The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-06-05
PRES. MARSH
RAPS BERRY
SECRETARY OF PURSE SEIN-
ERS PREVIOUSLY ADMIT
TED THAT CANNERY COM
BINE WAS VICIOUS WHO
PAYS FOR PUBLICITY?

DNil ~ oCNl Ctoly VI lllG III DC
Seiners' Association, has been devot-
| ing considerable space in the newspa-
pers to an attack upon Initiative Bill
No. II, the Fish Bill. AS his stuff has
been given wide circulation, and it
bears the earmarks of the Stop-Look-
and-Listen League, it is not hard to
imagine that the Sims barrel has
again been tapped. Inasmuch as Mr..
Berry's article has been given wide
circulation, and in it personal refer
ence is made to myself, I propose to
deal in this article with some of his
statements.
Mr.. Berry quotes an alleged utter
ance of mine in a speech delivered be-
fore the Mems Brotherhood of the Sc
attic Queen Anne Congregational
church: "This fish code, brothers, is
the bill for which the small fishermen
have been fighting for years" The
only error in that statement is that /
did not make the statement. 1t is lie
No of the Stop-Look -and-Listen prop
aganda and Mr.. Berry took it from the
first pamphlet issued by that organi- !
zation.
Mr.. Berry states that the state fish
commissioners office is self sustain |
ing and says he "is reliably informed |
that that office will have $4,000 over
and above all expenses for the bien-
nial year" Where did you get that |
information, Mr.. Berry? Do you know
that Governor Lister stated in Spo-
kane last week that no report had |
been issued from Mr.. Darwin's office? |
Don't you know that there is a pen
atty of $1,000 upon Mr.. Darwin or his
subordinates if they divulge any of the |
statistics of that office, that penalty /
sneaked upon the statute books of this |
state by he big cannery combine when |
he people were asleep at the switch?
Where did you get information that is
denied by law to the people of this |
state? If your informant on that score
has advance information upon what /
the revenue of Mr.. Darwin's office
will be, he must of jimmied into the
safe to get it.
You say that there are great .
many things to be taken into consid-
Grafton in the fishing industry, such .
as markets for fresh and canned sal
mon, and the salmon output of other
countries, such as southeastern and |
southwestern Alaska and British Co
lumbia, WHERE THERE is LITTLE,
IF ANY TAXATION ON THE INDUS |
TRY" (The capitals are mine) Lit
tie taxation on Alaska salmon, eh?
Don't you know that Alaska packers |
take their crews north each season, !
paying their transportation, and pay /
a tax to the U. S. government of three !
cents per fish on Alaska Reds? They !
can this fish and it has sold on the |
Bellingham markets for $1.40 less a !
case than our sockeyes, upon which a
royalty of approximately one mill is
paid to the state of Washington.
Mr. Berry headed a committee of
four gentlemen, representing the purse
seiners, which waited upon Fred |
Chamberlain and myself some time
ago. We discussed this bill for nearly |
four hours. the committee endeavoring
to convince us that we should with
draw the bill and substitute another.
Mr. Berry will recall that the whole |
burden of the complaint of the COM
mittee was that the proposed bill
would ruin the purse seiners because
the Gamers would refuse to add the |
increased tax to the price they paid |
the seiners. They made the further
statement that scarcely purse seiner
came back to port at the close OF a
season that he did not find himself
claimed to be absolutely at the mercy
of the canning interests, We asked
them why they did not affect an or
ganization powerful enough to do
little debating to the Gamers in the
matter of price and they replied that
it was impossible to get the seiners
to stick togehtre the way they should. |
It is purely assumption on the part
of the seiners that the Gamers Will
not pay the tax. Suppose they should
not? I'll make this assertion, viz,
that if the purse seiners were to estab-
lish selling agencies in each of the ac-
cessible ports of Puget Sound, that
every fish they catch could be sold di-
rectlv TO the consumer at a price far !
in excess of what the canneries would
offer, and still the public would be