24 



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 is not over $300 per year ; and surely among the fishing 

 owners of the country it will he hard to find many who have made a 

 hundred thousand dollars in the production of fish alone. It has 

 been said that the consumers have an interest to be consulted. True, 

 but I do not think any portion of this country would desire men 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 competition comes. 



The owners and fishermen suffer loss and not the distributors. 

 And if by reason of this loss we are unable to pursue the business, 

 then it must go to the Provinces, and without competition here it be- 

 comes a monopoly in their hands ; and who ever heard of a monop- 

 oly making anything cheaper? Will not the shrewd Canadian, when 

 our flag is driven from the ocean, be as sharp in handling a monopoly 

 as ever the grasping Yankee dared to be. The American fisheries 

 once destroyed are gone forever. It is a progressive business deal- 

 ing in new modes and methods, and let us fail to lead, we shall never 

 follow. If the fisheries were a purely Canadian production, the small- 

 er the duty compatible with the interests of the revenue the better. 



If protection kept the business in the hands of our present produc- 

 ers with no increase of means and results then it would be a monopo- 

 ly for us. But it has been demonstrated that in proportion as the 

 domestic demand increases under protection so will the production 

 increase. The Canadians under the stimulus of our open markets 

 have now increased their fleet nearly, if not quite 500 vessels. Would 

 it have been an injury to have those vessels built here to have drawn 

 men here from the Province and the north of Europe to man them ; 

 for these men able and willing to work to become citizens, producers 

 and consumers as well. Would not their skilled competition, added 

 to the advantage of their citizenship, have been as valuable to the 

 consumer in keeping the price of fish at a fair price as though they 

 stayed at home and sent the product of their labor here ? 



Have we not built our country up upon the principal that it is bet- 



