Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-22
STATE CAN HALT \
FISH PRICE BOOST
CONTINUED from First Page5

all OF the shares of stock of which |
are held by bona fide residents of this
state, and if at any time any stock
OF any such corporation shall be-
come the property of any -non-resi
dent of this State the license of such
corporation shall Immediately be-
come void"
The intent of that section was to
-reyent the valuable fisheries of the
State from falling into the hands of
the fish trust. but that oily member
didn't pay much attention to the law,
because it controlled the fish after 1t
was caught. and therein was it's
profit.
The residents of New Jersey could
own their own nets. as far as the fish
trust is concerned. with all the ele-
ments of weather to contend with and
sundry other matters and expenses
to shoulder, as long as the trust could
. get the fiji and control the prices.
In fact, an east wind though an i'll
wind for the fisherman, benefits the
trust. 1t furnishes the excuse to add
to the prices because of shortage of
supply.
Our contemporary of South Jersey, |
in its defense of the fish trust, states
that The Star made the statement that
the nets were controlled by residents
of New York, and the quotation of the
law is mentioned here to show that |
we are fully aware of its being on the
statutes and that no statement is
made in connection with these articles
that cannot be vouched for. In an
swer to further criticism from the
same source, in which 1t is stated
that The Star claims that "the bulk
of the seasons catch goes into the
cold storage houses to be sold months
later in a carefully regulated man
ner,'' we plead guilty and point to the
recent seizures of rotten fish in this |
city by inspectors of the Board of
Health. This fish has been forced from
the, cold storage plants, where it has
rested and rotted ever since the first
run of weakflsh arrived early in last
May. That the fish was caught in
New Jersey waters and stored In New
York The Star can prove and that II
was deeomposed is evident by the
raids made by the inspectors. In fact,
one load of fish, after being long in
storage, was still alive, The motion
of the mass of maggots in the entrails
of the fish gave the latter the APP
pearance of life and some of them
were so badly decomposed that even
the peddlers refused to handle them.
The writer of the article in the
South Jersey paper declares to be I'M
true The Stars statement relative to
the selling of fish at Wildwood to re-
tailers. The South Jersey writer is not
acquainted with the situation. He
does make the statement, however,
that the fishermen in his section place
the fish in cold storage until there is
a demand for them, and that is one
of the important points made by The
Star and one that it believes should
be stopped from health standpoint
and from the public purse view.
AS to the statement that is made
in our contemporary that there Is no
law that tells the farmer when he
shall and shall not plant, but that
they pass laws to tell the fishermen |
when to fish and when not to, we
point to the law again, which says the
fish are the property of the people
of the State and not the fishermen,
and might add as leading sports
man has raid and we, the people
give them the right to. make living
from stock that doesn't belong to
them" whereas the seed that the
farmer plants and the ground in
which it is planted cost the farmer
hard-earned cash.
There is one thing in the article re-
ferred to that appeals to the editor OF
this paper, and which also bears out !
a statement that the Star has made. |
The South Jersey critic decries the |
work of the New Jersey Legislature. |
and says that it should not interfere |
with the fisheries. Then he states |
that every country of Importance has |
q minister of fisheries who helps the |
fishermen. He also states that Cam |
ada has perfected her fisheries to
such an extent that they are recog- |
nized and that the government is |
helping them. That is the very point |
for which the Star is fighting, to have
the government recognize the fisher |
les and protect them, and then the |
people will get their rights. If it is a |
success in Canada. then let us try 1T,
as surely we will have the help OF
our critic, who, as he says. represents
the fishermen in his section. Let the |
State Legislature pass memorial
urging Congress to pass a migratory |
food fish law and include therein
section regulating the lentgh of time |
that fish can be held back from the
market, and fish will drop 80 per cent.
In price to the consumer.
Surely the men that catch the fish |
along the coast can have no objection |
to this. as they get but 21s cents |
pound for the fish they catch, while
the consumer pays from 16 to 20. |
What difference can it make to the
professional fishermen how much the
trust gets or demands? AS a resi-
dent of the State, enjoying the priv
ilege of making profit from some
thing that does not belong to him,
1t should surely be his first thought |
to extend gratitude to the public who
do own the fish and help them to get
1t at a reasonable margin of profit on
his labor and capital output. The
Star is ready to publish affidavits to
the fact that the fisherman does not |
do this in all places 1t can also
prove that the fishermen where they
do sell the fish to summer residents
charge them is cents a pound for it
and at the same time sell it to the
fish trust for ~ cents a pound. AS
one prominent lawyer of Long |
Branch states in letter to The Star,
1t is the greatest hold-up game along
the coast; New Jerseys fish going to
New York and back here again where
we pay 900 per cent. profit to the fish
trust for granting us the favor of
purchasing 1t.
in closing this article The Star
wishes to again assure the fishing in
dustry that it is not opposed to the
nets. and in fact has refused to join
in a movement to drive them from
the State, but it is opposed to the
triple handling of the fish that is
4 caught here, which fact gives the
fish trust. as represented by the mid
deman, profit three times greater
than the amount received by those
catching the fish, which additional
burden is saddled on the public and
which burden proves to be far greater
than the raise in beef as the loss of