176 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Under this form of contract the packer is expected to be ready to 

 fulfill the terms of same, except in case of a short pack, when the 

 orders are generally prorated; i. e., all orders are proportionately 

 reduced until they come within the compass of the pack. Should 

 the Ijuyer dislike the opening price he has the privilege of canceling 

 the order. While this latter privilege may not, at first glance, look 

 just to the packer, yet it is doubtful if any Jauyer would place a 

 "future" order unless he was assured of a chance to cancel it should 

 he feel that too high a sum was fixed in the opening prices. 



Some canneries contract to sell their entu'e output to one buyer, and 

 the price fixed is usually the opening prices for the year in question. 

 In such cases the buyer and seller are both compelled to abide by the 

 price, no matter how unjust one or the other may consider it. 



The association does not announce its opening prices until late in 

 August or early in September, when the greater part of the packing 

 is over with and a good line on the total pack has been obtained, and 

 it speaks well for the discernment of the officials of the association 

 that their judgment as to prices should meet with the general approval 

 as often as it does. 



AMERICAN OPENING PRICES. 



Below are shown the yearly onening prices on the various grades 

 and sizes from 1890 to 1919. Tne most interesting part of this is 

 the increase shown in the value of high-grade salmon. Columbia 

 River chinook was quoted at $1.05 for 1-pound tails in 1897, and it 

 gradually advances until in 1919 it is quoted at S3. 15. Alaska red 

 l-pound"talls in 1897 sold for 90 cents, the lowest during the period 

 in question, advancing, with occasional recessions, until in 1919 it 

 reached high-water mark of S3. 25. In 1897 Puget Sound 1-pound 

 tall sockeye sold for 80 cents, 10 cents below Alaska red. In 1898 it 

 sold for 20 cents less than reds. In 1902 it sold for SI as compared 

 with 95 cents for Alaska red, and from that time on brought a higher 

 price, being quoted at $3.15 in 1919 as compared with $2.35 for 

 Alaska red. No sockeye 1-pound tails were packed in 1919. 



Medium red or coho does not figure in the opening prices until 1908, 

 when Puget Sound coho sold for 5 cents a clozen more than Alaska 

 coho. Very shortly thereaftei', however, both were classed together 

 and sold for the same price. This grade has not had the wide fluc- 

 tuations of the others, due mainly to the generally small pack made 

 annually. 



Pink salmon has been the football of the salmon market ever since 

 the pack became of sufficient size to become a feature in it. The 

 size of the pack has been steadily increasing, as the fish became 

 better known, and while the price obtained has been excellent in 

 certain years (in 1911 it sold at $1 per dozen, the highest point 

 reached up to that time, usuall}' the price has been low. In 1897 it 

 was quoted at 65 cents. In 1915 the opening price was 75 cents, but 

 as a matter of fact a large part of the pack really sold for 65 cents. 

 The lowest point it reached was in 1903, when it was ciuoted at 50 

 cents a dozen. As a result of the demand created by tne war pink 

 salmon opened at 90 cents in 1916, $1 .65 in 1917 and 1918, and $2.25 

 in 1919. The market collapsed under the last-named price, how- 

 ever, and is now (1920) not more than one-half of it. 



