210 



GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



According to the statement of James Emery, jr., and Charles W. Hallstram, of the Union Ice 

 Company, the following quantities of ice were used in the Boston fisheries in each month of 1879: 



Fishing vessels from many of the New England ports take more or less salt in bond from 

 Boston. The Grand Bank cod-fishing vessels generally use Trapani salt ; for mackerel, salt from 

 Cadiz and Liverpool is preferred ; while for herring Liverpool salt is mostly used. It is sold by 

 the hogshead, holding 8 bushels, or 560 pounds, of salt. During 1879 prices rated very low ; Cadiz 

 salt sold at $1.25, Trapani at $1.35 to $1.40, and Liverpool 80 cents to $1.20 per hogshead. The 

 present season of 1880 it has advanced considerably, and prices through the spring were as follows: 

 Cadiz $1.50 to 1.G5, Trapaui $1.69 to $1.75, and Liverpool $1.20 per hogshead. Since the removal 

 of a bounty on codfish in I860, Congress has permitted the fishermen to use what salt is necessary 

 for the cure of their fish free of duty. They do not seem to appreciate or consider it much of a 

 grant to them as long as they have to pay what they think are excessive weighing fees; or, as they 

 say, " the duty is yet on, only in another form." In 1799 Congress passed a law charging 50 cents 

 for weighing 100 bushels of 56 pounds each. In 1816 this fee was increased to 75 cents, the Gov- 

 ernment weighing each bushel and paying for the labor. The tax or weighing fee was only on 

 bonded salt. The fishermen receiving a bounty and paying a duty had no weighing fees to pay. 

 This old law is said to have remained dormant for over fifty years, and was brought from its retreat 

 by the officers of the Boston custom-house some years ago. The tax was collected at this port, and 

 110 other, for some time, until a protest was made which brought forth a general Treasury order to 

 enforce it at all ports. As the law granting fishermen salt duty free provides for their payment 

 of the actual weighing expenses, they seem to think the present tax of 7 cents a hoghshead 

 unjust, excessive, and not the true intent of the law. For a vessel handling 500 hogsheads of salt 

 this tax amounts to $37.50 as fees for a weigher who weighs only 10 or 20 hogsheads as an average, 



and all the labor -hire is paid by the vessel. Much complaint is heard at all ports in which the fish- 

 eries are carried on. * 



The amount of salt withdrawn from the Boston custom-house in 1879 for use in the fisheries 



was 20,413,200 pounds, or 36,452 hogsheads, having a market value of $54,678. There are five firms 



in Boston, with a capital of $75,000 and employing fifty men, engaged in the importation of salt 



and supplying the fish trade as a part of their business. 



*Iu the spring of 1882 Congress modified the customs laws, so that this unjust tax is now removed. 



