102 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



marked, apropos of such figures, that "the price for making 

 is the minimum, or starving price j and therefore the garments 

 are made accordingly. There are two losers by this arrange- 

 ment, and one winner. The maker and the buyer are the 

 losers, while the profit passes into the hands of the seller." ^^ 



Many other articles which found their way into the outfits 

 were also made in the town or surrounding countryside. In 

 fact, a goodly percentage of the shore labor of a whaling port 

 was engaged in catering to the needs of the whaleman under 

 the general direction and to the financial advantage of the out- 

 fitters. These shrewd tradesmen succeeded in building up a 

 system in which they bought the coarsest raw materials, had 

 them made into poorly-fashioned articles by cheap labor, and 

 then sold the resulting low-cost goods to economically helpless 

 customers at exorbitant prices. 



The self-same tradesmen, too, were infitters as well as 

 outfitters. Not only were they the last to speed the whale- 

 man upon his outward journey, but they were also the first 

 to greet him upon his return. For both in beginning and in 

 ending a voyage the crews stood in need of, or could be made 

 to feel that they wanted, certain goods and services which the 

 combined outfitters-infitters were anxious to supply. 



So eager were they, in fact, that there was the keenest com- 

 petition in boarding incoming vessels. Now and again the 

 rivalry became so strenuous and so bitter that regulatory agree- 

 ments were virtually forced into being. In New Bedford dur- 

 ing the sixties, for instance, the Outfitters' Association sought 

 to control the methods employed in boarding vessels which ar- 

 rived during the night. All members were to put out from 

 certain specified points along the shore, and then only after a 

 signal had been given by a central watchman. Another rule, 

 carrying with it a penalty of one hundred dollars for each vio- 

 lation, provided that all members must use the same boat, that 

 no intoxicants were to be carried, and that the boarding must 

 be done "quietly and peacefully." Such agreements, however. 



Book" in which the accounts were kept is now in the New Bedford Public 

 Library. 



16 Holmes, Lewis, "The Arctic Whaleman," p. 284. This author describes 

 the abuses and operation of the outfitting system in some detail. 



