FOURTH INTERNATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS. 19 
of these important subjects must, that we are drawing heavily upon that 
valuable capital, the natural resources of the land and of water, and that, 
looking forward to the generations that are to follow us, it becomes not only 
our duty, but a necessity of safe policy, to see that these great blessings that 
have come to us shall. be handed down to those generations not exhausted in 
selfishness or wasted in ignorance, but as little impaired as human science and 
human ingenuity can provide for. In full accord with that wise and states- 
manlike policy is the meeting of a congress such as this, for one of the great 
natural resources is fish, one of the important articles of food and one of the 
healthiest. 
There is perhaps no more significant sign of the unity of the enlightened 
people of the world, of the brotherhood of mankind, than these international 
congresses for the purpose of promoting the welfare and happiness of the people 
of all nations. Here in this city now are two such international congresses 
meeting. Not far from here are gathered many of the scientists of the world, 
the great healers, the physicians, who have come together in order to compare 
notes, to study, to advance the knowledge that will eliminate the greatest 
enemy of mankind, popularly known as the ‘great white plague.’’ And here 
are assembled men from every State, delegates from foreign countries, in 
order to compare notes, to exchange ideas, to discuss the various phases of 
the science with which they are connected, for the purpose of promoting the 
culture and the propagation of one of the great articles of food upon which 
mankind subsists. The purpose and object are worthy of your consideration. 
To us in this country fish and fisheries have been of the highest impor- 
tance since the earliest period of colonization. Our Pilgrim Fathers, of whom 
we are very proud—so proud that the whole United States might be divided 
into two classes, those who are descended from them and those who claim to 
be descended from them [laughter and applause]—for the first two years they 
subsisted almost entirely on fish; and I leave it to you, gentlemen of science, 
that perhaps that is the reason why their descendants have shown such won- 
derful mental powers [laughter], such aggressiveness, are so rich in brains— 
because their original progenitors lived for two years on fish. [Applause and 
laughter. ] 
Another point: The earliest commerce of the settlers on the New England 
coast was fish and lumber. Now, fish is dried, salted, and cured, and I am told 
that fish eaten in that way stimulates thirst very much. [Laughter.] Was it, 
perhaps, on that account that the early commerce with the West Indies—the 
exportation of cured fish—resulted in the bringing back from the West Indies 
of rum [laughter], sugar, and molasses? They go well together. [Laughter 
and applause.] A very fair exchange. Bismarck says that ‘‘the logic of the 
historian is as exacting as Prussia’s accounting office.” Let us see. One of the 
