History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 86

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 86

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erel bait, as its oily nature caused it to float near the surface.

The Gloucester fishermen resorting to the Gulf of St. Lawrence for mackerel, by means of this feeding process with this oily bait, that could not be procured by the provincial fishermen (as the menhaden do not go as far north as the provincial waters), attracted the mackerel to their fleet, so that a great many were taken. But since the abandonment of the hand-line and bait-feeding process, the Gulf of St. Lawrence in- shore mackerel fishery has been worthless to Ameri- can fishermen.

The total number of vessels engaged in the mackerel fishery from Gloucester during the year 1886 was 126; tonnage, 9622.45 ; aggregate crews, 1953 men. The amount of mackerel taken was 52,- 340 pounds, not including the amount sold fresh. There were 50,500,500 pounds of salt used on fish pro- ducts, al-o 55,575,000 pounds of ice. The entire amount of food fish landed at Gloucester was 91,951,-

The history of the fisheries of Gloucester would be in- complete without an exposition of the various treaties with Great Britain and their effect on our relations with Canada up to the present time. This is con- tained in the following address before the American Fishery Union, by Captain Fitz J. Babson :

" The treaty of 1783, by which the independence of the United States was established, is interesting, as affording proof of the great interest taken in the fisheries by the American Commissioners, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens. It was doubtless the intention of that treaty to secure to the American nation their ter- ritorial rights, both upon land and sea, and the definition of our landed boundaries were not more explicit than were the rights secured hy that treaty for our fisheries both upon the ocean and in the waters adjacent to the Provinces. The concession by Great Britain was gennine, aod while with her ordinary assumption she gave us the right to fish on the Grand Bank and other banks of Newfoundland, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, over which she had no jurisdiction whatever, she also ac- knowledged an equal participation in the shore fisheries of her American poxsessions, and gave this right to the United States in perpetuity, re- servingonly the use of the shores to her own fishermen. This right or grant was not a partial liberty, but was a defined outional settlement, based upon the same power and principles as that conveying our landed territory. This treaty distinctly shows the animus of British diplomacy ; first to assume nudlimited power, and then by its abandonment claim concession. The Headland lino theory is based upon the same premises, nud is valuable only asn pretence with which to purchase some sub- stantial benefit, claiming as she does jurisdiction of the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the navigation of the Straits of Canso. And this theory is still held by Great Britain, although in abeyance at the present time.

" The war of 1812, which was settled by the treaty of Ghent in 1814, was seized upon by Great Britain as n pretext for the annulling of the fishery provisions of 1783, and although this view was resisted by the United States, still n commission was appointed to settle the differences which had arisen between the two nations, represented on the part of the United States by Albert Gallatin and Richard Rush. This commis- sion reported the treaty of 1818, which has been the cause of nearly all the trouble between Canada and our fishermen. By the terms of this treaty a complete surrender was made of all the shore fisheries except on the southern and western parts of Newfoundland, nround the Magdalen Islands and northward along the Labrador coast through the Straits of Bellisle indefinitely. This of itself would seem to linve been the extreme limit of concession on the part of our commissioners, but lost to all con- siderations of common sense or shrewdness, they allowed the insertion of n clause which forbadr American fishing vessels entering Canadian ports for any purpose except for shelter or to procure wood or water, and repairing damages.

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" It would be unfair not to state that ac that time the mackerel fishery was hardly in existence, and tho commissioners had Do knowledge of the immense fleets of American fishermen, which under the hand-line system and the use of immense quantities of bait, would develop the mackerel fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as much or more to the profit of the Provincials as to themselves. But the result of their folly still remains, unadapied as it is either to the present development of our fisheries or to the principles of amity and fair dealing. This clause of the treaty fornis the basis of all the harsh and coercive legislation that Canada will use against us. If it were not for that clause in the treaty, Canada would not dare to so outrage the comity of nations, but noder ite provisions she presumes to seize our vessels for buying bait, or for alleged fishing within her jurisdiction, and vessels have been con- demned upon evidence that no other nation except the United States would ever have submitted to. The United States should waive all so-called privileges under this treaty, which are wholly and totally worth- less, and demand for American vessels in Canadian ports all the rights that Canadian vessels bave in American ports.

