134 Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting. 
ment that controls the market fisherman. He cares not for his 
fellowman nor his state, but how much is there in it for him, 
that is all. Hence the difficulty in enforcing laws, even after 
proper ones are passed by the state for fish protection. That 
this sentiment alone controls him and that this is the reason 
that he will not aid in the protection of fish goes without denial. 
And even if you try to prove to him that by seeking and taking 
undersized fish or by the destruction of spawn he will extermi- 
nate them, and if he will let them grow, he will secure a larger 
increase in the revenue from the industry, it 1s not believed by 
him. I have used this argument time and time again. A few 
weeks ago at a trial of some cases at Rock Hall, Maryland, and 
at which I secured the conviction of a number of fishermen for 
violating the fish laws, | made this argument: In the Baltimore 
markets this past spring perch of the size of about eight or nine 
inches could not be had for less than fifty cents per bunch of six 
or seven, while fish of a size prohibited by law in our state, to- 
wit, seven inches, sold and could be had in plenty for some ten to 
fifteen cents per bunch of eight or ten. I appealed to them on 
the ground of a cold-blooded financial proposition, showing the 
difference between securing twelve cents for a commodity which 
undisturbed would bring fifty cents within a single year, but as 
usual a deaf ear was turned to all my arguments, and they are at 
this time daily violating the law. 
[ do not refer to the angler’s destruction of fish in this paper 
because he plays but a small part in fish destruction, for in my 
state | really believe that a good haul of one purse net destroys 
more fish than all the fish taken by all the anglers in a season. 
Therefore, while the education of the finer sensibilities of the 
children, the women and the sportsmen will bring about the 
natural protection to a large extent of the song and game birds, 
the market fisherman refuses to be educated on these lines, 
hence the first problem. The fisherman must be educated on 
other lines—the mercenary ones. Appeals must be made to his 
pocket rather than to his heart or brain. He must be taught to 
believe—which is a fact—that he is killing the goose that is 
laying for him the golden egg; that he is putting at defiance 
the better wisdom of the state which passes laws for the protec- 
