Evening star., 1933-01-14
BY ME2WIN H. BROWNE.

American fishing boats bob aimlessly
at anchor, and brine hardened fishing
nets dry idly in the sun. their owners
jobless, because foreign fish. canned and
frozen, have usurped the domestic va
rieties on dinner and luncheon tables
all over the United States.
The idle boats and nets mean idle
canneries. they mean idle fish oil and
meal factories and they mean idle can
factories. AS the United States Fish
Industry of America, capitalized at
about $l03,000,000 and normally en-
ploying $4,000 workers, placed it before
the Federal Government:
Our industry is just like boy play
ing with his tin soldiers. When one
soldier falls down, all the rest of them
are Knocked down"
Testimony lodged in the Government
files shows that almost the entire
American fish industry is at the mercy
Of concerns in such debased currency
countries as Norway and Japan. and
that all along the line, from salmon to
tuna and from sardines to scallop3, the
foreign fisherman Is getting employ
ment at the expense of the Americans
who go down to the sea in ships.
Laughed at Tariff.
The American fishing industry was
fully protected by the tariff act of 1880
until nearly 80 countries went of the
gold standard of exchange. And as soon
as this happened, the songs of the
foreign fishermen, pulling in their hauls
of cleaning fish, became laughs of de-
rision at the American tariff barrier.
It was practically leveled overnight.
A. Nf
United States commissioner of fisheries,
Henry O'Malley, testified before Com
missioner of Customs Frank X. A. Eble:
American manufacturers of fishery
products are in precarious condition
and many companies are already broke.
Among the industieS most severely az
fected are packers of salmon, sardines,
tuna and producers of fish meals and
oil, fish netting and twine. The out
look for these groups is most dismal"
What does this mean, this pouring
into America of foreign fish products?
Let us start in the retail store, where
the American housewife selects her
stocks for the family larder.
Forced to Cut Price.
Perhaps the shopper is seeking sar-
dimes She is offered en- American
brand, packed in cotton seed oil in
Maine, entirely American produced, at
5 cents a tin. Or perhaps she iS Of
fered a Norwegian sardine, packed in
olive oil, at the same price. or perhaps
at six for 25 cents. The Maine manu-
facturer has been forced to bring his
price to a parity to compete with the
producer overseas.
He is selling his sardines at from
SO to S325 a case wholesale to meet
the Norwegian price OF S3.l0 for this
grade of Sardine Sworn statements
filed with the Treasury Department in
dicate that it costs the American packer
s345 to produce case of sardines. He
is losing on the deal from 20 to As
cents.
Before the tariff was negatived by the
Norwegian deprecated currency 1t cost
the Norwegian company SA.85 to land
his case of sardines here, duty paid. At
the American production cost Of S3.45
the American manufacturer could COM
pete easily.
AS a result of this unhealthy situa-
ton, production of sardineS in Maine
has dropped 70 per cent in three years,
while in the same three years imports
from Norway increased nearly 300 per
cent.
Japan Has Advantage.
In 1880 the imports from Norway
totaled 387,672 cases, compared with
the Maine pack of lS42 900 cases. In
1881 the imports from Norway had in
creased to 777, ,972 cases. while the Maine
pack had dropped to 1888, ,468 cases, and
during the first nine months of 1882
the imports from Norway had in
creased to 906, ,348 cases. while the
Maine pack had decreased to $4,000
cases.
Commissioner OMalley has pointed
out to the Treasury Department that
so far as salmon is concerned, Japan
has twofold advantage. The whole
sale price index for fish in Japan de-
creased IT per cent between June. 1881,
and the same month in 1882. During
the same period the exchange rate of
the yen decreased 1877 per cent
This, he said, permits fancy, red
japanese salmon, in cases of 96 cans,
to be landed in this country at $3.57
a case. compared to the American SELL
ing price of So a case. One japanese
concern offered an American firm in
San Francisco, he said, $4,000 cases Of
Siberian pink salmon at $l80 a case,
compared with the same American
grade which sells at from 50 to S3.40 a
case.
Commissioner O'Malley further re-
vealed that to finance the merger OF
several japanese fishing companies, OBJ
yiously to compete with United States
firms. two loans of $l9,900,0O0 each,
and guaranteed by the japanese gov
ernment. we're fioated in the United
states. These bonds, he said, appear
daily in New York bond quotations.
No Difference in Salmon.
There is practically no diderence oe-
tween the Japanese and American
salmon, Commissioner O'Malley de-
clared, and cited an instance wherein
one of his employees tagged fish In
| Southeast Alaska, only to have 1t pickec
up later by Soviet authorities in Siberia
The Alaskan salmon industry. which
pays 72 per cent of the total taxes col
lected there, has been SO hard hit oy
the Japanese competition that 1t hsst
operated at l0ec for the last three