56 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 



capital, for purposes of personal gain. Public fish-culture has to do with the preser- 

 vation and renovation of the great source of public supply — a field to be compassed 

 in part by the States, but in its broader developments only properly covered by 

 national or international enterprise. 



Public fish-culture, as now known, in Europe, Asia, Australia, and America is actu- 

 ally the result of the liberal policy of the Government of the United States in secur- 

 ing, for the national good, scientific talent of a very high order. 



The problems of fisheries and fish-culture require, more particularly than those in 

 any other field, the skill and experience of trained scientific investigators. 



The miner and the agriculturist have to do with phenomena which are visible and 

 tangible. The culture of terrestrial plants and animals is comparatively simple, 

 because they are affected by changes in climate and temperature which we ourselves 

 feel and appreciate. The fisherman and the fish-culturist, on the other hand, have to 

 do with living organisms, whose presence and movements are uncertain and often 

 seemingly mysterious, and which exist under conditions which he can understand only 

 after they have been interpreted for him by science. 



The study of these difficult problems has drawn to it many great naturalists, among 

 them such men as Duhamel du Monceau, Agassiz, Vogt, Huxley, Quatrefages, Coste, 

 Von Siebold, and Baird, and the greatest of these was Baird. 



I wish I could properly eulogize the wise, the judicious, the practical plan of work 

 which was devised by our first National Commissioner of Fisheries, when he entered 

 upon his duties in 1871 ; then the results, as partly reviewed by himself in the last 

 year of his life, in his paper on "The Sea Fisheries of North America," posthumously 

 published, or in his later reports to Congress, and also in the volumes on "The Fishery 

 Industries of the United States," in which the members of his staff endeavored to 

 summarize the knowledge which had been developed under his direction. Time will 

 not permit me to do this, and it is unnecessary, for the results are familiar to you all. 



I should be glad, also, to take up the achievements of the National Commission 

 during the past five years and to point out how success has been achieved in all lines 

 of work previously decided upon, while new paths have been laid out in the light of 

 new results which have been attained. 



After all, what more can be said than that it is living up to the high ideals of 

 its founder, the illustrious Baird, and that it has never failed to meet the constantly 

 increasing demands upon its resources, whether in the field of science or in that of 

 practice, and that it is one of the best examples of the way in which science may be 

 utilized in behalf of a great industry. 



The work of the State fish commissions also deserves high praise. Some of the 

 States have but a small interest in fish-culture and have not organized the work 

 on a large scale, and some States have done less than they should have done, but 

 taking them together the aggregate of good work is very considerable and well worthy 

 of mention not only in the field of scientific inquiry, but still more so in respect to 

 judicious application of the results of science. The way in which the State commis- 

 sioners have cooperated with each other and with the National Commission in every 

 department of fishery economics is a noteworthy example of the manner in which the 

 States may work together for mutual good. 



The most significant tribute to the American methods is the constant attention 

 which they receive from the rest of the world. Within the past ten years I have seen 



