FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS, 1881-1883. 873 



do in years. At Berlin the United States carried off the first prize in 

 competition with all other nations. It is virtually conceded or at 

 least certainly assured, that if the invitation to London next year be 

 accepted and preparation properly made, this country will surpass all 

 others combined in the display of those things which pertain to fish- 

 culture and the practical results connected therewith. 



The resources of this country for the production of fish and all that 

 pertains thereto, the Commissioner informs us, are greater than in all 

 the countries of Europe combined. The actual production is four 

 times greater than that of Norway, the greatest fish producing coun- 

 try on that continent. The products of fish and fisheries in the United 

 States in the census year 1880 in the hands of producers amounted to 

 $45,000,000, and at wholesale prices to $90,000,000. By means of 

 artificial appliances now in use not tentative, but which have been 

 practically tested and their utility demonstrated the Commissioner 

 informs us that the product, including all things pertaining to it, may 

 be increased ten times, which would give the enormous annual pro- 

 duction of $900,000,000. We can scarcely realize this. So accus- 

 tomed are we to look to the land for wealth that we overlook the 

 resources of our American waters, and we forget how God maintained 

 the red man till he fulfilled his allotted mission. We do indeed culti- 

 vate the land, but we have civilized the waters with baseness. * * * 



The Commissioner sends to the committee this memorandum: 



In 1875 Congress made an appropriation for expenditure by the Smithsonian 

 Institution and the United States Fish Commission of over $100,000 for the prepa- 

 ration of an exhibit of the animal and mineral resources of the United States. Of 

 this sum about $30,000 was expended in connection with the fisheries branch of the 

 subject. The display made in consequence was complete and satisfactory. 



At the close of the exhibition these specimens were boxed up and transferred to 

 Washington, where they remained stored in the Armory building until 1880. In 

 that year Congress passed an act for participation by the United States in the fishery 

 display at Berlin, and appropriated $20,000 for the purpose. This amount would 

 have been entirely inadequate but' for the fact that the greater part of the display 

 was already prepared, leaving comparatively little additional matter to be procured. 

 There was also in readiness a series of portable cases, which had been constructed at 

 an additional cost of some $6,000, and which were forwarded to Germany with the 

 exhibits and used in the installation and display of the collection. Owing to the great 

 liberality of the Bremen Steamship Company, the collection of boxes, occupying some 

 12,000 cubic feet of capacity, was taken to Bremen and brought back again free of 

 charge. The railroad companies between Washington, New York, and Boston 

 acted in a similarly liberal spirit. 



It will be impossible to use any considerable portion of the articles exhibited at 

 Philadelphia and Berlin for the London display. Many of them were ruined by 

 the transfer, so as to require renewal, and the collection generally has become so 

 well known by its double exhibition as to be what may be called shopworn. For 

 this reason an entirely new series of presentation will be required; also the fishery 

 industries have been greatly extended since 1880. 



The packing boxes in which the collections were sent to Berlin and back have all 

 been destroyed, and the same may be said of the greater part of the cases. The 

 expenditures therefore necessary will be as follows: 



