1048 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
are neither right nor proper, and the Government is not so impecunious or needy 
that we should ask for it or accept such gratuitous services. 
The rate of salary named in the bill is the same as has been fixed for and paid to 
the assistant commissioner for years. 
With a Commissioner charged, as his sole duty, with the work of the Fish Com- 
mission there will be no further need for an assistant commissioner. The bill, 
therefore, does not contemplate any additional expense. The further details of the 
administration will be looked to when the appropriation bills are made up. 
It is best not to encumber the present bill with other matter than the provision 
for the head of the Commission, as it is of the first importance that a permanent 
head of the Commission should be provided for at once. As soon as the new Com- 
missioner provided for by this act shall have been appointed and installed he can be 
called before the committees of the House, and if further legislation be needed it 
can be predicated on his reports and after a revision of any projects for the prosecution 
of the work which he may submit. 
Mr. PornpExtTER Dunn. I do not know of anything that I can add 
to the explanation given in the report if members have attended to 
the reading of it. The simple question is whether the Fish Commis- 
sion shall be retained and given a thorough business organization, 
with a distinctive, independent, and responsible head to it, or whether 
it shall be abandoned. 
I presume that members generally know that it originated at the 
instance of Professor Baird in the institution of a mere inquiry in 
1871, and that it has grown now to be one of the most important 
bureaus of the Government in the estimation of a great many 
thoughtful and considerate people. Appropriations have been made 
from year to year and placed at the disposal, practically, of Professor 
Baird almost without limitation, and I believe during most of the time 
without detailed report as to the manner of their expenditure, so great 
was the confidence which Congress and the country had in his wisdom 
and in his integrity, and the results have justified that confidence. 
But Professor Baird is dead, and there is now no practical head to 
that bureau. And it is thought wise and to be best that an inde- 
pendent head be created, in order that the bureau may be administered 
on a basis of responsibilty, as the other departments or bureaus of 
the Government are and should be. 
Mr. W. C. Oates. Will the gentleman from Arkansas permit me a 
question ? 
Mr. Dunn. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Oates. Will the gentleman inform us what authority Con- 
gress has for legislation creating this bureau? 
Mr. Dunn. Well, Mr. Chairman, that is a very large question, 
undoubtedly, in the estimation of my friend from Alabama; but it 
seems that Congress created this bureau in 1871 and has maintained 
it since. It was perhaps unfortunate that my friend from Alabama 
was not here just then to intercept it; but we have the bureau in 
