BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 233 



facilitate the sale of fish, if necessary, by introducing improved methods 

 of preparation ; but my words were in vain, principally owing to Pro- 

 fessor Smith's influence ; and on the Bohuslan coast people had to wait 

 till the year 1882 for measures introducing- the salting of herrings ac- 

 cording to the Scotch method, simply because the money needed for 

 this purpose was spent on the Berlin Exposition and on Professor Sinitt's 

 resultless experiments with floating nets. Professor Smitt does not 

 seem to recognize the importance of ready sales for the fishing indus- 

 tries, and he, of course, prescribes expositions as the best remedy for 

 our, undoubtedly, unsatisfactory sales. If expositions, however, were 

 beneficial in this respect, it is more than strange that our sales of fish 

 are far from satisfactory, in spite of the lively interest taken by Sweden 

 in all foreign fishery expositions, and that Professor Smitt can show 

 no convincing proof that the great Berlin Exposition of 1880 has caused 

 any increase in our exportation of fresh salmon, herring, &c. The ex- 

 portation of these kinds of fish went on even when there were no expo- 

 sitions, and has not been noticeably increased by them. Successful 

 efforts to increase the sale of fish made during an exposition need more- 

 over not necessarily owe this success to the expositions. Such efforts 

 should be made at all times, and, as far as our sales in England are con- 

 cerned, the sooner they are made the better, as good fresh fish may always 

 count on ready buyers in the great Billingsgate fish-market. Thus an 

 arrangement has recently been made for selling the fish from the Bo- 

 huslan bank-fisheries fresh from the sea to steamboats ; and this ar- 

 rangement was made independent of any exposition. The same might 

 also be done in other cases. The " hints as to improving their condi- 

 tion," which, although not heretofore made known, are said to have been 

 given to our fish-dealers by the Berlin Exposition, they could easily 

 have done without. More vigorous public measures and a more thor- 

 ough knowledge of the fisheries, and not these mystic " hints," are what 

 are needed for furthering our fishing industries. The facts produced by 

 Professor Smitt only show that some insignificant results may be ob- 

 tained by comparatively slight efforts during a fishery exposition. How 

 much greater results could, therefore, be obtained by steady efforts iu 

 the same direction, made with due circumspection and a thorough 

 knowledge of the subject? That country of Europe whose fisheries are 

 at the present time more important than those of any other country, 

 Great Britain, which has raised its fishing industries to a very high 

 condition of excellence, has brought about this result by entirely dif- 

 ferent means than fishery expositions. 



Professor Smitt's attempt to find a reason for the present condition 

 of our fish trade, by saying that the Berlin Exposition has injured the 

 exportation of our preserved fish, is only another proof of his way of 

 deceiving the public. Germany's new customs legislation has, at the 

 same time, not injured the exportation from other countries of preserved 

 and smoked fish. 



