Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-15

, cursed the North sea He did II in typi-
cal way. He sailed regularly to Holland
and bought tobacco wholesale. When he
returned to the fleet the fishermen could
take their choice between tobacco at cost,
with religion. or tobacco at high prices.
with rum. The low-priced tobacco-and the
man who was selling it-won.
In 1892 he sailed for Labrador in the little
schooner Albert. and has remained there.
Are you going to stay there all your
life?'' he was asked by New York SYM
pathizer in fur coat patent leather boots
and a top hat.
Why, of course said he: tits my
place"
Curing diseases and souls is not all that
this Viking missionary does. AS soon as he
became converSant with things In Labrador
he found that the trader system was one OF
the main causes of poverty and degenera-
ton. The trader, good and bad, advanced
supplies to the people to drag them through
the winter, and took a mortgage on their
catch of cod in the coming season.
If the season was bad the next winter
found the fishermen still more heavily In
debt than they had been in the spring.
Often men got so poor that they couldn't
even buy enough Irvine to mend their gear.
There are men on the coast today who have
been In debt for forty years, and who do
not look forward to anything different, be-
cause they couldn't catch enough cod in
mar century to pay what they owe.
This Is evil enough when the trader is
good. When he is bad the people who deal
with him become his chattels, and he treats
them as such. With the coming of every
winter he throws them barely enough food
TO Keep them alive through the freeze.
When the ice goes out they must go forth
TO fish for him
Story of Bondage.
"One day.. said DR. Grenfell to the
writer, Of sat among the rocks on the shore
near our hospital, shooting geese that were
coming down in great fiocks Near me sat
an old man. | soon noticed with surprise
that he did not fire a shot although the
geese meant precious food supply for the
winter
When spoke to him, he told me that
ne had no powder and could get none.
The trader had informed him that morning
that he would give him further credit
In the conversation l learned that he had
not seen penny of money in many years
and that, according to the traders books,
he owed him $4,000.
Now. one hundred quintals of fish is a
nigh catch for a Labrador fisherman dur
ing the short season. That means about
ten thousand fish A man lucky enough to
make so big catch gets about $3.50. From
this one may easily imagine what chance
that poor old fellow had of ever paying off
such vast sum 5000"
Sometimes fisherman will not average
twenty-five qulntals. and his whole fishing
season will bring him only $50. OF course
he becomes dependent on the trader for the
life of himself and Lis family :.
Against this system, the trucking sys-
tenn, as they call 1t, Dr. Grenfell set his
idCt anu promptly IounQ tnat he haQ 'Dit-
ten off, as much as he could chew. Poll
tics, business interests, social influence
were invoked by the traders.
DIR. Grenfell fought with all sorts of weap-
ons. He started cooperative stores and
they did well. He built sawmills and fish
driers He bought flour and other pro-
visions wholesale in st. Johns and sold
them at cost. But he made charity out
of it, In all the stores the customers are
held rigidly to account for every pennys
worth that they buy.
The traders didn't have enough, however,
till the fighting missionary showed them
another kind of fight He had himself ap-
pointed a magistrate, and then there were
ructions from Belle Isle to Cape Chidley.
One trader went to prison. He swore that
he would kill the doctor sight when he
came out.
But he didn't said the doctor. You
know, l think that there is something good
in every man. There was in this fellow, and
he was bad one of his kind When he
came out of Jail. he told that l did the
best thing for him that any man ever did
for another.
Its the system, not the men. The trad
ers not much to blame as the con-
ditions, and it's the conditions were after.
l have found that almost ali men are more
willing to do the right thing than the wrong
thing. Every day that l live l am more
a mo- M that