The Portland daily press., 1893-03-11

when they drew line inside these isl
ands and over fats.
Senator Spofford said that he came
here prejudiced against purse seining,
but he had come to believe after a thor
ough investigation of the matter that the
fishermen Of the western part of the
state wanted the present law changed.
He believed it should be changed.
The Case of the Lobster.
Does the lobster 60 backward or for
ward? Representative Lawrence Spill
lane Of Lewiston does not know. Lack
of knowledge of the lobster's method of
locomotion did not prevent Mr.. Spillane,
however, from making a powerful argu-
Inent in support of the minority report
of the committee on sea shore fisheries
recommending a law to forbid the TAX
ing of Holsters under 10d inches in length.
TEis is the war between the lobster cam
ners who want the privilege they now
have Of taking nine inch Holsters during
the summer months and of the lobster
fishermen who claim that the operations
of the canners are endangering the sup
ply. Mr.. Spillane made the first speech
Of the day. He read figures to show
that the interests of the canning fac
tories were small in comparison with the
interests of the fishermen, $500 of whom
had asked for this law. Mr.. Spillane
said there were but six factories in Maine
which canned lobster. Two Of these
were owned by Massachusetts men of
the other five one secured its supply of
Holsters from the provinces. Massaehu-
setts had law like that. asked fer'here
and yet these Massachusetts, men had
the assurance to come here and make
their demands upon the Maine legisla-
tura, for that which their own state had
repudiated.
Mr.. Lawrence of Lubec then made that
remark about Mr.. Spillane's lack of
knowledge as to the way in which lob
ster travels, and then proceeded to speak
for the Gamers He said he was here to
speak for poor men who had been op.
posed by one of the largest lobbies of
the year; lobby in the interest of Port
land market men. Mr. Lawrence claimed
that nature would keep up the supply of
Holsters Notwithstanding the operations
of the Gamers. AS to the use of small
Holsters. Mr.. Lawrence figured out from
the testimony of Colonel Osgood, of the
American Express Company, before the
committee, that there were shipped from
Portland every year over 1,000,0 900 lob
sters of less than the legal length.
Mr.. Shaw, of Bath, Spoke in favor of
the majority report. Mr.. Shaw, in COM
mencinQ. startled the House by the state
ment that man was bornof woman and
his days were few and full of trouble; SO
was the poor lobster. This slip made
five minutes merriment for the House,
and then Mr.. Shaw again amused the
members by asking Mr.. Cahill OF Bruins
wick to raise pole lying in the arch.
On the pole were two small Holsters.
These represented, according to Mr..
Shaw, the usual size of Holsters now
caught. and were, a strong argument in
favor of the 10 Ia inch law. Later, a
lobster of the size common in the good
old days was added TO those on the pole,
and the appearance of the big fellow
was the signal for more merriment.
Mr.. Dufton Of Windsor said that he
was called q crank, but he was glad to
saw that the crank turned In the, direc-
tion of the peoples interest Mr.. Dat
ton wanted some law which would give
him some meat when he purchased a
lobster and not all shell. He favored the
minority report, but didn't believe in
lobster hatcheries.
Mr.. Hamlin of Ellsworth spoke for the
majority report. He said that the can
ming factories did a business of $3.50, 1000
a yeer. 1t needed no expert TO tell that
the dose of medicine which this law
proposed to give these canning factories
would surely kill. It was often said in
this House that a good way to judge the
future was by the past. In 1887 law
similar to that asked for here was passed
and it closed every canning factory In
the state. The result was such that the
next legislature saw fit to repeal the law.
Pass this bill now and you would close
every factory, causing money loss to the
owners and the loss OF employment to
thousands Of men, women and children.
Mr.. Maddocks of Boothbay thought that
he should not be doing his duty If he sat
here without ertering his protest against
petrate against the people of the state.
He told Of the hardships of the life of a
fisherman, and said that il the smack
men of Portland, who were clamoring
for this law. wanted more Holsters they
might be enabled to get them by the es-
tablishment of lobster hatcheries as had
been done in the provinces. Even if this
law was passed, under existing condi
tions. the smack men could get no more
Holsters. for they now took all they could
get and sold all they could catch. The
Smack men went along the coast and
gathered Holsters which were immediate
" sent out of the state. Refrigerator
cars had come into use and Holsters might
now be sent to the Pacific coast. The
fact of the great shipments of Holsters
from Portland showed that the supply
had not greatly decreased. If any bust
ness was to be stopped in order to secure
more Holsters for home consumption it
should be the business Of the smack men,
but Mr. Maddocks thought that there
were Holsters enough for all and urged
that the House adopt the majority re-
pori.
After some more discussion the vote
was taken, and the friends of the present
law triumphed 10 to "a, the majority re-
port adverse to- the 10a inch bill being
accepted.
The House then proceeded to kill that
project for lobster hatcheries by indeff-
nitelys postponing the matter.
For the Slate Library.
The committee on library today pre-
sented long bill designed to increase