REPORT OF RECORDING SECRETARY. 
GENTLEMEN : 
The writer of this, although elected Recording Sec- 
retary at the meeting held in Chicago, in 1893, never 
accepted the office, and the question of determining his 
successor was referred, with power, to the Executive 
Committee although no action was taken by that body. 
This statement is made partly as an apology for what 
may have seemed to the members careless and negli- 
gent management of his office by the Recording Secre- 
tary. Publication and delivery of the report was delay- 
ed and a number of matters of importance given 
insufficient attention. Asa partial result of this in- 
attention to business the membership of the Society has 
not increased, the total active membership remaining at 
about 200, and with an active Recording Secretary the 
membership of this Society could be easily increased to 
2,000 or 3,000 persons, and the sphere of its influence 
and importance enormously extended. The result of 
some work done in 1892 convinces me of this. At 
that time I succeeded in inducing every Fish Commis- 
sioner of the United States to join this Society, and I am 
satisfied that by faithful work every Fish Protective 
Association of the United States would have at least 
one representative in our Association. This would give 
us an influential and extensive membership, powerful 
and good for securing desired protective legislation and 
in educating public sentiment so that such legislation 
might be thoroughly enforced. The annual meetings 
of such a Society, with delegates representing well 
organized local Societies throughout the United States, 
would attract great attention and the result of its de- 
liberations be of the utmost weight. In view of the 
growing interest of the people in matters relative to fish 
