American Fisheries Society. 47 



into the spirit of tlie meeting and demonstrated to us the practi- 

 cal Avorkings of the netting industry wliich is so important to 

 this city and tlie hslieries of the great lakes. 



So we wish to exjjrcss our thanks to the committee, and our 

 hearty enjoyment <»f e\erything they have done for us, and our 

 sole regret is that they ha\e ])lanned so much which we have been 

 unable to enjoy. (Applause.) 



Toastmaster : Many years ago, when I was first introduced 

 into the mysteries of tish culture, I met a gentleman who at that 

 time was deeply involved in the subject, and we have become 

 very firm friends ; and I know we will continue so until the end ; 

 but nearly every time I see him, and that is about once every six 

 months, he is in a new business; and I think we would like to 

 have Dr. Tarleton H. Bean explain to us just what his busi- 

 ness is. 



Dr. Bean : ]\Ir. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen : 1 am 

 blessed if 1 know. It is very difficult to tell just what business 

 may come up in a fish country. I suppose that fish culture does 

 take up a great part of my time. But I certainly have had a 

 great deal of trouble of late with some of my constituents from 

 Missouri — you remember, I am from Missouri. I was born in 

 Pennsylvania and moved to Missouri, and cast my first vote in 

 Missouri. Well, out in Missouri, going out with my dear old 

 friend the chairman of the fish and game committee of the ex- 

 position, fishing down in the Ozark mountains, I heard a fairly 

 good story. There is a country in the middle of the state, in 

 which the inhabitants are not thoroughly familiar with the 

 English language, and they depend upon the general store keeper 

 who is also the postmaster, to give them the news. He reads the 

 weekly |)aper and explains it to them. So he is the translator of 

 the current news of the weekly paper. This man was reading the 

 paper one day to his townspeople, and among the items of in- 

 terest that he read was the following : "There is going to be a 

 great slump in the price of corn, owing to the great influx of im- 

 migrants in this country." They listened to it, and said : "Well 

 now, what is an immigrant ? What does that word mean ?" He 

 always had an explanation ready, or tried to have, so he scratched 

 his head and thought awhile. He didn't know what it meant 



