54 American Fisheries Society. 



be properly taken care of. I hope to see the day when the Isaak Walton 

 League -will be the greatest organization of sportsmen in America. 



Mr. Fearnow: The Bureau of Fisheries has dealings with over 

 two thousand different organizations, under various names. We have 

 the Isaak Walton League of America, the various Fish and Game 

 Associations, the United Sportsmen's Club, and so on. These organiza- 

 tions are all of inestimable value in connection with our work; vdthout 

 their aid we could not accomplish more than two-thirds of the work we 

 are now undertaking. Fish which we furnish to applicants are deliv- 

 ered at railroad stations; when we have done that we have fulfilled our 

 part of the contract. Representatives of these Associations meet our 

 messengers at the railroad stations, divide the fish up into small lots and 

 carry them to the headwaters of streams away back in the mountains. 

 It would cost the Bureau about as much to do that part of the work as 

 it does, to propagate the fish and deliver them at the railroad stations. 

 The importance, therefore, of the work that these organizations have 

 been doing in the matter of fish distribution cannot be over estimated. 

 Moreover, I do not know where we could get from any other source the 

 valuable information which they furnish to us. They know every little 

 headwater; they know the right place to plant the fish so as to get the 

 maximum results. We should do everything possible to encourage the 

 formation of organizations that have in mind the protection of fish or the 

 fostering of the fish supply in our streams. 



Mr. Baskett: I hope that Mr. Avery did not think I was in any 

 way disparaging scientific research. I am greatly interested in it. 

 But in the State of Missouri alone there are more than fifteen or six- 

 teen hundred "hill-billies", and they are the boys we have to educate. 

 They care nothing about your scientific meetings; but they know what 

 they want and are out to get it. When you can educate that chap down 

 there on the Niangu, the Current or the Black river that he is not to 

 dynamite fish; that he is not to gig fish in or out of season — the law 

 will be changed in Missouri. When you teach him that he is to quit 

 shooting with high-powered rifles and violating the game laws in various 

 ways ; when you can impress that upon him, we are going to have more 

 fish in the streams and lakes of the United States. This is the work we 

 are endeavoring to do ; we have to reach these fellows. We have to put 

 it to them in their own vernacular. I have fished and hunted among 

 them for years, consequently I am having more success in these endeav- 

 ors than I otherwise would. I have come here to ask you gentlemen to 

 co-operate with the Isaak Walton League of America in its great work, 

 and from the remarks that have been made I see that co-operation is 

 here. 



President Leach: The Isaak Walton League of America fills a 

 long-felt want. It meets the sportsmen and fishermen all over the 

 country; it speaks their own language. The League will have the co- 

 operation of the American Fisheries Society. Mi-. Will Dilg is an 

 organizer; he has a large number of enthusiastic men behind him. Every 

 body should read the monthly publication that he publishes. 



