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REPORT nv RFXORDING SECRETARY. 



Gentlemen : 



A plan was adopted at the meeting- at Phila- 

 delphia last year by which the membership, it was 

 thought, of the American P isheries Society cotdd be 

 very largely increased. The Secretary was associated 

 with the Committee, and an attempt was to be made to 

 get into the membership of the Society ver)- prominent 

 men interested in the preservation and propagation of 

 fish and game in the United States. The great 

 pressure of business, however, on the part of the Re- 

 cording Secretary, prevented him from carrying out the 

 object of the resolution, and the result is that, although 

 several thousand circulars were sent out, no attempt 

 was made to follow up the first circular, and an increase 

 of fifteen or twenty members was all that the Society 

 secured during the past year. This fact, however, 

 does not affect the belief of the Secretar)' that the 

 membership of the Society could be very easily in- 

 creased to several thousand members, and made one of 

 the most important associations of its kind in the world. 

 Whenever a man, interested in the object of the asso- 

 ciation is approached properly, his name can be 

 secured, and a thorough and systematic canvass of fish 

 and game people of the United States would certainl)* 

 secure an extremely large and valuable membership. 

 The Society then would become of great importance 

 in recommending and determining legislation, and in 

 furthering the investigations of fish and game. I 

 would suggest that some Committee of the members, 

 composed of men who have leisure and who are enthu- 

 siastic for the protection of fish and game, be formed, 

 and that this Committee be authorized to employ some- 



