PROCEEDINGS OF THE FORTY- FOURTH 

 ANNUAL MEETING 



The Forty-third Annual Meeting was held in the New- 

 National Museum at Washington, D. C, on Wednesday, 

 Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 30 to October 

 3, 1914. 



Wednesday, September 30, 1914. 



The meeting was called to order at 10:30 A. M., by 

 the President of the Society, Professor Henry B. Ward 

 of Illinois University, Urbana, 111. Hon. Wm. C. Red- 

 field, Secretary of the Department of Commerce, was 

 then introduced. After welcoming the members of the 

 Society to Washington and presenting some interesting 

 reminiscenses, Secretary Redfield proceeded to discuss 

 some of the needs of the United States Bureau of Fish- 

 eries as follows: 



ADDRESS OF SECRETARY REDFIELD. 



"In the first place, our methods provide no easy way 

 of bringing before Congress and the public the needs of 

 the service. In this respect I think our government is 

 one of the most backward. I cannot go myself before 

 Congress to present these needs. If I were a cabinet 

 minister in England, France, Germany or Austria, I 

 could. In every country where they have a responsible 

 ministry, access is direct between the legislative authori- 

 ties and the executive department. I may write a letter 

 to the President asking him to transmit in his message 

 to Congress something that I wish to bring before that 

 body and the country, but the President's message is 

 necessarily limited in scope, confined to important mat- 

 ters and must be brief. I might go before a congres- 

 sional committee, particularly the Committee on Appro- 

 priations, but their work is done under pressure, in very 

 limited time, without any opportunity for personal touch 



