CARP, “AS SEEN BY A FRIEND: 
BYSDRASS ab BARE Ean Ol (OUUNGY WEE EN Ors: 
(Read by Dr. Smith.) 
This point of view being so rare as to be almost unique, it 
may be wise, perhaps, to give some of my reasons for holding 
it, in order to free myself from possible suspicions as to my 
complete sanity on the subject. 
As I understand it, the work of the fish commissions was 
designed to produce the greatest amount of benefit to the great- 
est number of people, the question of increasing the supply of 
food entering into it to as great a degree as the financial interests 
involved. The work necessarily has to cover localities of various 
and contrasted conditions, and in fitting it to such conditions it 
naturally follows that no one locality can be taken as a criterion 
as to the results which may follow the same methods in another 
locality or state. It is my purpose to endeavor to show that the 
introduction of the carp into the waters of Illinois by the United 
States Fish Commission, was a wise proceeding, and one that 
will do more toward causing these waters to produce their full 
quota of food than any other plan ever worked for the interests 
of this locality. J am aware that the waters of all the states 
are not so well adapted as natural homes for the carp as are 
those of Illinois; perhaps a brief explanation of the reasons for 
this may be in order. I have watched this branch of the work 
carefully, and while I may be a trifle more enthusiastic than 
many of my fellow workers, it is possible that my knowledge 
of conditions and results justifies my position, 
I have been here a long time and my intimate acquaintance 
with the waters of Illinois has given me a better knowledge 
of the facts than that of the average man, at least, and I have 
seen the depletion of the fishes indigenous to those waters con- 
tinue year after year, through wanton waste and lack of protec- 
tion, until the fish industry, once great in its proportions, had 
dwindled to such a degree that the wholesale fish dealers were 
practically “down and out.” 
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