THE SUXDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, AUGUST 18, 1907.
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UNCLE SAM Is about to inaugurate a
battle to cava the nation's food fish.
Already he has given the subject
much attention, and a department of fish
hatcheries has planted In waters all over
the countries millions of spawn and fln
gerllngs." But the new movement-is to be much
more systematic. It will make the entire
problem of fish supply one for Washing
ton to deal with. As a preliminary, every
atate in the Union will be asked to cede
ItB rights over the principal rivers and
lakes, which pass through the territory
of other states.
Thus empowered the United State
Government will be able to enact uniform
laws and have authority to compel ob
servance of regulations that will prevent
the wholesale destruction of one of the
most Important staples of our food.
The preliminaries to the movement were
arranged a short time ago at the meeting
of the American Fisheries Society, which
met in Brie. Pa., after having made an.
extensive investigation of the fish prob
lem on the Great Lakes and their tribu
taries. The society found that the once teem
ing supply of fish In the great inland sea
Is being steadily depleted until today It
Is not 60 per cent of what It was.
William E. Meehan. Chief of the Penn
sylvania Department of Fisheries, an ex-,
pert, who has made a life study of the
subject, announced that at the root of the
trouble lay the lack of uniform legislation.
Nearly every state has some laws to
protect the fish, he said, and there are
also Canadian restrictions, but they are
not alike, and It is not possible, for ex
ample, to secure In Michigan obedience to
an Ohio statute.
What Is needed, the Commissioner ex
plained, is a conference between State,
Federal and Canadian authorities to map
out a programme that will give the fish
a chance.
Commissioner Meehan was authorized
to present the case to President Roose
velt and to the Canadian authorities, and
also to prepare for each state a draft of
the bills that must be Introduced Into each
Legislature to cedo control of the fish
waters to Washington. It Is hoped that
by the time the United States and Canada
have their conference on the subject, that
Uncle Sam will have obtained from all the
Interested states the rights necessary to
act for all.
The American Fisheries Society is an
influential body, made up of the Fish
Commissioners of the United States Gov
ernment and of the 30 states that have
been attempting to deal with one .of the
most Important problems bearing on tho
Increasingly difficult question of food.
For two years the matter of Federal
control has been recognized as the only
solution of the Great Lakes Fisheries
question, but the present movement will
carry this Idea a good deal further, and
will give Washington authority over every
considerable body of water In the country
that is a supply point for fish. Minnesota
and Michigan, recognizing the importance
of the issue, have already ceded their
rights to the United States.
The Canadian Minister of Maine has ex
pressed himself as eager to meet the
United States Government more than half
way on any proposition that can be ad
vanced for the good of the cause.
In exerci6lng authority over the fish
vaters the supply wtl1 be protected by
the enforcement of laws as to the open
and closed season, the size of Ash to
be caught, the size of the mesh of
seines, so as to let the smaller fish
escape, the, methods of fishing, protec
tion of the waters from 'pollution, and
all the other advanced systems -of sav
ing the finny residents of the deep
from extinction.
National control will also have the
effect of lessening the political Influ
ence in the handling of the question
of minimizing the demands of the com
mercial fishermen, for it is a notorious
fact that it Is much easier to get con
cessions from corrupt state officials
than from Washington.
The movement is not planned in the
Interest of sportsmen, nor for those
who sell fish, though both will benefit
largely. The sportsmen of the coun
try will be a unit for all such regula
tions as are planned, for their one
great Idea is to see the game fish of
Uncle Sam's domain protected from ex
tinction. But primarily the effort is being di
rected to save to the common people
what ehould be one of the cheapest
possible kinds of food.
It costs nothing to raise fish. They
do not have to be fed. The waters in
which they live provide them all the
nourishment they need. The only cost
is to catch them and get them to mar
ket. This oughf to make them 'sell far
cheaper than meat, and does, save In
the case of trout and the game aristo
crats. At a time when the cost of liv
ing 'io ever mounting, the poor need
protection, and that is why Uncle Sam
Is going to exert the limit of his power
IPbRTL AN D, THE IPoRJ OF EAUTY
ENTHUTIATIC n APPRECIATION OF OREGON IF CHIEF
CITY. BY AN EATERN VLTITOK. WH HAT DErCRJPTIVE
, POWER 9
BY JEAN S. BENNY.
