16 Thirly-sixlh Ainiinil MccIIikj 



<i-iv:ng us the words of wolcoinc ; Ix'caiiso I could respond 1o them 

 more readily if I had lieard tliciii, l)ut I thank you for tlie words 

 that you have spoken, and I am sui-c that the American Fish- 

 eries Society will o-rcatly enjoy the nicetino- hen*, and will find 

 it profitable. 



The subject on which you were speaking as ! came in. that 

 of close season legislation for the great lakes, is one of very great: 

 importance and one of very great difficulty. I see no way to 

 secure satisfactory results except by national legislation on the 

 subject. We ha^o talked concurrent legislation on the part of 

 the states, and, in some minor particulars, we have been able to 

 secure it. During the past winter, for example, the states oC 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota have agreed on similar legislation for 

 the Mississippi river. It is a great step in advance, although by 

 no means affecting so great an industry as, but an incomparably 

 smaller industry, indeed, than that of the great lakes. 



But the subject of legislation for the great lakes, involving, as 

 it does, so many states and so many and diverse interests, is one 

 which I believe can be handled successfully only through the na- 

 tional government, and I believe that the way to secure results 

 is for the states to join in requesting legislation from the national 

 government and to have that legislation directed and controlled 

 by the national commissioner of fisheries, acting with the advice 

 of the officers of the various states. Because there is no one sys- 

 tem of laws which can be enacted that will apply fairly and just- 

 ly to the different states, stretching, as the lakes do, from Lake 

 Ontario on the east to Lake Superior on the west, and extending 

 over a very great range north and south, with varying tempera- 

 ture of the water, and different breeding habits on the part of the 

 same fish, different species of fish having different places in the 

 economics of the different stations. For these reasons it is 

 not possible to enact any one code of laws wliich shall operate 

 fairly and justly, even over the limits of a single state. In Wis- 

 consin, for instance, if we enact any single law applying to the 

 state of Wisconsin, and make it extend from the southern line of 

 the state on Lake Michigan to the northern limits on Lake Su- 

 perior, we find that it fits one portion of the lakes, and does not 

 lit the other. And, therefore, the problem of securing a rational 

 law for the close season is one of considerable difficultv, and one 



