Cobb. — College of Fisheries 65 



when we had 36 students. In the following winter quarter, 

 we had 38 regular students and 40 short course students, a 

 total of 78, a number which taxed our capacity to the limit. 

 This last quarter (the spring quarter) we had 40 regular 

 students, and in addition five or six vocational students from 

 the army whom we are educating in fisheries. We have also 

 a number of students from other colleges in the university 

 who are taking certain courses with us — Pacific fisheries, 

 history of the fisheries, the economic fishery resources of 

 North America, and the like. We have been assured by the 

 board of regents and the officials of the state that we have 

 already practically justified our existence. 



We get a great many inquiries from all over the world on 

 various fishery subjects, methods of canning and otherwise 

 preserving various species, fishing methods, etc. We devote 

 a great deal of our time to answering these queries. We 

 are also giving frequent demonstrations for the benefit of 

 individuals who want to engage in fishing and canning. We 

 take a person's product, run it through the laboratory for him,. 

 and tell him whether or not it will prove satisfactory. Of 

 course we can only give snap judgment right then; the gen- 

 eral rule in connection with our experiments in canning is 

 to give out nothing favorable until the end of the year. Nat- 

 urally there are certain products in connection with which 

 we can render a verdict within a shorter time, and in such 

 cases we do not hesitate to do so. Sometimes if there is a 

 difficulty it is purely a question of finance — it may be impos- 

 sible to pack the product and make the enterprise a com- 

 mercial success at the price that would have to be charged; 

 or it may be that bad qualities develop which make the product 

 unfit or unsafe for marketing. We have taken cognizance of 

 all these inquiries and have done our very best to answer 

 them; any institution established will have to do the same 

 thing. 



Sometimes I think the whole world is seeking informa- 



