The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-07
JUSTICE FOR THE CATFISH.

After many years the real worth of the catfish Is to be recognized and made available. It has always been looked down on as sort of plebian among fishes, only to be eaten when necessity com pelled. The fact that much of our can ned salmon Is really the flesh of the great catfish of the Mississippi may have been known or suspected but the flesh has been so disguised that tho eaters couldn't tell the difference. The undisguised ar ticle has always been regarded with a kind of contempt by epicures.
 And yet there are few better fishes than the channel cats or even the great "apa- lousas'' of our rivers and creeks. That this fish can live and thrive in foul and stagnant water Is true. and this is one of the reasons for its bad name, for the character of the water and the food on which It lives Tn such water does affect the flavor of the meat. just as the flesh of any other animal may be affected by the quality of its food and drink
 This objection doesn't lie against those members of the tribe which live in run ming streams where the water Is conn | paratively pure and the fshe 8 can get good food Even the large yellow vari- ety. usually known by its Indian name of "apalousa' has really few superiors as a food if eaten while it Is fresh. while the 1 smaller species. if properly prepared. are among the best of the finny trihe.
 The cat-fishes possess two advantages over most other kinds. one of which is l that they are never lean and fiabby like some others. We do not pretend to &C., count for 1t but the fact remains that nobody ever sees lean catfish unless 1t had been confined where there was abso- lutely nothing to eat. The other advan- | tage Is that it is one of the most hardy and prolific of all the fish tribe. It lives and thrives and multiplies in all kinds of waters and situations. and in places where no other fish could possibly exist. While 1t Is true, as already stated. that it will live and fatten in muddy and stag nant pools and water holes it is equally true that 1t aourishes and attains its fin- est qualities in the clear and rapid streams still to be found in portions of the country. It is the most cosmopolitan of all the fish tribe. Even the great spec imens of the Mississippi River arc not to be altogether despised.
 We are glad to note that the United States Fish Commission has interested it. self in the subject, and has given out that the catfish has not received such at- tention as it deserves. We do not yet know just what the Commission proposes to do about 1t, nor are we sufficiently versed in the science of pisciculture to know how they may be most easily and successfully propagated, but we do know something of their habits and qualities and know that they are of much greater value than they get credit for. As The New York Tribune observes. the catfish "comes probably nearer than any other fish to the possibility of universal dis tribution, so that while many persons may be far removed from a trout stream l or from the resort of pickerel or bass, no one who has access to any consider able stream or pond need lack a supply of fish the peer of those in every table quality. Those who value fish for their | "gamy' quality in the catching of them
 will never care for catfish. But those who
 prize them for their food value may well esteem the catfish far above many of its more showy and pretentous comrades"