The casting of refuse in a stream results only in trans- 

 ferring it from one neighborhood to another. 



The great evil with which practical fish culture in 

 America has to contend at the present time is the contam- 

 ination of public waters by sewage and the refuse of man- 

 ufacturies. Although the propagation of fishes by artific- 

 al means has, in this country, reached a degree of efficien- 

 cy unequalled in other countries, the preservation of 

 streams in conditions desirable for maintenance of fish 

 life has been singularly neglected. 



In a majority of those States which possess fishery re- 

 sources there exists more or less effective restrictions upon 

 fishing and the operation of fishery industries, but it is 

 seldom that enactments against the depositing of waste 

 matter in the waters are enforced. 



All of our fish commissioners of experience, both na- 

 tional and state, are agreed that the decrease in the sup- 

 ply of food fishes is traceable more to pollution of waters 

 than to any other cause, and stream pollution is going on 

 at a rate porportionate to the increase in population and 

 the development of manufacturing industries. The ef- 

 fects of pollution are most serious in the more densely 

 populated states. It begins almost at the source of streams 

 and extends to the very mouths of the largest rivers. 



The effects of pollution of the harbor of New York are 

 liable to become very serious, as the amount of sewage is 

 increasing. There are bottom deposits of sewage in many 

 parts of the harbor that are several feet in thickness. 

 Many forms of marine life which assist in the disposal of 

 organic matter in the harbor must decrease in numbers, 

 and disappear as the volume of sewage increases, while 

 the shad, oyster, and other fisheries are already suffering 

 from its effects. 



The Blackstone is the most polluted river in New Eng- 

 land; its name has become synonymous with filth. The 

 headwaters of a river system are usually free from pollu- 

 tion but in this case the opposite is true. The sewage 

 from the city of Worcester befouls the river at its source, 

 and thereafter through its whole extent the Blackstone 

 is a damaged resource to the country. Such is the ac- 

 cumulation of filth in the mill ponds that from some of 

 those near Worcester there arise odors that are detri- 

 mental to comfort and realty, if not health. The use of 

 its water in boilers has long been abandoned and it cannot 

 be used in the manufacture of light colored clothes. 



There is no legal justification for the pollution of water, 

 yet so universal is the practice that it has come to receive 



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