FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 61 
totals, American vessels landed nearly 13,000,000 pounds in 1916, 
and about 7,000,000 pounds in 1915. A good part of the halibut 
landed at Prince Rupert would undoubtedly have been handled 
through Alaskan ports if steps had been taken to prevent the diver- 
sion of this business to British Columbia. It is noteworthy, however, 
that the loss of the halibut trade to Seattle was proportionately 
greater than it was to Alaskan towns. 
This state of affairs has given rise to much protest from American 
fishing interests on the Pacific coast, including many of the fisher- 
men as well as the companies engaged in handling halibut. The de- 
mand has been made that Congress should enact legislation to pro- 
tect American interests and save an American industry, rather than 
allow its absorption by Canada. It has been argued that the product 
of the fishery is almost wholly of American origin and that more 
than 80 per cent of it is consumed in the United States. Therefore, 
it has been felt that Canada in the capacity of middleman should 
not be allowed to dictate terms and conditions and in effect control 
the industry in a way that would surely cause the American con- 
sumer to pay a higher price for this product. 
On August 10, 1916, a communication asking for relief from the 
Prince Rupert situation was addressed to the President and to the 
State Department, Treasury Department, and the Department of 
Commerce, by the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Com- 
merce, transmitting a statement signed by the Booth Fisheries Co., 
San Juan Fishing & Packing Co., National Independent Fisheries 
Co., Ripley Fish Co., and the Glacier Fish Co., which concerns are 
interested in the halibut fishery both of Puget Sound and Alaska. 
The result of a continuance of existing conditions was stated in that 
document to be as follows: 
1. A purely American industry would be permanently diverted from American to 
Canadian ports. 
2. The $5,000,000 capital investment of American citizens would become valueless 
and be absorbed by Canada. 
3. The fishing fleet numbering hundreds of vessels would pass from American to 
Canadian registry. 
4. Thousands of American fishermen would eventually be displaced by Canadian 
subjects. 
5. American transportation companies—water and rail—would be robbed of the 
transportation of fish caught on our own coasts destined to American markets. 
6. American commerce would lose the trade benefits incidental to operation of 
this $5,000,000 industry—yet in its infancy. 
7. The control of a valuable American food supply and of its cost to American con- 
sumers would pass from the United States to Canada. 
The demand of the fishery interests took definite form in a bill 
(H. R. 15839) mtroduced on May 20, 1916, by Representative Mc- 
Gillicuddy of Maine, to regulate the importation into the United 
