PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 527 



inches in size, printed in one color, on white or colored newspaper, 

 served merely the purpose of distinguishing cans, telling contents 

 and manufacturer, and were without commercial value. About the 

 year 1870 a few canners commenced to import from the East and 

 Europe full-sized labels, i. e., labels that went all around the can. 

 These w^ere called by some ''Pennington" labels, as a firm of that 

 name supplied quite a number of them. 



For some years they were used for the best grades only. They 

 were printed in four and five colors, the design showing invariably 

 a number of panels of different shapes and sizes. The lettering was 

 not always plain and sometimes even intentionally irregular and 

 puzzling. The colors were placed side by side, in boldest contrast, 

 without any attempt to harmonize them. 



It was soon discovered that the highly colored panels, while strik- 

 ing, lost all effect when massed on the retailer's shelves, and the 

 different brands looked so much alike that the individual designs 

 could not well be remembered by the customer, the only really dis- 

 tinctive feature being the name, and that w^as generally printed so 

 small and indistinct that it could not be readily seen at a distance. 



To remedy these defects, the designers soon reduced the number of 

 panels and subdivisions, increasing meanwhile the size of the remain- 

 ing ones and filling them with distinctive designs, still colored as 

 simply as before, with no attempt at blending of colors. The back- 

 ground, at first perfectly plain, commenced to show patterns more or 

 less complicated, and at times quite pretentious, so as to take away 

 from the design proper. 



Gradually the panel design disappeared. In place of it some showed 

 one continuous picture on the label, which was very unsatisfactory 

 and soon disappeared, as only a fraction of the picture could be seen 

 at one time. Others had two subdivisions, one showing the name of 

 the brand with its illustrations, occasionally used as a trade-mark, 

 the other showing the article packed in the can, both named and 

 illustrated. Unfortunately, these subdivisions were so large that 

 the roundness of the can prevented one from seeing the picture as a 

 whole, but this was soon remedied by making the subdivisions nar- 

 rower and filling in between with directions, weight of contents, etc. 



From this point on the general plan of labels underwent few changes 

 except that the work, both of the artist and pressman, improved 

 wonderfully, some of the labels now designed and printed being 

 real works of art. 



Up to a few j^ears ago one of the most serious evils in the trade 

 was the use of misleading and lying brands. The high-grade product 

 would almost invariably be correctly and fully branded, but "chums" 

 and "pinks" were usually branded as "Fresh salmon," "Choice 

 salmon," etc., which would deceive all persons but those well ac- 

 quainted with the industry. "Do-overs," and very poor fish, w^ere 

 usually marketed under a brand which bore the name of a fictitious 

 company or of no company at all. 



The passage of State laws of varying degrees of efficiency govern- 

 ing the branding of salmon helped sUghtly to remedy this condition 

 of affairs, but it was not until the pure food and drugs act, approved 

 June 30, 1906, was put into force by the Government that any radical 

 improvement was noticeable. At the present time but few mislead- 

 ing brands are in use. 



