67 



familiar to all lish culturists, P^ailure is as mucli a part 

 of the development of any economic theory as is success, 

 and it is only through repeated failures that success is 

 finally achieved. It is unfortunately the case that every 

 failure in human effort is seized upon by those hostile or 

 indifferent to form adverse argument, while the successes, 

 not being attacked, attract little attention, and are often 

 overlooked. It is probable that in the earlier years of the 

 United States Fish Commission the high character and 

 attainments of Prof. Spencer F. Baird alone sustained the 

 popular interest in the work, and tided it over the shoals 

 of legislative hostility or indifference. 



Looking backward, we can see the gradual evolution of 

 a complex but systematic scientiiic organization grap- 

 pling with questions absolutely new and untouched, the 

 development of methods simple and efficient from those 

 heterogeneous and crude, and the final creation of an enthu- 

 siastic body of trained experts thoroughly imbued with a 

 faith in the latent possibilities to be achieved in the great 

 future of iish culture. 



The fact that so great a scientiiic authority as Prof. 

 Huxley should have expressed a doubt as to man's ability 

 to diminish or in any way to control the harvests of the 

 sea, and that, too, from the standpoint of actual investi- 

 gation, together with many failures, through inadequate 

 measures, has no doubt in the past had the effect of pro- 

 ducing at least a very conservative feeling in the ndnds 

 of many regarding the possible limits of the hsh cultural 

 attainment. 



The difficulties to be encountered and the influences to 

 be overcome were fully appreciated by the great founder 

 of practical hsh culture. Prof. Spencer F. Baird. As a 

 preliminary to a brief review of the more notable successes 

 of tish culture, it will be well to recall Prof. Baird' s retro- 

 spect concerning the depletion of our game and flshes, 



