Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-06-07
GREAT FISH MARKET
Boston Handles 100000
Pounds of Sea Food Annually.
Ranks Second Only to Grlmsby In
England-Money Value Ranges
From 100000 to 100000
AnnuaIly-HaIibut Supply.

MISUNDERSTANDING supply.
BOston.-From smelts to whales
from behring's to halibut, New Eng
land must ever have lively interest
in the denizens of the deep and their
translation to the uses of man. In q
state which glorifies the Goldfish by
hanging 1t, symbol of plenty, in its
legislative halls; where the whole
fishery once was richer than gold
mine and has left annals Of adven
ture and of effort which have an epic
quality and are part of the record
of the nations growth; where the
fisheries have schooled sailors and
have graduated captains courageous
Tor fighting ships, it is fitting that the
whole community should view with in
telligent interest whatever pertains
to the garnering of the riches of the
seas.
Herring made Holland what it is;
Goldfish made early New England. To.
day the business of catching, curing
or selling for immediate consumption
a great part of the country's supply OF
food fish devolves upon Boston, the
greatest fish market in the new world
and ranking second only to Grimsby
In England.
Since Grimsby is merely railroad
terminal, a shipping point for the
North sea fisheries to the markets OF
the English cities, Boston may be
called the greatest fish dealing city
on the globe. Its fish dealers are as
much merchant princes in way as
were the old traders of Salem. To be
sure, there is not in their business so
much of romance, but there are near
ly as many dollars.
In Boston today Hamlet would have
to think of some term more fitting
than fishmonger to apply to Polonius.
Here there are degrees in fishmongery
and the highest degree held by the
wholesale fish dealer is one of honor
In the land. If any incredulous per-
son asks you why. take them aside
and make clear to them that the Bos-
ton fish dealer is as important in his
field as the beef packer of the middle
west is in his and, what is more, he
has not permitted himself to be en-.
comprised in trust. He is indepen.
dent amid the trusts that hedge about
the nations food supply.
The person inclined to figures may
find there is wealth, visible and vital,
in Boston's fish business. The city
handles every year between 125,0O0,.
900 and 150,0O0.0O0 pounds of fish, ex.
elusive of the epicurean lobster and
other shellfish. These fish spell in
money sum between $6,0O0,O00 and
s7,000.00O.
There are 1926 craft in the fleet that
lands fish at Boston, worth $4,000
each, or something more than $3,OOO,-
900 in the aggregate. Each of these
vessels has an annual expense account
Of about $4,000, for repairs, sails, rig
ging. gear, bait, ice, supplies and the
like, and this means business to New
England of s4,5Oo,OoO strong. The
fleet employs between 5000 and 1000
men directly and many others get
work because of it, bringing the total
of men looking to the business for a
living up to near 10000. Counting
three persons as dependent on each of
these men, it will be seen that total
of 10000 persons get their bread and
butter from Boston's fishing fleet.
Neither in the gathering of it's sup
ply nor in it's distribution of the same
can Bostons fish business be consid-
cred merely local. The fisherman goes
far afield to cast line for the Boston
market. The greater part Of the coun-
try's halibut supply, for example.
comes to Boston from Alaskan waters,
where Boston capital and energy
maintain a feet of five steamers to
prosecute the fishery and large and
modern freezing plant, recently estab-
lished on American soil at Metchican,
to prepare the halibut for shipment
east by fast trains, via Vancouver
Fully 80 per cent. of the Boston mar
kets halibut comes from this source.
The salmon fisherman on the Co
lumbia river sets his nets for the Bos-
ton market. The Chesapeake bay and
Savannah river shad fishermen and
the Newfoundland herring seiner do
the same Fish come from every
point of the compass to Boston and
from here are distributed to points as
far west as the Rockies and as far
south as New Orleans.