"By the treaty of Washington we obtained no commercial rights; all the concession given by that treaty was simply to fish in-shore, so that if Canada, taking the wood, water and shelter clause as a basis, sees fit, she can by legislation, exclude our vessels from every commercial right of buying bait, supplies, or ice. This fact should be understood, al- though such legislation may belong to a semi-harbarons age, and its exercise would be to the detriment of and almost the destruction of her own people ; for many of her fishing communities derive a large part of their sustenance from selling bait to the Americans.

" While under the treaty of Washington our vessels with their im- medse svines could have taken all the bait and left the people to starve. they have not done it, but have continued to buy their bait of the local fishermien as though no treaty existed. So that actual reciproc- ity of free fishing, if carried into effect, would take their entire living from many of the Dominion shore fishermen. Therefore it is utterly impracticable. The treaty of 1818 enforced against us will starve them ; and practical reciprocity will starve them.

"The reciprocity treaty of 1854, was the result largely of the coercive policy of Canada under this treaty. And as at that time the only meth- od of taking mackerel was by book and live, and the profuse use of bait, it was thought advisable to secure the joshore fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and at the same time be relieved of the hostile annoy- ance of Canadian cutters and British men-of-war. No one will deoy that at that time there were some benefits derived from the exercise of this privilege. It had the effect to stimulate the mackerel fisheries of Canada, and by the use of immense quantities of menhaden by Ameri- can vessels for bait, the mackerel were kept together instead of scatter- ing for food and were thus made available both to the American vessels and Canadian shore boats. It was to this feeding process of the Ameri- cans that the Gulf mackerel fisheries owe the prominence that has been given them, and the results of our methods were the chief dependence of Canada io enlarging upon the value of these fisheries before the Halifax Commission. There is neither hook and line or Dieohaden used in the mackerel fishery now to any extent. Mackerel shun the hook, and what few menhaden are taken are used principally for oil or codfish bait, and we could not if we would renew the old methods.

"The termination of the reciprocity treaty in 1866, again brought into operation the treaty of 1818, and the manner of dealing with the question became a matter of much political interest in Canada. It was evident that whatever party policy would secure reciprocity with the United States, would be endorsed by the people. The system of licenses which, by increasing stringency defeated itself, being fifty cents per ton in 1866, one dollar per ton in 1867, two dollars per too jo 1868 aod 1869 for the privilege of fishing inside the three-mile limit, was more than the privilege was worth, and American vessels refused to pay it Upon its termination it was announced by the public men of Canada that not only all that could be claimed under their construction of the treaty of 1818 would be enforced, but that a Provincial cutter system should be inaugurated, commanded by men who were in sympathy with the coercive principles of the government, and who could be depended upon to cause the American fishermen all the trouble and annoyance possible, for the ostensible purpose of forcing the United States again to renew the reciprocity treaty. This has been done to the letter.

"The leniency of the officers of the regular British naval service toward the fishermen was not satisfactory ; in fart the wood, water and shelter clause was not to be considered in the spirit in which it was made, (simply restrictive,) it was to be made aggressive ; and construing the language of the Imperial Art 50 of Geo. III. in which a vessel pre- paring to fish in British waters is deemed criminal, they seized vessels

that were buying bait to use on the Grand Banks, restricted them from buying ice or supplies, claiming that such acts were preparing to fish. I cite these things simply to show how Canada exaggerates what was intended to be a simple restrictive regulation into a criminal law, and also to show the supine indifference of the United States in submitting to such wholesale piracy.

