The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-04-15
WHAT SHALL THE
HARVEST Be?
Question OF Interest 10 Columbia River
Fishermen and Sound People.
OUR LOSS IS THEIR GAIN
Views Of Seattle nnd Portland Business Nen
Coneeruiua the Columbia River
Salmon Business.

Thr condition u the eastern salmon
market is causing the packers much
anxiety and unless there Is an i'm
pi1ycmrnt IN the condition ~ Affairs
there 0r hcrc, the canning Industry u
the Columbia river will b. totally de-
mpraized An Informal meeting YVES
called % discuss the situation by some
~ N" leading packers Tuesday. which
adjourned over until yesterday and
finally dissolved without reaching any
definite conclusion. No effort IN being
made by any cannery TO ge, the few
nsh which ane brought in by the linn
tied number Of bpats out nshlng. and
INSTEAD of the nefce competition usu-
ally witnessed FOR the FIRST fizh Of the
season. there Is disposition on the
part or each packer 20 find some cx-
cusc 10 send his fshermcn 10 some
other packer to deliver their catch. I,
ls Understood that a number of the
packers who attended the meeting
have determined TO close their can
ntS4eH until the market improves. and
ARE Offering their supplies for sale at
price below their cnst. The fisher
mems union win hold a meeting this
Thursday night 70 consider the question
% cunovi!ng the four-oent price fixed
by the Packers Association some two
months age. but II Is very certain that
IN" packers cannot, and majority "
them will not. pay that price for fish
now. !, is unlikely that therc viii be
any repetition ~ the disturbances of
last year. a. The efforts OF the packers
this fenson Win bee 20 avoid taking
nsh rather a1an 10 make the large
paclo, of former years. After Il care
tul r,yicw or the whole situation. It
may he stated with absolute certainty
that there viii not be canncry in
operation ON the entire river by the
nrsl of May II the price OF raw fish
continues at four cents per pound.
In recent artlcle on the opening
ot the salmon season on the Column
bia, the Seattle P,-I, says;
Last years strike Is primarily the
cause OF all the present trouble, and
It's effects appear likely to operate
against the fishing industry OF the Co
iumbIa In all It's branches, for some
time. For many years the heavy
Eastern buyers have contracted with
the Columbia packers for their entire
output. Last year. owing 10 the strike.
the packers were afraid to enter into
any sort OF contract. Latter in the
season an agreement was reached and
the strike declared on; but, in the
meantime. the buyers had contracted
for supplies elsewhere, and when the
hsh began to come In packers would
take only small percentage of the
catch to put up on speculation.
The Eastern buyers have now found
new sources OF supply in the cannerles
OF Puget Sound and Alaska, and the
Columbia packers will not easily re-
cover the trade"
In the same article Is given the
following interview with prominent
salmon dealer. which contains much
OF interest TO packers and fishermen;
THE price paid by the packers to
the fishermen for chinook salmon on
the Columbia for the past four or five
years was entirely too high to afford
them n profit ON their Investment,
selling price taken into consideration.
AS therq has always been good
demand for choice brands of chinook
salmon, the high prices were contln-
ued as sort OF freeze-out game, and
II has had the desired effect of crowd
ing several of the weaker concerns out
OF the field.
THE Columbia river salmon is not
80 popular In the market as It was at
one time. for the reason that large
of inferior salmon are pack
ed on the various coast streams, In
both Oregon and Washington. and
much of this salmon is branded Co
mmbia River Chinook, and sold to
consumers as such. This has had a
tendency to turn a great many people
against all salmon that Is branded
Columbia River Salmon and they
prefer to buy salmon that they
know is not as good as Columbia river
chinook salmon. but better than the
imitation. 1t is Acknowledged by all
epio,fres that Columbia river chinook
salmon Is the finest salmon there Is
Anyone who can afford to buy canned
salmon is willing b pay 2 or cents
more for a can of sweet-meated, rich,
fat. steak chinook salmon. II he Is al
ways sure of getting what he bar
gained for.
"The strike on the Columbia river