SALMON FISHERIES OF PACIFIC COAST. 59 



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 j^receding, he can apply paste to the entire number with 

 one stroke of the brush. A can is 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. None 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. 



Up to a few years ago one of the most serious evils in the trade 

 w T as 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 were 

 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 slightly 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. 