"True, President Grant issned a proclamation after Congress had passed unanimously the memorial resolutions sent from this city asking for a declaration of nou-intercourse if these acts were continned, and doubtless some retaliatory measures would have been adopted had not the proposals for the Washington treaty involving the fishery question at this time appeared. The result of that treaty gave to the fishermen of the United States simply the right to take fish of every kind in the waters of Canada, viz., inside of three miles. We acquired no commer- ciul rights whatever. The woodl, water and shelter clause of the treaty of 1818 still remains, and is in force to day, and was modified simply by the permission contained in the Treaty of Washington, to take fish in- side of three miles. If there was virtus in Canada's enforcing that clause from 1866 to 1873 it should also have been done when the Treaty of Washington was in force. If it was as has been claimed an injury to hier people to buy supplies, bait and ice of them before, it was so under the Treaty of Washington, as that treaty had no provision for these purposes.

"The treaty of Washington was fondly expected to be the panacea for all the difficulties that afflicted the two nations. The primal feature was the settlement of the Alabama claims, and to succeed in that was the ambition of our commissioners. The fisheries again played the part of make weight; and Great Britain accepted and paid the Geneva award, holding the almost assured fishery award of the Halifax com- mission as an offset. Fifteen millions were paid noder the award of Geneva ; and fourteen millions five hundred thousand dollars were claimed for allowing our fishermen the privilege to take fish from the ocean within three miles of their shores. Suffice it to say that we take neither balibut nor codfish, speaking in a generic sense, and which com. prise three-fourths of the Atlantic fisheries, in British waters. We buy our herring, capelin and squid entirely from the local fishermen, paying them in cash or its equivalent, and the only fishery of theirs that is available is the mackerel fishery, and what few of these we take as shown by sword statements of the captaios of the vessels, has cost us nearly two dollars for every dollar received.

"We are now in possession of facts and figures, statistics, decisions and reports, such as never before were within reach of the Government. There can be no excuse for further failure. The Ceosus Report of Prof. Gvode devoted to the fisheries is exhaustive in detail. The proceedings of the Halifax Commission with its three volumes of testimony ; the arguments, reports and decision of the Fortune Bay case, and the in- numerable reports of outrage on our fishermen, sustained by sworn testimony on file in the State Department, with a detaileil affidavit of the trip and catch of every American vessel that has fished for mackerel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the past tour years. This with the available personal testimony of persons both scientific and practical, gives ns an advantage never possessed before. It is true that amid the great industries of the Conotry our interest in dollars and cents nay appear small. The indomitable pluck and energy of the men who own and man these vessels can alone account for the existence of the fisheries. It is not the pecuniary results that are so very encouraging, for it has been shown over and over again that the net earnings of the average fishermen are not over $300 per year at best ; and among the fishing owners of the Country it will be hard to find many who have made a linndred thousand dollars in the production of fish alone. It has been said that the consumers have an interest to he consulted. True, but no portion of this Country would desire mien to expose themselves as our fishermen do at much less than $300 per year, so if objection is to come, let it be based upon the handling and transportation, not on the poor pittance of the fishermen, and it has been demonstrated that it is upon the cost of production only that the reduction by means of foreign com- petition comes.

"The owners and fishermen suffer loss and not the distributors. And if by reason of this loss weare unable to pursue the business, then it must go to the Provinces, and withont competition here it becomes a monopoly in their hands ; and who ever heard of a monopoly making anything cheaper. The Canadians under the stimulus of our open markets have now increased their fleet to nearly, if not quite, 500 ves- Bels. Would it have been an injury to have those vessels built here to have drawn men here from the Provinces and the north of Europe to man them ? for these men able and willing to work become citizens producers and consumers as well ? Would not their skilled competition,

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

adlelte be atrahtwoor natizenship, have been as valuable to Peersw rink . play the Out of fish at a fair price as though they -ty I at hente anl set the product of their labor here ? The next war, if we have one, will be fought on the ocean. Who has the most interest in maintaining the fisheries that produce the finest sammen Known, the few men who owa the vessels, or the 56,00 1,000 of people . must Look to them for their defense? Canada has over 75,000 men in der f bering, every one of them an English miilor and liable, if need- " , to do inty in her navy. Where will the United States Jook for her ren to man the magnificent navy we are to have in the near future ?

