American Fisheries Society. 15 



nnist he taken l>y the state fish eonimissions in tlieir work in each 

 state. Tliey are the men to educate the pnhlic, and thev can 

 only do it by intelligent Avork, each commission in its own state. 

 Xow. Michigan stands in the front rank, and I am proud to say 

 that Wisconsin is a close second (modestly, I sav, a close second) 

 and the state of Wisconsin is educated to this point; and people 

 send for fry, as G-eneral Bryant knows, from all over the state. 

 Farmej^ want them and are generally friendly to the work of the 

 commission in the state of Wisconsin; and each year, as the 

 president indicated in his opening address, there is more and 

 more to encourage the work of this society. Now, it seems to me 

 that this society cannot do this work exactly as Mr. Dickerson 

 suggests : it is a very excellent idea to bring it up, however, and 

 have it discussed. But it is the business of each state commis- 

 sion to imdertake this task. How many states have we repre- 

 sented here ? Just a handful ! Here is tlie great state of Ohio. 

 How many Ohio men are there here, although the meeting is 

 lield right in its own waters ? 



Mr. Dickerson : They have no water in Ohio. 



Mr. Peabody: They have lots' of it around here, yet they 

 are not represented. Massachusetts has one representative here, 

 Vermont none, New Hampshire none, and the great state o,f 

 ]\[aine none. Those are the people to do this work. This society 

 can merely discuss these matters and make investigations and 

 promote an interest through its members, l)ut the fish commis- 

 sions of each state are themselves to blame in this matter, if they 

 lie down and stav away from these meetings and take no interest 

 in them. I do not think it is the province of this society to chase 

 them up very much. 



It seems to me that the scope of this society is to go on as it 

 is doing in original investigation and in discussion of methods 

 of propagating fish and all that sort of thing. It is thro-wing a 

 l)rilliant light on the subject of fish culture, each year more 

 widespread. This season, as secretary of the society. I hav(> had 

 a])plications from foreign countries and from all over the United 

 States, and from men whom you would think were not interested 

 especially in this work, for the i)rinted transactions of tlie so- 

 ciety, and that indicates that the interest is groAving and is wide- 

 spread. 1 think the thing to do is to get at the state fish com- 



