500 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



CHINESE CONTRACT SYSTEM 



Cannery labor is supplied largely through the contract system. 

 In the large cities along the coast are agencies, mainly owned by 

 Chinese, which make a specialty of furnisliing labor tor canning. 

 In the agreement between the canning company and the contractor 

 the company guarantees to pack a certain number of cases during 

 the coming season, and the latter agrees to do all the work from 

 the time the fish are delivered on the wharf until they are ready 

 to ship at. the end of the season for a certain fixed smn per case. 

 Should the canner}^ pack more than the guaranteed number, which it 

 usually does if possible, the excess has to be paid for at the rate per 

 case already agreed upon, while if the pack for any reason should fall 

 below the contract amount, the company must pay for the shortage 

 the same as though they had been packed. The company transports 

 the Chmese to the field of work and carries them to the home port at 

 the end of the season. It provides them with a bunk house and fui'- 

 nishes fuel, water, and salt. The contractor sends along with each 

 crew a "boss," who has charge of the crew and furnishes their food, 

 the company transporting this free. 



^ATiile this contract system met with favor from some of the can- 

 nery men because it relieved them from the annoyance and trouble 

 involved in hiring, worldng, and feeding their cannery gangs, others, 

 and these the most farsighted, from the early days of the industry 

 viewed it with suspicion and distrust and in a few instances refused 

 to have anything to do with it. While the plan apparently met with 

 no objection from the Chinese when they were the only ones engaged 

 in the work, as soon as other races began to be employed disputes 

 became common, and it is probable that to-day it is the most unpop- 

 ular feature of the industry from the common workers' standpoint, 

 and mainl}^ because of the abuses which have grown up in connection 

 with it. 



Since the beginning of the present century there has been a steady 

 expansion of the salmon-canning industry, with a consequent heavy 

 demand for cannery labor. As a result of the operation of the Chinese- 

 exclusion act during this period the number of Chinese available has 

 been steadily declining; in fact, most of the Chinese now employed 

 are mainly men well along in life, as the few comprised in the rising 

 generation do not wish to follow in their fathers' footsteps. As a 

 result the oriental gang now comprises many nationahties. 



The great increase in the number of canneries during the period 

 noted, with the resulting demand for labor, led to the introduction 

 of other nationalities, more notably the Japanese, into the ranks of 

 the Cliinese contractors. Many of these operated with very little 

 or no capital and when a bad season occurred they usually passed 

 their losses, in whole or in part, onto their workers, usually by abscond- 

 ing, and when the latter attempted to come back onto the owner of 

 the plant the latter successfully pleaded the fact that he had made 

 a contract with the contractor to do the work at a certain fixed sum 

 per case, that the stipulated price had been paid him, and if he failed 

 to settle with the men it was no concern of the canner. 



The contractor, under his agreement with the canner, has the right 

 to feed his employees from the time they leave the home port until 

 they return, and this is a most prolific source of profit and graft 



