The Republican journal., 1886-05-20
The Fisheries Question.

The New York Herald has published some
very interesting letters on the fisheries question:
dated at the port of Gloucester. The senti-
ment there as TO the controversy and probable
trouble with Canada is about the same as it is
everywhere. 1t is felt that this country has
been beaten in diplomacy and that the Admin
istration has been conspcuously weak-kneed
and Indifferent to American interests. An old
fisherman said to the Herald correspondents
eff jim Blaine had been elected do you think
the Englishmen could have pulled the wool
over his eyes as they did over Cleveand's and
Bayard's? Not much. The blue noses
wouldn't dare to give us any of the 'gutl' you
hear all over Nova Scotia at the present time.
How long would Jim Blaine stand any of their
nonsense! Do you think they would have
dared to seize one of our vessels on the charge
of preparing to fish because the skipper was
buying bait for trawling on the Grand Banks?
Well, | guess not. Them cusses claim the
Grand Banks as their private property. They've
got the gall to claim the Georges Banks, which
are Oft Cape Ann. | saw it in Il Nova Scotia
paper the other day
''What are your politics."
"Why, ima democrat voted for Franklin
Pierce and James Buchanan
''IIow is it you indorse Blaine so strongly?"
"lt amt political question. Blane's spunky
there amt any use denying that. He's about
as much of an American as any one in the
countrv.''
''Did you vote for him?'
"No-o; I'm free to say | didn't; but if I'd
seen ahead and knoWd how this fishing trouble
was coming up again I'd done so mighty
quick"
The views of this plain spoken mariner are
but reflex of the sentiments of the army of
men engaged i'll the fisheries of the United
States. Your correspondent has conyersed
with upward of one hundred of them, and
| while indiN idual ideas may differ, the general
| opinion is the same as the one above expressed.
| They divcSt the question of political bearing
ana regard 1t from patriotic standpoint
| The Herald correspondent exposes the DEM
| agogica outcry for cheap fish raised in behalf
of the English side of the fishing question: and
| shows that those who believe the fishermen are
| becoming pampered bond-holders on the profits
of protected fishing are laboring under delu-
| sion. He says;
The present price of Goldfish landed on the
| wharf at Gloucester is about three-quarters of
a cent pound. The price of halibut is about
II cents. The price of >alted Goldfish is about
IL cents a pound Can prices very well 90
any lower for the first cost of product! Go
| up to Boston, however, and it will he found
! that fresh Goldfish sells for 1G cents pound; in
New York at Il cents. Here is gain for the
middlemcn OF IL II cents pound over first
| cost. IIalibut sells in New York at - to 20
| cents pound. The fisherman who has gone
| through the trials and privationS of the Grand
| Banks in midWinter to obtain his catch of fish
| gets L. cents pound when he reaches the
| home port. The mddemcn get the remainder.
| The sated Goldfish sells on the wharf at Gou-
cester for II cents u pound; in New York
| and Chicago for T. or II cents, as the case may
be. Does any reasonable being wish the fisher
| man to catch and cure his fish and sell it for less
| than 12 cents pound?
Equally effective are the facts given as to the
| earnings of our fishermen. The schooner Ethel
and Addic, belonging to the firm of Lewis,
Chace & Whitten, of Portland, Ne, was the
| ''high line" last year. She made one voyage TO
| the Banks codfShn@ and one mackcreI cruise.
Her capacity is 80 Quintas. The shares of
the crew on the Banks trip ranged from S40.01
to Sl02.30-the latter wa, ''high line The
mackercl voyage, when all the men share alike,
neted each man S212. The total earnings for
the years fishing thus averaged less than $500
a man. The schooner Hattie Maud, of the same
owners as the ''high line" schooner started
| mackcroling early last season and continued
through in the same line Of fishing. She made
| five voyages, and the crew each earned the tro-
mendou. sum of S76.12, in addition to his food,
in the course Of the Year 1883. The question
naturally arises, says the Herald, what became
of their families? In conclusion it is we'll said
The fishermen lead ycnture~ome, laborious
| life with very small compensation. Consider
ing the extent of the industry. the generally
! good Charactcro of the men engaged in it and the
| broad system of cooperation which prevails,
the men, as Il rule, are poorly paid for the toll
and dangers Of their calling. If any American
| citizen, who is willing to admit that he cares