108 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



typhoid fever rages along it. It can all be stopped — 

 any time the cities along the Ohio River make up their 

 minds to do so. 



I am aware that this part of my discourse cannot be 

 pleasant; it is never pleasant to contemplate our mis- 

 doings or mistakes, although it may be wholesome. 



The safe disposal of our manufacturing wastes and 

 our city and town sewage is at once a problem and a 

 mighty task. In importance it probably ranks first 

 among schemes for stream, river, and lake conservation, 

 since our health and an important part of our food supply 

 are already affected by water pollution. Our fish food 

 amounts to two billion pounds a year. 



We will now turn to a feature of our treatment of the 

 waters which is wholly admirable, the work of our National 

 Bureau of Fisheries. This Bureau is charged with the 

 collection of fishery statistics, the scientific investigation of 

 fishery problems, and chiefly the propagation of food and 

 game fishes. Under its direction public fish culture in 

 America has attained great proportions. 



The annual output of fish fry from hatcheries in various 

 parts of the country, operated by the Bureau of Fisheries 

 has now reached the enormous figure of something like 

 three thousand millions. The fish cultural work of the dif- 

 ferent state fishery commissions, taken collectively, yields 

 probably equal numbers of young fry. The governmental 

 part of the work is done from no more than 55 hatcheries 

 scattered over the country — a remarkable illustration of the 

 efificiency of artificial fertilization and rearing of fry. Fish 

 planting in America exceeds that of all other countries put 

 together. Fish culturists from Europe and from countries 

 as far away as Japan and New Zealand come here to study 

 our methods. 



The latest statistics gathered by the Bureau for the general 

 fishing industry sliovv that 219,000 persons are engaged in 

 the fisheries; $95,000,000 are invested in vessels, boats, 

 apparatus and other property; and the fish products have 

 an annual value of $60,000,000. 



