Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-04-14


cation:
That our State is pretty thoroughly de-
| pleted of its fish and game. is self evident
proposition, and the causes which led to this
whether We can restore the old time album
dance or not. whether it will pay to make
the effort, and if So how we can do it. | be-
lieye, are problems which we can discuss
with Profit to ourselves and advantage to the
people at large.
If We understand the causes Of our great
loss fully, We may he able to arrest further
waste, and save what is left, and to me it
seems that We must look for a great part of
this rapid disappearance in the peculiar CON
stitution of tn, Americ IN mind. The average
Yankee has an utter contempt for things
natural, as compared with things artificial
and there has always been a disregard for
what we have and straining after some
thing better which to my mind has never
come. The world which the Creator looked
upon and pronounced good" is a very i'm
perfect piece of work and must b entirely re-
modelled.
our forests must be entirely cut down and
burnt up. even if we have to import Swedes
to do il our rivers must he la nmed our hills
lcveled or terraced, and even the FISH birds
and animals, indigenous to one climate are
not good enough. but must be transferred
back and forth until everything has been
changed.
The food which was placed at our doors bv
ourGreat Father, is worthless compared to that
which Yankee can raise, and hi daily PRAYER
is "Oh. Lord make me devoutly thankful
for the blessings which am about to receive"
and not. II thank thee for the manifold bles-
sings which am receiving"
This idea, or habit of thinking. is manifested
in a great many WAYS, and one is that utter
Il ri i,.t 10 a
for our inland fish as a source of food. There
are many farms in this State having trout
brooks on them or running through them,
which could have furnished the farmers fam
lily " ith half as much food As his pig stvc. and
of much better quality for his children. and
vet the fish have been utterly neglected and
despiscd. and means taken to DESTROY them
ignorantlv, know. but the result was the
same as though done with direct intent.
Only Il few years since aparty of engineers,
exploring route for Il proposed railroad,
called at farm house and asked the house
wife if they could get a dinner there She
thought she could not satisfy them because
she had no meat in the house One of the
party saw some brook trout in pan. and be-
ing city bred. thought she was saving them
as luxury for some special occasion. and
asked if she could possibly be induced to
cook them providing they paid an extra
price. ''Oh.' she said. ''if YOU can put up
with them fish. can get you dinner but
don't count them much. anyhow my boy
only catches them for fun
! That was. and is. the prevalent idea. and
have no doubt that her husband was ready to
thrash the boy for going fishing in planting
time, while after supper he would go down to
the village store and buy salt goldfish OF
piece of pork.
So little did the value of the immense sup
ply of food in our rivers appear to the peo-
| pie, that when it was proposed to build dam
| across the kennebcc at Augusta. men all
along its banks went before the committee
and testified that they thought it no loss to
have the fish cut off. One man from the
Sebasticook. where tons of the very best of
food was taken. gave it as his opinion that his
| section would be ''bettcr off, if the fish were
| taken away that men could get their food
so easily that it encouraged idleness that if
they could not have the fish they would be
obliged to till their farms. i. e., he proposed
to destroy the food which God Almighty had
placed at their doors. and make them raise
something better--for instance pork.
| may as well finish what | have to sav of
this logic right here. 1t would seem too
| ridiculous to need notice. but it has not be-
come thing of the past. 1t occasionally is
brought up and rehashed when fshwavs are
under discussion.
Now if an abundance of fish in our rivers
will induce idlencss among our people, both
because they will want to 90 fishing, and
mainly because they can get food with much
less work. then these cotton factories wooden
factories. button factories. and every kind of
a factory which places goods upon the mar
ket, ought not to be built, for by cheapening
the cost of clothing, the poor man is enabled
to buy IL shirt for fifty cents, when by the
old han loom he would have paid dollar.
By what kind of logic can it be made to APP
pear that cheap food will induce illeness,
while cheap clothing is public benefit?
Dams across our rivers are for the purpose
of propclling machinery; all machinery is
labor saving, hence tends to cheaper the cost
of living. and by the same reasoning which
makes cheap fish food an injury TO town, so
is any factory that cheapens any article in
common use.
SO far as inducing dleness is concerned.
| believe a man may as well catch a string Of
fish for recreation as to attend circus or
horse trOt and walking matches these are
held in high esteem great elevators of
public morals. From the very earliest days
of settlement our fish have been held in
contempt. In the spring of 1856 party of
about eighty men went to the point Of land
at the junction of the kenncbec and Sebas-
ticOok. to build a block and establish q
frontier post The fortiication was supplied
with two wall pieces, they were called,
smooth bored guns. stocked and with locks
like muskets but had barrels six feet long
and carrying iron balls two inches and half
in diameter. These guns could easily cover
Tconic Falls from the block-hcuse, and there
in the summer, tons of salmon could be
caught, and in the Sebasticook millions of
alewives. while the woods abounded in all
kinds of game and yet we are informed bv
the old chronicles that the men frequently
suffered for food, and provisions were taken
on hand-slcds or boated up the river to re-
lieve the suffering garrison.
As Artcmas Ward would say, why was this
thus? Various explanations can be given.
but in the light Of subsequent events itwould
seem that they thought but poorly of the
natural advantages of their position, and
thought they must grow something to eat or
starve. And this same disregard of things
at hand and desire for something thought to
be better is shown to-day In that fcverish
anxiety of our people to build up towns and
create cities.
Not content to wait for the steady, healthy
growth of places having advanta res for
trade and manufacturing, every little cross
roads where country store is located, or any