302 STURGEONS 



Delaware River, and other waters, and the expenditure of con- 

 siderable sums of money by the Bureau has sometimes failed 

 to yield a single batch of eggs suitable for incubation. 



"Everywhere in America, under existing conditions, the 

 Sturgeons are doomed to commercial extinction, and it re- 

 quires no prophet to foretell that in a comparatively few 

 years the Sturgeon will be practically extinct. 



"What is demanded in every State in which these fishes 

 exist or have existed is absolute prohibition of capture or 

 sale for a long term of years, certainly not less than ten. To 

 advocate any less radical treatment would be only trifling 

 with the situation." 



The annihilation of the Sturgeon industry in the United 

 States through the stupid folly of our own fishermen is but 

 a fair sample of what Americans habitually do when they 

 are not restrained by the hand of the law. An American 

 individual can, and often does, act sensibly and conservatively 

 even in the absence of law; but in every community there 

 seems to be a large percentage of reckless individuals who 

 ignore the dictates of reason and common sense, and ruth- 

 lessly destroy the products of nature, even to their own hurt! 



In Europe the Sturgeons of the Danube, the Caspian Sea 

 and other waters are successfully conserved, and we will 

 be paying the Russians and Roumanians for caviare long 

 after our once-abundant Sturgeon supply has been exter- 

 minated and forgotten. 



