16 



Mr. Amsden then addressed the meeting us to the objects 

 of the Society of which he is Secretary. When he con- 

 cluded Mr. Seal said : 



''As I understand it, one of the fundamental ideas in 

 lish propagation, particularly in the case of the whitelish 

 and shad, is to make them so abundant by aTtiticial means 

 that there need be no restriction whatever in the iishing, 

 I believe that will be found to be apart of the late Profess- 

 or Baird's theory and intention in regard to the work." 



The Chair said: "I know that was Professor Baird's 

 idea, and that was what he hoped for, that by the co-opera- 

 tion of the States, the artificial propagation of fish could 

 be carried on on such a scale as to make it unnecessary 

 to have any protective laws. If such a thing is possible or 

 practicable, that would be the easiest and simplest way of 

 disposing of the question, for I think all the gentlemen 

 here who have had anything to do with legislation for the 

 protection of iisli and game will bear me out in saying that 

 there is no more difficult problem to handle than that. 

 Mr. Cheney has given you a little of his experience ; others 

 have spoken of it, and concerning my owji experience in 

 tlie last State Legislature, when I was summoned to give 

 my advice on the Game Laws, I can say but little to the 

 credit of Game Law legislation. The entire question seems 

 to be one of influence and of locality ; no one had ideas 

 general and broad ; one senator would want one thing, 

 and another senator another, and wdien their amendments 

 would go to the Assembly the assemblyman from the 

 same locality would want them changed. It is extremely 

 difficult to obtain proper lish and game legislation. I hope 

 this matter of the propagation of hsli could be shown to be 

 a remedy for excessive tishing and render unnecessary Ush 

 and game laws. This would clear the way for us very 

 much. A former President of this Society, Mr. Robert B. 

 Roosevelt recently remarked that he had about reached the 



