13 



They have to learn that iiTiiiecessary destniction of th(^ fishes is tres- 

 Ijass upon the rights of others, for tish in the public waters are the 

 proi)erty of all the people. Punishment for iUegal fishing therefore 

 is not only i^rotection, but education. True sportsmen are humane 

 and respectful of human rights. If this sentiment were universal, the 

 enforcement would be easy, the inhabitants of the waters of the State 

 would soon be multiplied more than ten-fold, and the interest of both 

 the sportsmen and the commercial fishermen would correspondingly 

 be enhanced. 



WARDEN SYSTEM. 



The Forty-third General Assembly gave as an amendment to our 

 warden service and instead of an unlimited number of wardens who 

 were dependent on convictions and fines for their compensation, five 

 paid wardens. 



This has proved to be a practical change, lender the old system 

 the enforcement of the law was at least a temptation to persecute and 

 to use the provisions of the law to obtain their fees rather than pun- 

 ish the offender and the personal interference of the commissioners 

 was asked for so often, that it took more of our time to prevent prosecu- 

 tions than to prosecute — in other words the old rule of "something^ 

 for nothing" did not work. Men who spent their time and money to 

 enforce law and found fines not to be collected, pursued other meth- 

 ods to make themselves whole. Under the present paid system, 

 wardens depend on their salary, expenses paid by commission, do not 

 handle any fines, and are not permitted to take money in any way for 

 services. 



The report of wardens made elsewhere will show extent of work 

 and its value. What we need is an increase in the number of wardens 

 to properly handle the requirements of the whole State. 



REPORT OF WARDENS^ 



The wardens are required to make monthly reports to the board of 

 commissioners giving the number of arrests made, the number [of 

 nets and seines siezed, and the number of convictions, if any have 

 been secured. The nets that are taken are delivered to the sheriff of 

 the county in which they are found, and his receii3t for them is taken 

 as in the following instance: 



Chicago, III. Nov. 11, 1904. 

 Received of Geo. W. (rlynn. warden, seven nets taken in Calnmet river. 

 [Sig-ned.] Tiios IJarkett, 



Slicriff Cook County. 



Chicago, to which all roads in the State of Illinois lead, commer- 

 cially, is the center of trade in the fish industry, and not only from 

 different parts of the State, but from almost every other state as well, 

 are tish shipped to its markets, and naturally, very many undersized 

 fish find their way there among the others and the work of the war- 

 dens in enforcing the law relating to the size of marketable fish has 

 been a difficult one. The lake front for miles has been thickly 

 covered with derricks with dip nets attached with which thousands 



