Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-28
WOMEN Join IN
FISH TRUST FIGHT


bill until ten days after it has had
second reading, and that happens just
as soon as the bill is reported by the
committee. Action is expected. the
early part of next week, when the
Legislature gets down to business and
the bills begin 10 move.
There was a rather lukewarm feel
ing among some of the Jersey City
people on this proposition, but this has
changed to a great extent since one
of the officials went to a market in the
centre Of the city and bought a blue
fish. This fish was caught from one
of the Fulton market sloops, sold to
the FISH trust and resold to a dealer in
Jersey City, after it had been an in
mate of a cold storage plant in New
York city for an indefinite period.
The estimated cost to the wholesale
dealer was three cents a pound; the
price which is considered the highest
paid to the fisherman, and when 1t
reached the Jersey City dealer he
had paid out just eleven cents a
pound. Then he added at least three
cents a pound for labor. making it
fourteen cents and four cents for his
profit, making a total of eighteen cents
a pound to the consumer. The fish
was placed on the scale and weighed
exactly three pounds, and the cost at
eighteen cents a pound was fifty-four
cents.
Fish shrunk One Pound, Ten Ounces.
The purchaser asked that the fish be
cleaned and the head and tail was re-
moved after the fish had been plunged
into water to remove the ice, and then
the entrails taken out and the fish
scaled. When all of this was done
the fish was again weighed and one
pound six ounces Of fish were left.
The purchaser could hardly believe
his eyes when he saw the fish weighed,
and when he figured the cost per
pound it almost staggered him, as he
was paying just forty and one-half
cents a pound for his bargain.
This experience led him to go fur
Their, and after talking to several
friends about the matter they went
TO the market and asked for Jersey
weakfish, and one was placed on the
scale that weighed just two pounds.
as that was considered large enough
for a family of two. The fish original
" cost two and half cents a pound,
as that was the amount the New Jer-
sey pound net fishermen receive for
it from the trust representative. and
one-half cent was added for trans
portation to New York City. The
trust then added seven cents a pound,
bringing the cost up to ten cents, and
the retail dealer added the cost of
cleaning bookkeeping and delivery
charges of three cents, and then his
profit, which. in this instance, was
three cents, bringing the cost of the
fish to sixteen cents to the consumer.
Another Case of Shrinkage.
After the fish was cleaned the pur-
chaser asked that the remains be
weighed, and he had just fourteen
ounces of food that cost him just
three cents an. ounce for the fish as
handed to him by the dealer Not
content with this investigation,
he weighed the fish after IT
had been broiled, and the ac-
tual weight of the fish for con
sumption placed on his table was ten
ounces. The original purchase had
dwindled from two pounds to ten
ounces, and the purchaser congratu-
lated himself that company did moi
drop in unexpectedly. or there
wouldn't have been enough fish to &c
round.
The experience amazed the man
and when he arrived at Trenton Mon
day night to attend the session. nc
took the matter up with several OF
his colleagues and they decided &c
ask Assem- blyman Byrne to go aheac
and urge the adoption of the resolu
ton introduced by his address to tbs
House of Congress and they would
support it.
Jersey City Faces Crisis.
Jersey City is facing a crisis in the
fish question. with Lent coming on,
and some relief should be afforded the
working people of that city who can
not afford to pay such exorbitant
prices for their food. A Hudson
county representative pointed to the
fact that the women of many West
ern cities were fighting to reduce the
high cost of living, through munich
pal markets and State control of
state resources. and pointed to the
fact that the State of Washington,
through its Oyster Commission, had
recently sold 800 bags of oysters di-
rect to the consumer to break the
hold of the combination that was try
ing to control the oyster output OF
that State, and whose action was
brought about through the work of
the several women's organizations in
that section of the country. One of
the questions asked by a State sena-
tor who was present during the con-
versation was why the State of New
Jersey could not do that very thing.
He stated that the State spends con-
siderable money protecting oysters
each year, but it in no way controls
the output or in any manner controls
the prices. His remarks caused sew
eral of those in the gathering to sa y
that perhaps the State could take
charge of the entire matter including
oysters and fish, If the Federal gov
eminent failed to act. which is not at
all likely.