15 
Probably there is no better way of measuring the pro- 
gressive strides of fish culture in the United States than 
to take the single instance of a State like Pennsylvania. 
Twenty-three years ago there was no trout hatchery 
in the State. The Fish Commission had just been 
created. About two thousand black bass were distri- 
buted in the larger Eastern rivers and streams, and 
with the aid of Seth Green afew hatching boxes for 
shad were at work in the Susquehanna and Delaware. 
But little restrictive legislation had been enacted, and 
even these protective laws were not enforced, for the 
people generally looked on the fishery laws as so many 
restrictions on personal liberty, and they were held in 
supreme disfavor. 
Every stream in the State, from the Delaware and 
Susquehanna rivers down to the mountain trout streams, 
was filled with the deadly fish weirs that were rapidly 
depleting the waters of their supply of fish food ; and 
there was no restocking to restore the constant decrease 
of fish. People did not then pause to reflect that even 
as their land would be exhausted if the nutritive ele- 
ments of the soil were not constantly renewed so the 
fruitfulness of the waters would become barren if their 
fish supply was not kept up. This was the condition 
of Pennsylvania waters in the early seventies, and for 
some years later ; for reform, especially when tardy and 
experimental, requires time for its successful develope- 
ment. 
It would be interesting, but too lengthy, to note the 
different processes of the gradual change that has 
restored to Pennsylvania her great shad fisheries of the 
Delaware, that has made the City of Erie one of the 
largest fish marts on the great lakes, and that has re- 
newed her thousands of trout streams, for many of you 
may not be aware that Pennsylvania next to Maine has 
more trout streams, and more trout producing area, 
than any State in the Union. 
It would be interesting to note the steady enactment 
