19 



cant locality that they are familiar with, while, perhaps, this was one 

 case out of twentj'^, the other nineteen of which had been successful. 

 Then, again, what the public in many cases considers a failure, is not 

 bj^ any means a failure in point of fact, but the successful trial of an 

 experiment, althou:^h, perhaps, it has failed to produce practical results, 

 the object of the effort having merely been to acquire information. In 

 such cases, if the information is obtained the effort is equally a success, 

 whether in practical results it fails or succeeds. For example, the 

 California Fish Commission wants to ascertain whether a s])ecified 

 vai-iety offish will live in water like that of Tulare Lake. The fish are 

 accordingly introduced there. They do not thrive, we will suppose. 

 The neighboring inhabitants immediately set the thing down as a 

 failure, while in point of fact the experiment has been an entire suc- 

 cess — the Commissioners having acquired the information which was 

 the object of the undertaking. ' 



Leaving this point, let us consider a special objection that has been 

 made to the efforts of the Fish Commission of this State. The objection 

 I refer to is that which some people put forward because they do not 

 like all the varieties that have been brought here from the East. Some 

 object because they do not care anything about Horn-pouts; others 

 object because they do not like Eels; others because they do not like 

 Catfish, and so on. But what is it that ought to govern the character 

 of an enterprise of this sort? Certainly not the peculiar tastes of some 

 individuals. The wishes oi all should be met if possible, and if some 

 like Shad, they ought to have Shiid; if some like Catfish, they ought to 

 have Catfish, and so on with the rest — Bass, Eels, Lobsters, and so 

 forth — as a 'caterer preparing a dinner for a large number of people 

 places on the table all kinds of dishes, so that all may find something 

 that they like. I have heard individuals abuse the Fish Commission 

 for introducing (as they said) such an insufferable fish as the Catfish 

 into California, as if their individual tastes on this point should be the 

 guide of the Commission, How foolish the objection was may be seen 

 from the fact that I have had more requests from persons in this State for 

 Catfish than for any other variety. The fact is, that a fish that is highly 

 valued in one locality frequently has a poor reputation in another, and 

 it often happens that a certain variety of fish is of fine quality in some 

 waters and a very poor fish in others; as, for instance, the very Catfish 

 of which we have been speaking, which is esteemed a great luxury in 

 the neigtiborhood of Philadelphia, while in the warm and turbid tribu- 

 taries of the Mississippi it is nearly worthless. A good deal of confusion 

 and misapprehension is caused also by the same name being applied in 

 different places to fishes of widely different quality. For example: the 

 very ordinar}^ fish known in some places as the Sacramento Pike, is, in 

 many localities in California, called the White Fish, which is also the 

 name of a most valuable fish of the great lakes, which ranks in com- 

 mercial importance, hardly second to the Codfish of the Atlantic. In 

 consequence of these two very different fish being called by the 

 same name, there are many people in California who think that when 

 the Commissioners introduced into the State the very valuable White 

 Fish of the Great Lakes, they were importing the almost worthless 

 Sacramento Pike, and formed their estimate of them accordingly. 



The Commissioners, it is quite probable, have made some mistakes, as 

 is very natural in a now work of this sort, but I think it will be found 

 on examination that they have used their means in the wisest way pes- 