" The great West has developed her imbrense resources, opened up ier grand territory, largely by subsidies assisting railroads, coming from the votes and pakets of the whole people. The south under the breul ning influence of an education for her people, unstained by the national wealth, shall yet see a prosperity unequaled by any section, when ujoon every stream that now rons untaxed to the sea shall be In and the wtur of the boom and spindle : her cotton, cultivated by the negi planters, shall be turned into cloth by the hands of the skilled operativos that she will call there to operate her mills, and with the prinjwerity of her farmers her wealth will be equal tu her opportunities. In this prosperity we are all benefited. And it is from these sections that it is proposed to organize the opposition that shall crush out the New England fisheries. Can there be any American citizen knowing the farts, and rejoicing in the glory and prosperity of his Country, who is ready, at the instance of foreign influence, to strike down the fisheries ber ine he might possibly buy a mackerel or codfish 1-2 a cent cheaper, thereby reducing the wages of the operative fishermen to starvation pricea and destroying the only element of defense we have upon the (man. I said knowing the facts, and it is our duty to see that they do know them. We have never yet failed of a unanimous response to our appeal when it has been properly understood at Washington. There are many matters affecting our marine jurisprudence that need correction and am minent. Our fisheries have an clement of strength in being a final product. In the consumption of manufactured articles a person san largely diminish their personal use, but food he must have. In che meal analysis, tish have not received the rank to which they are entitled among staples, and relutively the prices are not graded as they should be.

""finlay fish and mackerel are the cheapest food in the market ac- Or ling to their value as u sustenance, and there are forthcoming, tables from the highest scientific authority, that will do justice to our product. Many of our people need education in the use of fish, for while the fish of the great lakes and the southern coasts and rivers are largely used, there are none can take the place of our cured cod and mackerel when perly prepared. The change that has been so rapidly taking place in the cate nud dimprosl of fish whereby we now pace on the market a Luge part of our product in a fresh condition, and which necessitates the use of large quantities of ice, brings into prominence a question that Las heretofore not received the attention which it now demands. The competition of the Dominion is not going to be bounded by the sale of boneless, drie l and pickled or green tish, but they will compete with ur verwel with their fresh fish, halibut and herring. The tariff places Ch Fresh for consumption on the tree list. Now this qualification must A. detined, und it may require legislation to do it. The present aspect of d partidental decisions would imply that fish fresh for consumption w re tình fresh cunght, and not pruserved by artificial means, The Faning of the term is not fresh in contradistinction to salt, nor does it min fr h preserved fish, such as are kept sweet by freezing, but en ty the fresh enochit tsh that would reach the market in that condi- Per an enter into the immediate consumption of the people without the abe any artil i meus whitever.

" the prompt & fleur nt of this question the so-called fresh trips of ogelo pection. The decisions of the department on hola beth, t which the provisionsof the present treaty path Bi tish fresh caught fish ure free ty Mon as they are in thu Enhit on. But after their purchase ste Arman but they are not disposed of and actually consumed if -0 0-k di ten sisok 1, the pos ryation of them by these Farbedes Pringho murwering the demands of the tariff

11 :0010 |1 . the lit ) States, und also the jo etof tto Nomi in fish os The nuje fares of an intelli- my int when we rahze that it

