The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-09-16
THE SEATTLE POsTNTEGENCER SATURDAY, is 1894
THE PRICE OF SALMON
Myers Cannery Refuses to Ac-
cept the New Scale.
UNION MEN HAVE STOPPED WORK
Son-rnisn FIshermen fntimiaased. but
GIL Nets stail werkfng-Ihe
Csnnery May shst Down.

The action taken hy the fishermen on
Wednesday. when they fixed . nes scale.
has had the effect Of practically suspend
Ing salmon fishing in the harbor
Inc executive COMMITTEES OF the fisher
men notified the merchants and rsh
dealers of the nsw scale and they accepted
Il Immediately. Heretofore they had pad
cents per pound and the new scale oEly
calls for IL cents per pound.
Mr.. Myers fatty refused 70 accept the
new scale and the result 10 that no fishing
has been done for the past two days ex-
cept with gill nets in the Duwamish rlyer.
The gill net men we're warned by the
union not TO bring in any fish, but they
paid no attention 10 the demand As yet
there are plenty of salmon IN the market
aud II the supply runs short the dealers
VII send out crews and seines.
The Myers cannery had but one seine in
the harbor and the eleven men running
this had just opened up work ut the vest
shore when they were warned by the union
not to do any fishing. Andrew Marino.
foreman of the crew. says the union men
told him TO quit fishing and il he persisted
in IL he would be killed The men were
frightened and quit.
The union men called on Mr. Myers ard
informed him or the new scale. in which
they demanded 7 cents apiece for silver
salmon. He Immediately declined to pay
that price. stating that 5 cents was the
price he would pay for fish caught in other
seines than his own. He declined to
parley with the men, bat peremptoriiy re-
fused TO accept the scale.
Speaking Of the matter yesterday Mr..
Myers said:
"0ur company. before the present finan-
ciai distress, purchased nearly all their
material for their canning work. and when
it arrived II was paid for. The salmon
market, in sympathy with other staple
products. was affected. and neither could
sales be made at any offers made, nor
would the banks as in former years ad-
vance one dollar on storage receipts. Here
was dilemma. and after considering the
matter ] concluded il was better to run,
trusting that something might turn up.
Thus far there is no better feeling in the
manufacturers market than when We
commenced. We concluded to offer fisher
men the same prices a. paid two years
ago for the variety now running and
which only runs every two years; and for
silvers two cents less than paid last year.
We secured enough men at these prices to
equip our seines. But i fear from last
years experience We shall have repeti-
ton Of the like when the men that were
willing to fish were assaulted by vile cpl
thets and inundated to such an extent
that two weeks of valuable time was lost,
and the men that created the disturbance
gained nothing, while we lost time. Last
year We distributed over SIS, 900. that went
into the stores of Seattle. in the payment
of fishermen, grocers. hardware. mer-
chants, etc. This year We supposed ii
there was . good market we would have
done we'll. both for ourselves and those in
our employ bat now comes a lot of men,
and because we have no use for them they
demand to stipulate what We shall give
the men We have employed, or by their
vile epithets SO annoy them that they give
up. have no use for such fel-
lows. Old Indian Steve discharged
the leader as being no account
but he may enlist such agitators to pre-
vent our men again fishing II there is
the least sign of a repetition of last years
work we will close down, as present pros
poets indicate a continuation of tighi
times, and we will take no chances. am
CORY, but this 10 final. 1t is pity this
is tree country. In any city in Europe
when men are annoyed in their work the
offenders are summarily dealt with. am
glad of two things: That not one of the 10
cal fishermen who own their own rigs are
parties TO this action of a lot of foreign,
born idiots who could not make living in
their own country. and there is not one
native born American in the gang"