The San Francisco call., 1910-05-22
Sixteen Boxes of SOIes, "Oyer-
supply" Kept Off Local Mar
ket by Monopoly
.Peddlers Not Permitted TO Sell
Excess Catch TO Poor at
Low Cost
Prices Are Materially Reduced
Since Grand Jury Began
Investigation

lnNSStl2dllOn
N TORE than a ton of soles went
MI 10 the glue works yesterday
. 4 from the Western fish com
panv's market The scavenger wag-
on. which had been taking away only
the offal since the grand jury begun
its investigation OF the fish trust, drove
up. 10 the rear end OF the Western
market in Merchant street al g o'clock
in the morning. Sixteen boxes of
seles. running so pounds to the box,
were then dumped on and sent to the
*. L. O. works
Glasses as "OVersupply"
These 10 boxes of FISH were what
the trust calls an ~oversupply' That
Is. they could not be sold to the re-
tsilers II the price fixed by the trust.
So they were shipped to the X. L. o.
factory. which Is allied by capital to
:he Western, and hence Is official fish
destroyer for the trust
The usual price paid for the over
supply" by the X l. O. is $50 ton,
or ; cents d box. This rate is given
indiferently for the good fish used in
glue making and the decayed fish or
offal from the markets. which flakes a
valuable fertilizer. But the fact re-
mains that cents q box is paid for
good fish by the X /. o.
No FaVOrS for the Poor
But no peddIer would have dared to
offer fS cents for these Ie boxes on
the plea that he wanted to market it
10 the poor. Peddlers are granted no
fsvors by the trust. These Is boxes
would have cost the prospective sa-
msritan S32.
teamster who used to haul TO the
glueworks once heard a peddIer bid for
= lot Of fish marked for the dump by
the Paladini market. The peddler ar
gued that he could not sell fish at the
trust prices. But Paladini stuck to
his refusal to come down one cent.
The wholesale price for soIes at 81
box charged by the trust during the
last week is the lowest since the inde-
pendent trawling company failed on
July so last. For this there is a natu-
raj reason in the fact that the nets have
been bringing up large percentage
OF soles and a small one of sand dabs.
sand dabs have maintained a high
rate. although there are as many in the
-
Discourages Competition
Another reason for the general re-
duction in fish prices. sand dabs ex-
cepted, is offered by Joseph Catania. 1
manager Of the new and independent
Portola fishing company, which begins |
deep sea trawling in three weeks. The /
trust says Catania. is trying both to |
soften the ire of the retailers and to /
discourage the promoters Of the new
company. The same tactics were fol- |
lowed at the time the independent com !
pany was organized year ago last
January. First the Western and PaIa-
DIM began lowering prices to what
they expected their opponent to charge. |
From this prices were cut down so that
soles went as low as % cents a box. A
week after the independents failed.
however the price was pushed up to 81.
During the last week peddlers and
msrketmen from North beach have
been buying directly from the boats at
hshermen's wharf This is unusual. as
the men have heretofore feared to lose
the trusts trade. But they are made
bold by the trusts oppression
Before the fire hshermen's wharf was
q free market. The price was set by
the size Of the catch and the demand.
Peddlers and retailers bid against each
other and paid on an average better
than is now given by the trust. People
buying for the family were able to get
mess of fish for about 25 cents.
There were no scales used in the small
purchases.
SMALL FRY ABSORBED
When the Western absorbed 10 of
the lesser dealers in the summer after
the fire the fishers began to find the
wholesalers were opposed to independ-
ent selling Those who sold to the
retailers found their fish was not
wanted by the wholesalers. The same
kind OF boycott was practiced against |
dealers selling to families. The mid
dleman demanded the right of handling
all fish in the market
Until his exposure by the legislative
committee the fishers believed their
agent, Nicolo Storlesi, TO whom they
gave a percentage Of their earnings,
did the best he could for them. Stor-
iesi was then king OF the wharf. But
Since last March his power has steadily
decreased, for the men know he re-
oeives fees from both the Western and
Psladini.
a week ago Saturday there was al