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same and the completion of the report. On October 11 the report was submitted to the President, and was published on October 17, together with a letter of the President thereon and the report of the Department of Justice showing the status of the criminal proceedings taken in connection with the disaster.

This investigation by the Commission revealed a very unsatisfactory condition of the Steamboat-Inspection Service in the port of New York and resulted in the removal of the supervising inspector for the second district and the local board of inspectors for the port of New York. The report of the Commission found that the methods of inspection in the port of New York and of the officials since removed were largely responsible for the disaster. The report also called attention to a number of defects and recommends changes in existing statutes and regulations relating to the Service. There is urgent need that the laws relating to the Service be strengthened and improved in accordance with the recommendations. In view of this fact attention is respectfully directed to the report and recommendations of the Commission and the accompanying letter of the President. By order of the Secretary, there was also carried on during the months of July, August, September, and October, 1904, a reinspection of the passenger steamers in the port of New York by inspectors from other ports detailed for that purpose. This reinspection was had both for the immediate object of securing proper conditions in that port and also as a part of the work of the Commission in ascertaining the conditions existing there at the time of the disaster. The results of the reinspection were incorporated in the report of the Commission.

In pursuance of the letter of the President, the Board of Supervising Inspectors of the Steamboat-Inspection Service was convened in Washington on October 25, 1904, in special session, for the purpose of revising the rules and regulations of that Service. This work is not yet completed. Also, in pursuance of that part of the letter of the President which directs a further investigation of the Service in continuation of the investigation by the Commission, officers of the Navy have been detailed to make investigation in respective districts, as follows:

First district, Rear-Admiral Louis Kempff.
Third district, Commander Z. L. Tanner.

Fourth district, Rear-Admiral John R. Bartlett.
Eighth district, Rear-Admiral Wells L. Field.
Ninth district, Rear-Admiral F. M. Symonds.
Tenth district, Rear-Admiral W. C. Wise.

I very much regret to say that while on duty in this work Rear-Admiral John R. Bartlett died at St. Louis on the morning of

November 22, 1904. Request will be made that another naval officer be detailed to take his place in this investigation.

Upon completion of the work in the said districts, the remaining districts, to wit, the fifth, sixth, seventh, and that part of the second not included in the port of New York (which has already been considered by the Commission) will also be investigated.

These officers are now engaged upon the work assigned to them and upon completion of their work, a report will be made summarizing the conditions as found in the entire Steamboat-Inspection Service.

In closing this branch of the report I desire to express my appreciation of the work of the Commission. While the report shows that sixty-five days were consumed in the taking of evidence, the digesting of the same, and the preparation of the report, it does not show the time actually consumed in the conduct of the investigation. Some of the members of the Commission during the investigation worked on an average fifteen hours a day. Three of the members were officers of the Department of Commerce and Labor, one a retired army officer, and one an officer of the Navy on the active list. No extra compensation was paid them for their services. The clerical force detailed to assist in the carrying on of the investigation, especially the stenographers, at times worked all night in order to have the evidence ready the next day for the consideration of the Commission. This work was also done without extra compensation. The total cost of the investigation, including rent of rooms in New York, subsistence, and traveling expenses of the Commission and clerical force, was only $1,044.61.

BUREAU OF FISHERIES.

The Commissioner of Fisheries reports that the year 1904 was one of the most successful in the history of the Bureau, considered with reference to the operations of the hatcheries. The results attained in all branches have been satisfactory, and the outlook for greatly augmented work is very favorable.

The efforts of the Bureau on behalf of the fisheries are yearly becoming more generally appreciated, and a desire to actively cooperate with the Bureau has been manifested throughout the country by all persons directly or indirectly interested in the promotion of fishing as a business or as a pastime. The sums voted annually for expenditure through this channel represent only about 1 per cent of the annual value of our fisheries; the preservation of some of the most important of these is now largely dependent on the Bureau's operations, and it is easily demonstrable that in pursuing a liberal policy for the promotion of the fishing industry Congress is simply making an investment that yields returns far greater than those which attend private business enterprises.

FISH PROPAGATION.

The total number of fish distributed in fresh and salt waters of the country exceeded one and one-quarter pillions, an output which has been equaled by that of only a single previous season (1902). The conditions attending the hatching of such a large number of fishes necessitate the planting of most of them in the form of fry, but increased attention has been given to the rearing of important species, and the output of adult, yearling, and fingerling fish was nearly 50 per cent larger than in any previous year.

The importance of the Bureau's fish-cultural operations, however, must not be gauged by the results during any one year, but by the average for a series of years, as peculiar seasonal conditions often materially modify the work of particular stations, sometimes favorably, more often unfavorably, and give an erroneous impression as to its extent. It usually happens that a year which is characterized by a greatly diminished yield of certain fishes is also signalized by an augmented output of others, so that the aggregate distributions remain normal. This point, which has frequently been commented on, was exemplified anew in 1904, when an exceedingly poor season for shad and whitefish was offset by the largest collections of eggs of Pacific salmon and flatfish ever known.

An important feature of the work of artificial propagation, which has often been referred to but can not be too strongly emphasized, is that an exceedingly large percentage of the young fish hatched annually are from eggs taken from fish that have been caught for market, and hence would be totally lost were it not for the efforts of the Bureau. To the many hundred millions of young food and game fishes thus produced must be added many more millions resulting from the superiority of artificial propagation over natural propagation in the matters of fertilizing and incubating eggs and of safety of the young.

