WATER POLLUTION AND OTHER NOTES 



By Joseph H. Acklen 



It is indeed an honor to address this body of men, a 

 Society that has a proud record of nearly half a century 

 behind it. Well could you rest upon the laurels which you 

 have already won in the field of the propagation and pro- 

 tection of fish in this great country, but there is still a 

 greater future before you. Conditions existing at the time 

 of your organization 42 years ago have greatly changed in 

 this country. Our population in that length of time has 

 doubled. Intensive farming and manufacturing industries 

 present for the men who are interested in the propagation 

 and preservation of fish questions that have never heretofore 

 arisen. 



Your association and that of the game and fish commis- 

 sioners are closely allied. They should work in thorough 

 harmony, each assisting the other. The most serious ques- 

 tion that you gentlemen have to face, and one in which 

 there may be a little friction in some states, is where there 

 are separate commissioners for fish and game. Where they 

 are under one jurisdiction that difficulty does not arise. 

 Therefore the need and necessity of harmony is all the more 

 apparent, if success is to be attained. 



The most serious proposition for the future is the ques- 

 tion of what is to become of the fish that you gentlemen 

 are raising, the output of your hatcheries, and that question 

 is to be solved by some legislative restriction upon the pol- 

 lution of our waters. Measures to prevent such pollution 

 are frequently combated in different legislatures by manu- 

 facturing industries, and by municipalities which are not 

 willing to see that their sewage is properly disposed of. I 

 believe I could not do better than give you my views as I 

 expressed them on a former occasion. "The pollution of 

 public waters is our most common act and our most un- 

 civilized practice. The casting of refuse in a stream results 



