NATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS. 
153 
Indianapolis, Ind., January 19, 1898. 
May the National Fishery Congress he a success is the wish of your Indiana friends. 
Albert Lieber. 
Regret exceedingly can not attend Fishery Congress, 
greater protection to one of our greatest industries. 
Chicago, III., January 18, 1898. 
Sincerely hope meeting will result in 
H. H. Kohlsaat. 
Regret extremely inability to attend. 
Chicago, III., January 19, 1898. 
Noble industrial enterprise. 
Thomas B. Bryan. 
Chicago, III., January 19, 1898. 
Please express to Governor Bloxham and to the Fisheries Congress my regret at being unable to 
accept.his and their very kind invitation, and be good enough to tender my best wishes for the success 
of the Congress; also present my regards to my old and valued friend, H. B. Plant, whose hospitality 
I am sure you are all enjoying. 
Stuyvesant Fish. 
Letters were read from President McKinley, expressing the sincere hope that the 
Congress would accomplish all that it was assembled for, and from United States Pish 
Commissioner Brice, conveying his best wishes for the success of the meeting. 
In response to calls from the audience Mr. H. B. Plant spoke in part as follows: 
I am not a public speaker, and am rarely called upon to make any address, and especially to such 
an intelligent set of people as I see before me now. It is a pleasure, however, to be here, in the 
presence of gentlemen who are devoting their time for the benefit of mankind in an effort to promote 
the propagation and preservation of that excellent food for man — fish. And I thank you, sir, Governor 
Bloxham, for calling the attention of the American people — not only the American people, but the 
people of the world generally — to the fact that fish must be protected. It is not an easy matter to 
protect the fishes of this country, whether it be the fish that swims in the water or the fish that is 
hidden away in the sands. 
You have done well, sir, to call this convention. You have done better, perhaps, than you 
thought to bring it to the attention of the whole country, as well as to the countries represented here, 
and to whom invitations have been sent by the Secretary of State of the United States. It is to be 
regretted that so few foreign delegates have been able to attend. I know, sir, that it was the intention 
of the Emperor of Japan, through his cabinet, to have sent a delegate here, and I am informed that 
the occasion for not sending is, as you have announced, a change in the official cabinet of the Emperor. 
I had the assurance of the prime minister that there was no subject that could be brought to the 
attention of the Emperor and the cabinet that they felt a greater interest in than that of preserving 
the fish industry. The Japanese are a great fish-eating people. Fish is their principal article of diet, 
together with rice, and I am sure that country will regret that it was not able to be represented here. 
In response to calls Ool. A. A. Wiley, of Montgomery, Ala., made a stirring 
address. 
Mr. W. E. Meehan, of Pennsylvania, from the committee on credentials and per- 
manent organization, announced the list of delegates and made the following report, 
which was adopted : 
We recommend that Mr, A. N. Cheney, of New York, be selected as president of this Congress, 
and that Dr. H. M. Smith, of Washington, D. C., be selected as secretary of this Congress. 
We further recommend that five vice-presidents be hereafter appointed by the president, to 
preside over the deliberations of this Congress at his invitation. 
We further recommend that a committee on resolutions, consisting of one from each State, shall 
be appointed by the president of this Congress on the nomination of such delegates as may be selected 
respectively by the representatives from said States. 
