Chapter LII: Section 3: of Article 3, the following comprehensive principle

"The term 'legitimate sport' means not only the observance of local laws, but excludes all methods of taking game other than by fair stalking or still hunting."

At the end of the constitution of this club is this declaration, and admonition:

"_Purchase and sale of Trophies_.--As the purchase of heads and horns establishes a market value, and encourages Indians and others to "shoot for sale," often in violation of local laws and always to the detriment of the protection of game for legitimate sport, the Lewis and Clark Club condemns the purchase or the sale of the heads or horns of any game."

In 1906 the Lewis and Clark Club condemned the use of automatic shotguns as unsportsmanlike.

The Shikar Club, of London, a club which contains all the big-game hunters of the nobility and gentry of England,[Q] and of which His Majesty King George is Honorary President, has declared the leading feature of its "Objects" in the following terms:

"To maintain the standard of sportsmanship. It is not squandered bullets and swollen bags which appeal to us. The test is rather in a love of forest, mountains and desert; in acquired knowledge of the habits of animals; in the strenuous pursuit of a wary and dangerous quarry; in the instinct for a well-devised approach to a fair shooting distance; and in the patient retrieve of a wounded animal."

[Footnote Q: This organization contains in its list of members the most distinguished names in the modern annals of British sport and exploration. Its honorary membership, of eight persons, contains the names of three Americans: Theodore Roosevelt, Madison Grant and W.T. Hornaday; and of this fact at least one person is extremely proud!]

In 1908 the Camp-Fire Club of America formally adopted, as its code of ethics, the "Sportsman's Platform" of fifteen articles that was prepared by the writer and placed before the sportsmen of America, Great Britain and her colonial dependencies in that year. In the book of the Club it regularly appears as follows:

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CODE OF ETHICS OF THE CAMP-FIRE CLUB OF AMERICA _Proposed by Wm. T. Hornaday and adopted December 10, 1908_

1. The wild animal life of to-day is not ours, to do with as we
please. The original stock is given to us _in trust_, for the
benefit both of the present and the future. We must render an
accounting of this trust to those who come after us.

2. Judging from the rate at which the wild creatures of North
America are now being destroyed, fifty years hence there will be no
large game left in the United States nor in Canada, outside of
rigidly protected game preserves. It is therefore the duty of every
good citizen to promote the protection of forests and wild life and
the creation of game preserves, while a supply of game remains.
Every man who finds pleasure in hunting or fishing should be willing
to spend both time and money in active work for the protection of
forests, fish and game.

3. The sale of game is incompatible with the perpetual preservation
of a proper stock of game; therefore it should be prohibited by laws
and by public sentiment.

4. In the settled and civilized regions of North America there is no
real _necessity_ for the consumption of wild game as human food: nor
is there any good excuse for the sale of game for food purposes. The
maintenance of hired laborers on wild game should be prohibited
everywhere, under severe penalties.

5. An Indian has no more right to kill wild game, or to subsist upon
it all the year round, than any white man in the same locality. The
Indian has no inherent or God-given ownership of the game of North
America, anymore than of its mineral resources; and he should be
governed by the same game laws as white men.

6. No man can be a good citizen and also be a slaughterer of game or
fishes beyond the narrow limits compatible with high-class
sportsmanship.

7. A game-butcher or a market-hunter is an undesirable citizen, and
should be treated as such.

8. The highest purpose which the killing of wild game and game
fishes can hereafter be made to serve is in furnishing objects to
overworked men for tramping and camping trips in the wilds; and the
value of wild game as human food should no longer be regarded as an
important factor in its pursuit.

9. If rightly conserved, wild game constitutes a valuable asset to
any country which possesses it; and it is good statesmanship to
protect it.

10. An ideal hunting trip consists of a good comrade, fine country,
and a _very few_ trophies per hunter.

11. In an ideal hunting trip, the death of the game is only an
incident; and by no means is it really necessary to a successful
outing.

12. The best hunter is the man who finds the most game, kills the
least, and leaves behind him no wounded animals.

13. The killing of an animal means the end of its most interesting
period. When the country is fine, pursuit is more interesting than
possession.

14. The killing of a female hoofed animal, save for special
preservation, is to be regarded as incompatible with the highest
sportsmanship; and it should everywhere be prohibited by stringent
laws.

15. A particularly fine photograph of a large wild animal in its
haunts is entitled to more credit than the dead trophy of a similar
animal. An animal that has been photographed never should be killed,
unless previously wounded in the chase.

This platform has been adopted as a code of ethics by the following organizations, besides the Camp-Fire Club of America:

The Lewis and Clark Club, of Pittsburgh, John M. Phillips, President.

The North American Fish and Game Protective Association (International)

Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, Boston.

Camp-Fire Club of Michigan, Detroit.

Rod and Gun Club, Sheridan County, Wyoming.

The platform has been endorsed and published by The Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the British Empire (London), which is an endorsement of far-reaching importance.

Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton, C.M.Z.S., Warden of the Government Game Reserves of the Transvaal, South Africa, has adopted the platform and given it the most effective endorsement that it has received from any single individual. In his great work on game protection in Africa and wild-animal lore, entitled "Animal Life in Africa" (and "very highly commended" by the Committee on Literary Honors of the Camp-Fire Club), he publishes the entire platform, with a depth and cordiality of endorsement that is bound to warm the heart of every man who believes in the principles laid down in that document. He says, "It should be printed on the back of every license that is issued for hunting in Africa."

I am profoundly impressed by the fact that it is high time for sportsmen all over the world to take to heart the vital necessity of adopting high and clearly defined codes of ethics, to suit the needs of the present hour. The days of game abundance, and the careless treatment of wild life have gone by, never to return.

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