[29] THE STATUS OF THE FISH COMMISSION. 11G7 



Of tbe coiupreheusiveuess and completeness of this really national ex- 

 hibition, it is impossible to speak too highly." 



" The part of the Exhibition I like above all others," wrote the editor of 

 " Engineering," " is the United States section. The collection of exhibits 

 is so well chosen and completely labeled that one can always be sure of 

 obtaining- valuable information on some point or another connected with 

 fishing at a small expenditure of trouble. It is a great relief, after 

 wrestling in vain with the bloated, useless official catalogue in the main 

 building, to find oneself in a compact, well-arranged department, nearly 

 every exhibit in which bears a fully descriptive label." 



The Loudon " Field " of Julj- 21 remarked: " It is impossible to enume- 

 rate all the objects of interest in connection with the northern whale 

 fishery, but Iwould especially call attention to the beauty of the United 

 States lay figures for exhibiting the use of the implements displayed. 

 * * * The same care and completeness is visible in every depart- 

 ment of the United States exhibit, and their masterly collection of re- 

 ports and memoirs on the industries, products, and natural features of 

 their country, as well as the liberality with which the results are dis- 

 tributed to students of other nations, speak volumes for the enlighten- 

 ment and progress of a great ])eople, as well as for the ability of those 

 who have charge of the various scientific departments." 



"The Thames," of July 13, said: "We would advise the visitor to 

 make the United States exhibit the starting-point in his survey. He will 

 here find an epitomized museum of angling appliances, arranged in his- 

 torical developmental order. The United States exhibit is a model as 

 to the arrangement of any economic museum." 



Said the "Yorkshire Post" of June 1 : "It is really hopeless, save at 

 very great length, to give an adequate idea of the comjDrehensiveness 

 of these American exhibits. The exhibition does immense credit to the 

 United States Government. It is not only the largest but the most 

 systematically arranged of any of the foreign contributors." 



Said the " Glasgow Herald" of May 19 : "A leading, if not the leading 

 place must be given to the United States. * * * It is an exceedingly 

 comprehensive collection, illustrating in the fullest manner the various 

 branches of fish culture and capture as carried on in the United States. 

 Each department is under the charge of a skilled person, whose duty 

 it is to give information to visitors. These officials are always at hand, 

 and are as ready and fluent in conveying information as if instead 

 of coming from America, they had been nurtured in Paiis, the city of 

 politeness. It may be as well to add that what they have to communi- 

 cate is marked by greater terseness and exactness of statement than 

 could be expected in the case of a Frenchman." 



Says the "Birmingham Post" (May 30, 1884): "The leading place 

 indisputably belongs to the United States, whose participation is in ac- 

 cordance with an act of Congress by which the Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries was instructed to prepare a complete, systematic, and representa- 

 tive exhibition." 



