[41] THE STATUS OF THE FISH COMMISSION. 1179 



iu the loau of the steamer Albatross for the work of the Hydroi^raphic 

 Office. 



15. CONCLUSION. 



As early as 1869 all the essential features of the work, exce[)t tbat of 

 the propagation division, were put into operation by the present Com- 

 missioner, at Wood's Holl, on the southern coast of Massachusetts, at 

 his own private expense. The following year his own resources were 

 re-enforced by a grant of $100 from the secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. In 1871 Congress allowed him $5,000 for current expenses 

 in an investigation of the fishery dispute then existing in Southern New 

 England. 



From this beginning has grown up the Fish Commission, an institu- 

 tion peculiarly American in its conception, and without a parallel in any 

 other governmental organization. 



It has achieved a world-wide reputation for its enterprise and origin- 

 ality of method. Its work is better appreciated abroad than in the United 

 States, and at the International Fisheries Exhibitions at Berlin and 

 London — at the former with eighteen sister Governments comi^eting ; 

 at the latter with thirty-five — carried away a majority of the prizes for 

 supremacy both in scientific method and practical results. Throughout 

 Europe the Fish Commission is being held up as one of the most strik- 

 ing evidences of the public spirit, intelligence, and liberality of the 

 American nation. 



"It is a matter of peculiar gratification," remarked the Hon. Samuel 

 S. Cox, of New York, iu a recent speech in the United States House of 

 Representatives, "that even as late as the 9th of February, 1871, Con- 

 gress passed a general and generous law providing for investigations 

 as to the diminution of our food-fishes; and that at the same time it 

 took measures for their increase and distribution. It is also a matter 

 of congratulation that the resolution estsblishiug the office of Commis- 

 sioner of Fish and Fisheries led the way to the selection of Professor 

 Baird, who has not oulj' assisted as Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution in the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, but°who 

 has also increased and diffused both fish and the knowledge thereof 

 among men, women, and children in forty States and Territories, not to 

 speak of what he has done in the way of international exchange. 



"That he carried off the highest of the honors at the Berlin exhibi- 

 tion, that our country won the highest prizes iu London, and that these 

 glories have inured to the general welfare, is not the least among the 

 benefactions which science in its practical application has showered 

 upon the people of this country, and which they have gladly- shared with 

 the millions of other lands. Let the good work go on! Let Congress 

 appropriate its generous aid to the hatching stations and ponds where 



