DECADENCE OF DEEP-SEA FISHERIES 291 



Further, there was developed at this period some phases 

 of these fisheries that increased greatly the competition 

 of the Provinces with New England in the fisheries. The 

 United States may have benefited somewhat by the terms 

 of this treaty ; but undoubtedly Canada benefited the more 

 and in a manner that led to greater possibilities of future 

 competition. Again, in 1873, the two countries entered 

 into an agreement that lasted twelve years, in which Canada 

 got the better of the bargain. The privilege of admitting 

 her fish free into our markets was, as it proved, of greater 

 importance to her fishermen than were the privileges 

 granted to our fishermen in provincial waters. Especially 

 injurious to American interests was the free importation 

 of Canadian herring during this period. Yet our Gov- 

 ernment had to pay Great Britain $5,500,000 for the 

 balance of trade in this reciprocal arrangement, and this 

 sum of money was expended in building up Canadian fish- 

 eries. It may be an ungenerous policy for a government 

 to legislate so as to inflict injury upon competing indus- 

 tries of a rival state, but such a policy is more justifiable 

 than legislation that promotes those industries directly, to 

 the injury of home industries of the same kind. 



Another contributing cause to the decline of offshore 

 fisheries is found in the social changes that have taken 

 place along the New England coast within the last twenty- 

 five years. A few decades ago a certain place was the site 

 of a fishing station. To-day Bar Harbor occupies the spot, 

 a summer city for dwellers of the large towns. What 

 has happened at that place has occurred, on a lesser scale, 

 at hundreds of other places along the coast of New Eng- 

 land. The fisherman's hut has given place to the cottage 

 of the summer visitor. The unsightly fish-buildings must 

 be removed from the neighborhood. The natives turn 

 from the deep-sea industries to find employment in sup- 

 plying the needs and demands of this transient population. 



