Forty-second Annual Meeting 23 



To this end, let me respectfully suggest that state or district chap- 

 ters of the Society be formed within its membership, with a state or 

 district chairman presiding over same, and thus permit of more fre- 

 quent meetings of at least certain groups, which could meet quarterly 

 or, possibly, monthly and thus maintain a continued interest in the 

 various subjects and each year produce a more extended contribution 

 to the annual meeting. In this way local conditions would be more 

 closely studied and reported to the central body and a wider grasp 

 of all situations maintained. 



I am moved to this suggestion in view of the great success attend- 

 ing this form of organization in so far as it relates to the American 

 Institute of Architects. For some years I was closely allied with the 

 Illinois chapter of the American Institute of Architects and had occa- 

 sion to note how well, and with what splendid results, the plan worked. 

 Monthly meetings were held by nearly all the state chapters and a high 

 tension interest in the work was maintained at all times. As a result, 

 the parent body was much benefited, all the great questions of archi- 

 tecture were thoroughly promulgated, and the art was kept on a con- 

 stantly progressing basis. Much of the great twentieth century archi- 

 tectural beauty of today is directly traceable to the influences exerted 

 by the organization referred to and through its form of organization. 



In addition to this, it seems to me that it would be of great value 

 if the American Fisheries Society could maintain a magazine, through 

 which a widespread membership and interest could be promoted in a 

 manner similar to the plan of the National Geographic Society, the 

 success of which, I understand, is more than gratifying, not only from 

 a financial standpoint, but as a means of spreading geographical infor- 

 mation. 



A magazine devoted to the subjects covered by the American Fish- 

 eries Society could undoubtedly be made just as attractive as the 

 "National Geographic Magazine" to the thousands of readers, who 

 would thereby become more fully acquainted with the conditions at- 

 taching to fish and fishing. This, I am sure, can be said without fear 

 of contradiction in regard to the vast number of anglers in the United 

 States, who would become ardent adherents of the American Fisheries 

 Society and form one of its strongest supporting branches. It can be 

 said truly of many who engage in sport fishing that they can be edu- 

 cated to a higher degree as to the conservation of fish — not only from a 

 sport standpoint, but from a commercial standpoint— and, thus prop- 

 erly educated, no body of men would be more earnest in supporting 

 good measures. 



It can be truthfully said that practically no journal published today 

 treats of fish and fishing in a strictly modern educational manner. 

 The journals are either dominated by the advertising department or 

 run to such an extreme degree of fiction that but little reliance can be 

 placed in what they say. Again, part of them are dominated by some 

 single pet scheme of reform, to the exclusion of some other pet 



