S8 



river, opposite Charlestown, N. H., tlie past summer ; but I cannot 

 believe it was one that liad been to sea and returned, scaling the dams 

 at Holyoke and Bellows Falls. He must have been a salmon turned 

 into Williams river in 1870 by Mr. Hagar, or one that had escaped 

 from his own iish establishment in 1869. 



It sometimes seems to me that what was " everbody's business was 

 nobody's business," and that, in view of our insurmountable dams 

 upon the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers, with insufficient fish-ways, 

 etc., nothing was likely to result favorable to tlie undertaking of 

 restocking our rivers with the migratory sea fish. Large manufactur- 

 ing interests have sprung up upon these rivers, and corporations of 

 such magnitude as those of Lowell, Lawrence and Holyoke class must for 

 a long time menace the enterprise and hinder the progress of estab- 

 lishing one of the most desirable objects to be obtained in this country. 



The fish commissioners of New Hampshire and Vermont have done 

 with the enterprise till suitable fish-ways are provided over the insur- 

 mountable dams on the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers in Massa- 

 chusets. Yet the other New England States might do considerable 

 in small rivers del>ouching into the ocean, upon which there are no high 

 dams or other impediments to the return of the fish. New Jersey 

 and Pennsylvania are having concurrent legislation toward restocking 

 the Delaware river with salmon and shad. And I see no cause why 

 favorable results may not be obtained, as there are no large dams upon 

 that river, nor large manufacturing establishments to hinder the pro- 

 gress and ultimate success of the enterprise. 



The great desideratum with Yankee enterprise is, " Does it pay ? " 

 and to which all other considerations must bend. I can conceive of 

 no other object so dear to us all as the final success of this enterprise. 

 The stocking of our rivers with the salmon is above price, the great 

 and good work for us all — the final consummation of which will bring 

 blessings to millions of people ; establishing the fact that man is not 

 living wholly for self, but making progress in tlie right direction. 



The great fact of its feasibility s'tares us in the face, and wliether 

 we would or no, an irresistible impulse forces us onward, and 

 finally tlie object must be attained. 



Let us labor onward and upward, looking for the success ultimately 

 to be realized. 



Although England, France and Germany have done so much, yet 

 it redounds not to the ultimate good of the people, but to the glory 

 of individual enterprise, and the accomplishment of the object with 

 them is the realization of large incomes to individual effort. The 