RATHER bored, if the truth qe
known, and utterly weary of the
tropic, heat and artificial veg
atation of Los Angeles, we came to
Portland and found a new interest In
life and blessed rest for body and soul
in the same happy life of the city. In
Its environment of wooded height, and
wave of washed shore and its revivify
ing air.
Tnre in the scent of flrs Is blent.
With odors of the sea.
We have found our castle in Spain a
city where, In spite of an unmistakable
atmosphere of sound business prosper
ity and of activity in all commercial
lines the sense of work, of bustle and
confusion is not paramount; good pic
ture and book-shops abound, and not
only handsome homes testifying to
wealth, but plenty of -moderate homes
of tidy cottages which seem to show
widespread prosperity. There may be
slums there was a serpent even in
F.den but we did not see them.
Although the modern American spirit
which is Impelling Seattle, for example,
to hurl its hills bodily Into the sea In
its march of progress, is absent from
Portland, still there is by no means a
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FJ5H COMMISSIONER,
WILLIAM K. MEEHA,M.:-
Who is at ike head of movement lohave
S'iates empower Govenn merit io do all
thai is needed to protect Fish iSitpply.
testis
777Z" K rSH rfA UK ". ' Thi Un i ted v5ia ies ' Coverrzment dsoai .
where AriificiaiZ cu2tns isteino- oil iempDiecL.
to keep his stock of fish from decep
tion. Congressman Shiras. of Pittsburg,
has been selected to present the ques
tion to Congress, and he will And little
trouble in pressing his views, for all
his colleagues who have studied the
questions share his views.
It is admitted on all sides that a
time has arrived when the 'problem
must be dealt with. The question Is
not so pressing in the South, but in
the North, especially that section east
of the Mississippi and north of Ma
son's and Dixon's line, the greed of the
fish dealers has had the effect of com
pletely destroying many noted fishing
grounds.
Thus the Connecticut River was at
one time noted for producing gome of
sense of stagnation It Is more the
sane, natural growth of nature, the
same resistless force which brings a
mighty oak from a tiny acorn Is at
work In this fair city, spreading ever
backward to Its mountains," climbing up
their wooded slopes and reaching out
for miles along the beautiful banks of
the Willamette.
A happy rather than a gay "city seems
Portland, and beautiful In all details,
from the clustering balls of light which
shed a soft, clear radiance at night to
its handsome, substantial blocks of
business houses.
The "outings" that the city offers are
many; the chance to get back to nature
is ever present, and few are too poor
to at least reach the park, a bit of
natural woodland Just touched and
trained a bit by an artist hand. We
spent a blessed afternoon there; the
spirit of nature was abroad. In deep
ravines from whose fern-clad sides rose
the mighty pines and firs of Oregon; in
forest shades deep and cool, in mossy
dells where bubbling springs and
trickling streams made music sweet
and low: in gardens fragrant with
roses, and In leafy coverts where the
deer, the squirrel, th royal peacock
JJoveramenf will
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the finest shad in the world. Now the
catch hardly makes It pay the fisher
men for putting out the nets. The Del
aware River, the most noted shad sup
ply source. In the country, was in al
most as bad shape, but the United
States ship, the Flshhawk, has stocked
the river liberally with the spawn, eo
that this year quite an improvement
was noted.
The two plans must go hand In hand.
What flsh there are surviving must be
protected, and where the stock has al
most passed artificial propagation must
do Its work of help.
The lack of uniform Iaws has really
made Canada a worse sufferer than the
United States. In some of our lake
states the restrictive laws passed by
State Legislatures make It impossible
for fishermen to ply their trade in
and lesser birds of all degrees lived in
happy freedom, unconscious that bounds
were set to keep them captive, though
free.
As w wandered along the pine-carpeted
trails, like a strain of music kept
breaking in my mind the rhythm and
beauty of a verse from a recent poem,
"The Green Inn," by Theodosia Garri
son: The roof is high and arched and blue;
The floor Is spread with pine;
On mi- four walls the sunlight falls
In golden flecks and fine;
And swift and fleet on nolRelens feet
The Four tnds bring me win.
