103 



anything the Commission of Michigan may suggest." 

 I also have assurances from the authorities in Canada 

 that in an}' bill we may agree upon they will meet us 

 half way ; and it seems to me that the only feasible 

 way to do this is to appoint a committee to draft a bill, 

 and have it uniform in all states, and put it through 

 the various state Legislatures to which they belong. 



Mr. H. Whitaker: The suggestion contained in 

 the paper of Dr. James is a very familiar one. There 

 is no doubt that it does not lie in the authority of the 

 United States to enforce au}^ law to preserve the fish- 

 eries interest. The thing has been re-af&rmed by the 

 United States Courts, and no later than sixty days 

 ago, that the police power of regulating these things 

 lies in the state authorities. We have got to forsake 

 this idea of appealing to the General Government for a 

 redress of our grievances. When we attempt it we 

 admit the weakness of the state to enforce its police 

 regulation. The states have power, they do not lack 

 power, but the difficulty in their way is the same that 

 the United States would have to confront if they sought 

 to have a law established, if it were possible, and that 

 is the invested interest of money and means in the 

 fisheries. The United States do not begin to be as able 

 to cope with that sort of a question as the men who 

 reside in the different states. 



The thing that will bring about better results than 

 anything else is a conference between the states inter- 

 ested in the matter and an agreement upon a uniform 

 law to be passed, and for each state not onh' to bind 

 itself that it will submit such a law to its Legislature, 

 but that it will insist on its passage and enforcement. 

 There is no question in the world that the fisheries of 

 the Great Lake System, with which I am more familiar 

 than any other, are bound to be exterminated within 

 the course of a very few 3^ears. I was called up on the 

 telephone by a wholesale fish dealer, from his house in 