The aggregate output in 1904 of 1,267,343,025 was divided as follows: Fertilized eggs, 263,123,354; fry, 994,503,040; fingerlings, yearlings, and adults, 9,716,631. The eggs shown were for the most part donated to various States to be incubated in their own hatcheries, the resulting fry being planted under the direction of the State fishery authorities. It is worthy of remark, that while the Bureau makes ample provision for maintaining the supply of fishes caught chiefly by anglers, nearly 99 per cent of the fish handled are those which are the objects of commercial fisheries.

The demand and the local facilities determine the proportion of effort directed toward the cultivation of particular species. During the year salmon were propagated at 11 stations, whitefish at 7, lake trout at 5, shad at 4, pike perch at 3, cod at 2, flatfish at 2, striped bass, white perch, and yellow perch at 1 each, and the lobster at 2.

INVESTIGATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE FISHERIES.

Attention is invited to the important branch of the Bureau's work which deals with the biological questions that arise in connection with the economic fisheries and fish culture. It is particularly concerned with the exploration of lakes, streams, and salt waters; the study of the habits, growth, and distribution of fishes and other aquatic animals; the experimental cultivation of desirable products not now the objects of cultivation, with a view to developing methods that may be applied on a wholesale basis; the investigation of the diseases of fishes under cultivation and in a wild state, and the pollution of waters in its effect on fish life, and the encouragement of biological research in the Bureau's laboratories and field operations.

The special commission for the investigation of the salmon fisheries of Alaska concluded its labors in the fall of 1903, and shortly thereafter a preliminary report was submitted embodying the general results of the investigation and making recommendations for the protection and promotion of the fisheries. This report was presented to the President on January 21, 1904, and by the President transmitted to Congress on January 27, 1904. The most important recommendations of the special commission are the establishment of Government salmon hatcheries under the control of the Bureau of Fisheries, and the placing of all matters relating to the fisheries of Alaska under the direction of the Commissioner of Fisheries.

Among the numerous special subjects the Bureau has had under consideration with reference to economic questions are the oyster, sponges, the blue crab, the diamond-back terrapin, the green turtle, and various fishes. The experiments in the artificial fattening of oysters and the cultivation of sponges from cuttings have continued with satisfactory results. The raising of the diamond-back terrapin and the green turtle from the egg is receiving attention at points in Chesapeake Bay and on the coast of Florida. States in which inquiries have been made as to the fishery resources of particular waters are Maine, North Carolina, Indiana, California, and Arizona.

The collection of information with reference to the extent and condition of the fisheries, with a study of the methods, affords the only basis for determining the condition and trend of the commercial fisheries of the country; it forms an invaluable criterion of the necessity for and the results of fish-cultural operations of the Government and States and is indispensable in furnishing a basis for legislation.

General canvasses have been conducted in the New England, South Atlantic, and Gulf States, and the Hawaiian Islands. Special inquiries have been made into the condition of the vessel fisheries centering at Boston and Gloucester, Mass.; the Pacific cod and halibut fisheries, and the whale fishery centering at San Francisco; the fisheries of the

interior waters of Florida and the interior lakes and streams of New York and Vermont. Very complete canvasses have been made of the statistics and methods of the salmon industry of Washington, Oregon, California, and Alaska in conjunction with the work of the special salmon commission.

ALASKAN SALMON FISHERIES.

During the past year there has been a marked decrease in the salmon pack of Alaska in all grades. In 1902 the season's catch was 2,631,320 cases, in 1903, 2,631,782, and in the present year it will probably not exceed 1,935,000, a falling off in two years of 696,320 cases. Throughout the entire world there has been a large reduction of the pack of salmon, which, approximately, is only 2,810,000 cases for 1904 against 4,317,000 cases for 1902, a loss of 1,507,000 cases. These figures are not exact, as the detailed statistical reports required of the packers are not yet at hand.

Notwithstanding this decrease in the volume of the pack, there has been a marked increase in its aggregate market value, the receipts for 1903 having been about 30 per cent more than those of the preceding year, and from present indications a further increase will be shown this year.

The steady decrease in the salmon pack of Alaska is due to constantly enlarging operations of the packers beyond the natural resources of the streams, and to unfavorable conditions under which the propagation of salmon is carried on. The regulations promulgated by this Department under the law require that persons engaged in taking salmon shall maintain suitable artificial propagating plants or hatcheries, and shall produce yearly and plant in the natural spawning waters of each fishery so operated red salmon fry in such numbers as shall be equal to at least ten times the number of salmon of all varieties taken from the said fishery during the preceding year. Despite the safeguards which have thus been thrown about the salmon industry by the law and the regulations, and by the personal inspection given by the agents of the Government, the supply of fish, as has been noted, is apparently steadily decreasing. It has been found impracticable to enforce adequate artificial propagation by private parties. I therefore urge the favorable consideration by Congress of the estimates which have been submitted for the establishment of salmon hatcheries under the direct supervision of the Department.

This need for artificial propagation was touched upon in the Department's last annual report, and the condition which has been presented would seem to strongly commend to the Congress the wisdom and necessity of immediate action. Very much more than the amount which has been asked for in the estimate has been paid into the Treas

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