Upon my board they set their store
Great drinks mixed cunningly
Wherein the scent of furze is blent
With odor of ths sea
As from a cup, I drink it up.
To thrill the. veins of roe.
Just as we were turning to leave the
park, like a vision luminous and fair
we caught a glimpse of Mount Hood,
floating apparently a great white rose
In clouds of violet and gray
By ar happy accident for we were
strangers in Portland and not yet well
acquainted with her pleasure trips we
saw a car bearing the sign, "Mountains
in View," and it seemed to us a goodly
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American waters, mo they cross over
Into Canadian waters, catch their flsh
and bring them into the United States
to be sold. But if the regulations gov
erning the lakes were made uniform,
this practice would be impossible.
Artificial propagation could be made
to do a wonderful work all over the
country; in fact, it is absolutely neces
sary If our waters are to be made to
produce as they once did.
Only 1 to 2, per cent of the flsh
hatched naturally reach maturity, and
about 95 per cent of the eggs deposited
by nature are destroyed. By artificial
hatching 90 to 95 per cent of the eggs
are hatched.
Yellow perch and pickerel eggs yield
95 per cent, while only 90 per cent Of
shad eggs are hatched. The loss of
thing to Join the others going to pay
homage to this fair sight.
Up and ever upward climbed our car,
pushing its way apparently for the
first time" into the very heart of a
primeval forest so dense the growth of
trees on either side our narraw track.
Traces that man had been before us,
though, showed In beautiful homes
perched on the mountain side, dropped
as if by accidtnt among the towering
trees.
It was all very lovely, thia ride In
the quiet twilight through the per
fumed forest, with a chance glimpse at
some turn or curve of a snowy peak or
a bit of river blue. The supreme mo
ment, when we stood like the gods of
old on Olympus and viewed the world
at our feet, came suddenly as the crises
of life usually do.
From the Isolated peak on which we
stood we looked over the forest through
which we had just come and the city
nestling at its feet, across the Colum
bia River with its green islands touched
and transfigured by the sunset glow, at
the majestic Cascades above whose
darkly wooded slopes rose, each iso
lated and aloof, those white giants
among the mountains, Hood, Adams, St.
Helens, and still further off, looming up
back of St. Helens, the great bulk of
Rainier seemed to pierce the very
skies.
Many mountains in their turn have
held my heart; but for supreme grandeur,
these peaks of Portland now hold sway.
There" Is a marked resemblance to some
parts of the Swiss ranges; the combina
tion of lower ranges, densely green, and
profecf.
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wall-eyed pike, eggs is the greatest.
The hatch is only -about 60 per cent.
Yet the advantage of artificial hatch
ing is the enormous difference of SO
to 95 per cent, as against only 5 pjr
cent hatched In the natural way.
Out of 1000 flsh naturaly depositej,
only (0 will hatch, and only one out
of 60 will reach maturity. By artificial
hatching 950 eggs out of 1000 will
hatch, and when the flsh ar. planted
snow peaks rising majestically above
them, is peculiarly Alpine, of course; and
In this particular the mountain ranges
of Washington and Oregon gain In
oeauty over the Rocky Mountains, bare
and cold from summit to base, save for
occasional scraggy growth near the foot.
Again, seeing these great peaks of the
Northwest from sea-level, gives them
about 6000 feet above mountains of the
same height seen from Colorado, that
great plateau of a state lying from 4000
to 6000 or 7000 feet in the air. -
The twilights are long and lovely in
Portland, and we watched the white
peaks turn to rose and gold, we saw the
violet gray of early evening creep over
river, city and forest before we turned
reluctantly away. .
The fact that a perfectly appointed
Japanese tea house furnished us with de
licious coffee and sandwiches, as we sat
there on the edge of the world, did not
detract from our Joy.
The grade was appallingly steep as we
lid down to the city, and it was balm
to. my soul to hear a man assure a maid
that
".An accident is Impossible" long me
chanical details followed which my brain
could not grasp. I Just clung to that
first sentence as we slipped around curves
and twists or hung on the dizzy edge
of some dark ravine.'
