The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-08-22

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Although the officials of the department
of commerce and labor do not approve of
disbursing funds by guess, yet this year,
as for many previous years, from $1,000
to $4,000 will be paid to the fishermen of
the lower Penobscot river salmon region,
all on the guessing ability of single
down-east farmer-fisherman the govern
ment guesser," and a typical Yankee at
that.
There's no other way. Every year the
government buys from 500 to 1900 live
Penobscot river or. more properly At
lantic sea salmon, for breeding purposes.
, The compensation is based upon the rul-
ing market price, and 50 cents fish addi-
tional bonus for keeping the fish alive.
The salmon vary from 10 pounds to %
pounds in weight, but the average is from
Is to Is pounds. The price scale slides
with the supply, but the government rare
~ buys fish until the price which rules
in fabulous figures early in the season
drops to 20 cents and sometimes 10 cents
a pound, with 25 cents pound about the
average price, so that when fisherman
finds salmon swimming about In the
falling waters of the trap or weir there's
from 81 to $40 as good as cash added to
his wealth.
There's no way to weigh live salmon
and keep him alive In the spring the
fish, although they will fight for hours
at the end of 100 yards of line, will sue
cumb to the slightest tap on the nose
They must be carefully dipped from the
weir with a net lined with the softest cot
ton flannel and are kept in ears also
| lined with flannel and covered with tar
paulins to keep out the sun. The fish
must be kept in a calm and contented
state, for II disturbed they will become
excited and dash themselves to death In
spite of all precautions. The temperature
of the water in the car-which Is nothing
more than a superannuated dory kept
half full of water and covered with
netting-must not vary many degrees
from that of the river, and in the warm
est weather 1t is often necessary to add
a piece of ice for the comfort Of the cap
tives.
As anything like accurate weighing OF
q live fish of such delicate nature Is
impossible the next best and only plan
is to guess at the weight of the fish, and
it is here that the government guesser'
is called In. He is a man who has caught
and sold salmon for over 40 years and
can glance at the black back of fish
swimming about in the darkened depths
of a. car and guess within half pound, II
not exactly, the weight of the fish.
At any rate, the great United States
government believes in his judgment as
accurate enough for all practical pur-
poses, and the people who sell the salmon
are satisfied They have to be, for when
Avery II. Whitemore of Verona, Me-,
puts down figure In his record book as
the weight of a live salmon to be cred
tied to Mr.. So-and-So, that figure goes as
much as IL 1t were the weight of the fish
ascertained after profound and scientific
~ :, cnto
Whitmore has held the Job for years.
, He goes with the motorboat that cruises
among the weirs of the lower Penobscot
river collecting the salmon catch of his
own weirs, which are on the extreme tip
of the Island OF Verona, SO situated that
the tides swing the floating ice clear early
in the spring, allowing Mr.. Whitmore to
build his traps before his neighbors. and
often he gets the first fish Of the season,