in the Museum of 
,Natural History when a clamor- 
ous minority shouted its protests 
against the officers of the asso- 
ciation and charged the admin- 
istration  with  favoring  wood 
pulp interests in opposing its ef- 
torts to have Admiralty Island, 
Alaska, set aside as a sanctuary 
for brown bears. 
  The Louisiana muskrat was 
  also an object of much discus- 
  sion, as the minority   group 
  fLught for its protection, as well 
  as the preservation of birds on 
  the Rainey Wild Life Sanctuary 
  in Vermillion Parish, La. The 
"re-election of two directors of 
the association, which provided 
a test of strength of the oppos- 
in" faetions restulted in a sween- 
 
 
tial majority.  The resolution 
"strongly favored the establish- 
ment of further suitably situa- 
ted sanctuaries for the Alaskan 
brown bear," but made no men- 
tion of Admiralty Island. 
   Accuses Timber Interests. 
   Mr. Holzworth, Who   is also 
president of the National As- 
sociation of Wild Life Conserva- 
tionists, said that more   than 
fifty national and State organiza- 
tions had endorsed his plans 
for Admiralty Island and that 
among his opponents was George 
Pratt, president of the Ameri- 
can Forestry Association. 
  He pointed out to reporters that 
the Biological Survey was under 
the Department of Agriculture, 
which, he said, had given George 
Cameron of California  a  fifty- 
year concession covering 5,000 
square miles of virgin timber, 
mostly spruce, on Admiralty Is- 
land for 30 to 50 cents per 1,000 
feet, while timber in British Col- 
umbia sold for $5 per 1,000 feet. 
  Mr. Holzworth openly charged 
in the meeting that the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture had granted 
the concession on Admiralty Is- 
land to "a huge contributor" to 
the  Republican   campaign   in 
1928. 
 
 
  Ridicules Promise of Inquiry. 
  During this  episode  of the 
meeting Mr. Holzworth pointed 
an accusing finger at the chair- 
man, Dr. Theodore S. Palmer, 
first vice president of the society 
and chief biologist of the United 
States Biological Survey, and 
charged   the   chairman   with 
"working hand in hand with the 
wood-pulp interests." Mr. Holz- 
worth, when told that the dir- 
ectors  would   investigate his 
plans, remarked: 
  "Another Hoover commission, 
I suppose." 
  Mr. Pearson, who     had  sat 
quietly during the controversy, 
arose and explained that he had 
written the resolution passed, by 
the directors last December and 
defended Dr. Palmer by saying 
that the chairman hadi not op- 
posed the resolution. He said, 
however, that other members of 
the board had felt that their de- 
cision might have been "hasty" 
and that it should receive furth- 
er consideration. He also inform- 
ed the gathering that the Fed. 
eral Government was making an 
investigation of the sanctuary. 
  By a vote of 3,902 to 851, most- 
ly by  proxy, Mr. Holzworth's 
resolution  asking   ratification 
of Mr. Pearson's resolution last 
December was referred to the 
directors. A  substitute resolu- 
tion, offered  by  William   P. 
Wharton, secretary of the assoc- 
iation, was adopted by a substan-