Portland's twinkling lights looked very
alluring below us so suggestive of home
comforts and pleasant firesides; and it
was quite a pleasant sensation to come
down from "the heights" and mingle
with the happy, sauntering crowds on
her gaily-lighted streets.
A trip by water which gave us great
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WHIPPING POOL "FOR TP! OUT.
Ths grtsai sporl will pass away unless
measures are taken io pi&iect fe'sh Juqoty:
93 will reach maturlty-or 180 In 2000,
as against one by natural process.
Contemplation of those figures will
convince the average mind of the good
which can be done by fish culture.
It Is also hoped that by the change
of laws the United States can gain
more control over deep-sea fishing
within the three-mile limit.
The operations of the Menhaden
fishermen on the Atlantic Coast have
Joy was up the Columbia to The Dalles;
so swiftly does the scenery change on
this marvelous trip and so sharp the con
trast in each case that I had the same
feeling I had as a child when looking
through a kaleidoscope each combina
tion of colored glass wa so beautiful that
it wrung my heart to turn to the next.
So with this river trip; the wooded
islands and fertile sun-kissed river banks,
with orchards dejply fruited that marked
the first part of the trip, gave way all
too soon to grimly towering peaks and
bold bluffs, sharply jutting out from
rocky walls, where wiowy waterfalls beat
themselves to foam in their headlong
plunge to dark ravines below; softly rip
pling waves, that kissed the shores, and
parted gently before us, changed in a
second to swirling, seething rapids that
In ugly mood, fought us, for every inch
of our way; then came the placid silence
of the lock, down which we quietly set
tled into the river bed again, grown
quiet now, and running between level
plains, for we were fast approaching The
Dalles the flat place probably so fitly
named by early Canadian-French ex
plorers. The homeward trip was even more
beautiful than the outwardbound; for
long shadows began -to creep over land
nnd waves, as slow evening came gently
on; then the setting sun touched all na
ture with magic
And there was glory over alt the land.
And there was glory over all the aea.
the whole world seemed to float In a very
sea of glory and we glided stilly and
softly on. Night, "with her thousand
eyes." had triumphed over "day. as we
n eared Portland; and the city was ap
Wo
ill
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A' BIG BASS
HOOKED-
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Tins Remark
able Plioiogvaph
shows a fme Boss
aihe end of
''rLosingr battle.
11
35
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long been a source of concern to lor
ers of game flsh, for the nets set for
Menhaden are known to take in quan
tities of mackerel, buttcrfish, ales
wives, shad and bluefisli.
As long as Legislatures had the say,
it was hard for Washington to act, but
now that protection of flsh is to be a
source of food supply, will be looked
after In the efficient way that Uncle
Sam does things.
parent only by the myriad lights which
twinkled on the shores and far up the
mountain sides, which shone from the
vessels at anchor in her harbor and In a
thousand broken reflections in the dark
water; the stars above the lights, around
and below we floated in atmosphere no
suggestion of earth was there we were
one of the many lights only a part of
the great firmament itself!
It was midnight when we . reached
Portland, and as we stepped ashore, ws
came back to earth once more; but such
a happy, charming spot on this earth
earthy that it was good to be there.
From the appearance of the streets. It
might have been 10 o'clock in the even
ing; people were sauntering about; drug
stores, restaurants were open; the shops,
although closed, were brightly lighted,
and there wa the same air of sane, na
tural, happy life which we had noticed
ever since we first set foot on Portland's
shore. . .
Ah. me, I have left a bit of my heart
in Portland and some day I hope to go
back and find it.
Moving a Seven-Room House.
Kansas City Star.
Imitating the New York engineers who
moved a great steel bridge two miles
down the Harlem River on scows, a Bos
ton firm has floated a seven-room house.
Intact, from' Prison Point. Charlestown,
to the beach at Winthrop Highlands. The
house had stood for years at the Prison
Point crossing of the Boston & Maine
Railroad and was occupied by the draw
tender. The construction of a grade
crossing bridge made necessary the re
moval of the house. It was purchased
by speculators and moved by them. It
will be used as a, Summer cottage.