Out on a rock crowned desert mountain in the Okanogan country, far from water lies the shriveled form of a coyote with one foot clamped in the rusted jaws of a Government trap. The chain, with its triple flukes anchored to a sage brush, is taut and twisted, attesting the awful strugglings of the animal before death came to its release. Trapped in mid-summer, the agony of that coyote can not be imagined, as day after day passed with the scorching rays of a hell-sizzling sun beating down upon it. Obviously a war of extermination against certain predatory animals is justifiable, but there is nothing more brutal than the modern methods of trapping. Notwithstanding, we have the amazing spectacle of Dr. William T. Hornaday, naturalist, advocating that this brutalizing pursuit be taken up by the Boy Scouts; and the suggestion is sanctioned by the executive board of that fine organization. God created man and all kinds of animal life, but he did not create the steel trap.
The catch of salmon at Top-tut, now known as Prosser, on the Yakima river this year was unusually heavy. Under the Treaty of 1855, it would appear that the right to take fish at this, their ancient fishing grounds, is assured the Indians, but a State law interferes and the authorities tacitly permitted the Yakimas a certain number of days in which to catch and cure a winter's supply of this, their favorite food. The fish is both dried and salted. It is hoped that the next legislature will restore to the Yakimas their right to fish at Top-tut, built especially for them in the beginning by Speelyi.
The State Federation of Women's Clubs, meeting in convention at Wenatchee, Wash., June 1920, unanimously passed resolutions requesting the coming legislature to enact some measure which will permit the Yakimas to take fish hereafter unmolested at Top-tut during the salmon season.
Pursuant to a recent ordinance passed by the City Commission of Yakima, no dog is to bark, no cow to moo nor rooster to crow within the corporate limits after night fall, under penalty of a fine not to exceed $100 with possible imprisonment. The next sane move is to enact a tamanawit against the cooing of babies and the early carol of robin red breast. The dulcet yodel of the tom cat, the musical purr of the open muffler and the rhythmical chime of the flat car wheel is symphony plenty a-nuff for the city denizens.
ONE WAY OF LOOKING AT IT
Help on the Yakima Reservation has been extremely scarce during the harvest season this year. A rancher came to Wapato and entering a pool room saw two young Indians taking life easy. He accosted them, enquiring if they wanted work, offering them substantial wages if they would help him a few days. The Indians exchanged glances and one of them spoke: "No! you white people came here, we did not want you. You made all this work, all this trouble. You can do the work yourselves; it is your business."