fishery as pursued by our fishing vessels, is a fishery that they are obliged to pursue according to the methods peculiar to that fishery. That is, to avail themselves of the services of the shoremen with their boats and nets ; otherwise they could not pursue the business. It has been demonstrated, over and over again, that this class of bait fisheries cannot be controlled by legislation, Treaties, Resolutions, Boards of Trade or Chambers of Commerce. They omust be used, if used at all, in accordance with natural rights and natural laws. This class of fisheries is the principal support of a large portion of the shore population where these fish are taken. They cannot, they ought not, they will not allow participation in these fisheries. Any talk of reciprocity that will give these fisheries to ns is nonsense. Now these people are willing that our vessels should come and employ them to take these fish for ns. They are desirous to welcome our people on these terms. It is the only method by which this fishery can be pursued. There has been a con- tinued, persistent effort on the part of some of the Department officials to classify the entire herring fishery as a commercial transaction, liable to all the restrictions and expenses attending a foreign voyage. In fact one decision imperatively demanded that cvery vessel leaving an Amer- ican port to go for herring, should sail under a register, forgetting that the treaty gave to American vessels the same rights in British waters, so far as the taking of fish is concerned, as they had in our own, and that the methods employed could not be called in question by either govern- meut, in Mr. Evarts' position on the Fortune Bay question, that treaty rights were superior to local laws on either side.

"Now, treaty or no treaty, we have to abide by natural laws in the herring fishery, and the question has got to be settled, how far herring, procured by the only metbod possible, shall be recognized as the pro- duct of the Americao fisheries if taken in this manner and brought to our markets by American vessels, The Hon. Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Met'ullongh, during Ins former administrativa, sent to Messrs. Hall & Myrich, American Merchants at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a letter explanatory of this clause of the tariff, in which fish cured on an American vessel under the American flag constituted a product of the American fisheries under the law. There is necessity to have our own legis'ation and the action of our own government right, in order that the American fisheries can have their fullest develop. ment.

"If there were not such serious consequences involved, it would be amusing to see our Canadian neighbors, who twelve years ago were frantic over the immense value of their inshore fisheries, now so terribly anxious lest some form of compromise should fail to give them our mar- kets, and confessing that all the money they ever made was during re- ciprocity. The present statement has the merit of truth, and the fact that so long as the American fisheries exist and have our own markets they are a bar to this great prosperity of our rivals, is one of the strong. est arguments in our favor. But the facts and figures prove the utter worthlesshess of the statement made twelve years ago, and we do not hear any Canadian claim of fourteen and one-half millions nuy more. No, they would sacrifice the rental of five and one-half millions for another twelve years of free markets for their fish ; in fact, the truth exists, and did exist twelve years ago that Reciprocity was the greatest of boons to them, and now they acknowledge it. Why do they care for free markets if the consumer pays the anty ? One of their vessels brings in 500 barrels of mackerel into Gloucester next July, mackerel are sell- ing at $10, the captain solls his mackerel, gets $5000 for them and taking $1000 goes to the Custom House and pays his duties. Did the merchant who bought his mackerel pay him any more because the duties were $2 per barrel ? Nut at all. Dul the merchant ask the retailer any more for those mackerel because the captain had to pay $2 per barrel duties? Not at all. Did the retuiler ask the consumer any more for the same reason ? Not at all. Now suppose there was no American mackerel fleet, which by their natural competition and success were indicating the original price of the mackerel and the British vessels had the making of the price, who would pay the duty ? Assuredly by having control of the market, by the effect of no competition, he could dictate his own price and add the duties to the price of the mackerel, and in that way the consumer would juaty it. But the American fleet maintained, in- creused mackerel would be sold as they always have been when largely produ ed, at low prices.

"The Massachusetts and Maine fleets have taken altogether about 499,391 bhls, of mackerel the season of 1884; of these but 21,293 were taken in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. C'anain takes from 100,000 to 150,- 000 barrels yearly, the large preponderance of the American catch regu- Intes the price for the bulk of the fish which forms tho actual staple food, although the American market will pay most any price for from 10,000 to 2 1,000 barrels of extra mess mackerel which like fine grades of

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GLOUCESTER.

halibut must be classed under the head of luxuries. It is to the mass of the fish which goes to the laboring consuuters of the country, and is suld by the small retailers, that the rules of supply and demand apply, and as four-fifths of all the mackerel ure taken by the American fleet off our own shores the larger the American fleet the more mackerel are taken, and they are afforded at a low price to the consumer.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 86

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672