PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 121 



LABELING. 



While machines hare been made for this purpose, and some of 

 them are in use, the work is usually done by hand. A number of men 

 or women seat themselves about 4 feet apart in front of the pile of 

 cans. Each man has in front of him a package of several hundred 

 labels, and by bunching them on a slant so that successive margins pro- 

 trude beyond each preceding, he can apply paste to the entire number 

 with one stroke of the brush. A can is placed on the label, is quickly 

 rolled, and the label is on much quicker than one can tell it. Each 

 man places to his right the cans he labels, forming a pile of length and 

 width equal to his unlabeled pile, and when the entire lot has been 

 labeled it has been shifted only about 4 feet. Cans of fancy brands 

 of salmon put up on the Columbia River and in the Puget Sound 

 region are wrapped in colored tissue paper before the label is put on. 

 Cartons similar to those used by the sardine packers would make good 

 containers for fancy brands and would be much cheaper than the 

 present method. 



Some of the canners now have their labels lithographed directly 

 on the tin, and the whole covered with a transparent la quer. 



Several attempts have been made to popularize salmon packed in 

 glass and porcelain jars, and while these have met with some favor, 

 it was not sufTicient to warrant a continuance of the practice for any 

 length of time. But few are being so packed at the present time. 



BRANDS. 



A very important feature of the canning industry is the selection 

 of appropriate brands or labels for the various grades of salmon. 

 Each company has a number of these, which it has acquired either 

 by designing them or by absorbing another company which owned 

 them. A well-known brand has a value in itself and sometimes is 

 a very important asset. A company will sometimes market a con- 

 siderable part of its product in one section, and here, where the 

 consumer nas become familiar with the brand and pleased with the 

 contents of the can, he will ask for and accept no other, despite the 

 lact that the latter might be, and probably is, the equal of the 

 product he has been using. 



For many years but few salmon canners appreciated the value of a 

 can label, and it has taken some bitter experiences to drive home to 

 the rest that a properly designed label placed upon good goods and 

 the owner protected in its use by the law has real value, just as much 

 as boats, nets, buildings, machinery, or the thousand and one material 

 things refjuired to cai-rv on the l)usiness. 



A free trade delinition of a label would be that it is an artistic 

 representation or intellertuul production, stamped directly upon an 

 article of manufacture, or ui)on a slip or ])iece of paper or other 

 ni.itcrial. to be attached in any manner to manufactured articles, to 

 bottles, boxes, and packages contauiing them, to indicate the contents 

 of the package, the name of th«> manufacturer, or the place of manu- 

 facture, the quality and quantity of the goods, directions for use. etc. 



Isabels an^ subject to the copyright law and should be registered 

 before use or ])ublication. If not registered, there is no ])rotection 

 ia law against infringement. The continued usi' of a label, however, 



