PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 131 
A few flat and oval cans are not lacquered, but are protected from 
rust by wrapping in tissue paper, over which the label is placed. 
LABELING. 
While machines have been made for this purpose, and many of them 
are in use, the work is frequently 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 protrude 
beyond each preceding, he can apply paste to the entire number with 
one stroke of the brush. A canis 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. 
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 sufficient 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 has become familiar with the brand and pleased with the 
contents of the can, he will ask for and accept no other, despite the 
fact 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 required to carry on the business. 
A free trade definition of a label would be that it is an artistic 
representation or intellectual production, stamped directly upon an 
