38 



imported free from Canadian Provinces, Newfoundland, etc., under 

 the Washington Treatv. The average catch of each American ves- 

 sel in 1883, multiplied by 280, (the number gone from the Massa- 

 chusetts fleet) and that amount, compared with the amount of the 

 importations, will convince the most skeptical that American enter- 

 prise and labor, in the fisheries, has been sacrificed to build up 

 that of a Foreign Nation. 



In regard to the effect of reciprocity treaties, take Barnstable 

 county for example, the county of Massachusetts which has depended 

 more on the fisheries than any other, gaining in population before the 

 effects of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 were fully felt, between 

 1840 and i860., 11.6 per cent., and lost, between 1860 and 1880, 

 11.4 per cent, of her population, being the only county showing 

 a loss. 



The aggregate average assessed valuation of fourteen fishing ports 



of Massachusetts in ltf.SO. including Gloucester, was $403 for each 



inhabitant; for each inhabitant in the whole State §889. Beverly, a 



port changed from fishing to manufacturing, exceeded Gloucester in 



1865 in valuation $88 per head. In 1880 its excess was $475 per 



head. Marblehead. in 1865. near end of the first Reciprocity 



Treaty, during which Treaty it had lost 381 per head and abandoned 



fishing as its business, was valued then $122 per head less than 



Gloucester. In 1880 it had a valuation of 844 more per head than 



Gloucester. Gloucester's valuation, having been $370 per head in 



1855, 8397 per head in 1860. $407 per head in 1865, $467 per head 



in 1870 and $409 per head in 1880, haviug gained from 1860 to 1880 



$12 per head, whilst the average inhabitant of the whole State, 



in the same time, gained $160 per head. Gloucester having done 



better than other fishing ports by the diversity of her fisheries and 



distribution trade. 



Maine Fisheries. — From comparative returns made by the Secre- 

 tary of the State of Maine, of the industries of that State, he states 

 that during the year of 1884 there has been a decrease of 70 in the 

 number of fishing vessels registered in the several Customs Districts 

 of that State. The number of hands employed decreased 2113 in 

 her fisheries, during the same time. 



