PACIFIC COD FISHERIES. 41 
of the saloons to the stations it was a very easy matter for the men 
to get hold of all the liquor they wished, and carouses were frequent, 
lasting sometimes for weeks, as fresh supplies of liquor were con- 
tinually coming in. Frequently, also, a fisherman would meet with 
an untimely end through the capsizing of his dory while returning 
in an intoxigated condition from a visit to one of these saloons, or be 
frozen to death or meet with a fatal fall while traversing the rough 
and slightly marked trails between the stations and the towns. 
In 1914 the judicial authorities of the third district, in which the 
codfish industry is carried on, refused to renew the old licenses or 
grant any new ones, with the result that the district 1 is now totally 
free of the legalized traflic at least. 
PERSONS EMPLOYED. 
With the exception of the owners, a few of the higher officials 
ashore, and several of the captains but a small fraction of those en- 
gaged in the industry are native-born Americans. The large ma- 
jority are of Scandinavian birth, with a few Finns, Germans, Cana- 
dians, etc. At the stations quite a few natives are employed as 
fishermen. No Orientals are employed except as cooks at the stations. 
The captains and mates of the vessels are almost all men who have 
worked up from the ranks of the fishermen. Operating on the cod- 
fish banks of Alaska requires considerable local knowledge of the 
banks, of the prevailing winds, and also of the most convenient spots 
for shelter and for water. While the majority of them are good 
navigators, a few are sadly deficient in this respect, yet their know]- 
edge of Alaska conditions enables them to make about as many suc- 
cessful trips as their fellows who are better grounded in the science. 
The men in charge of the stations are generally fishermen who have 
worked up from the ranks. While some of these men are excellent 
workers, with considerable native shrewdness, yet as the necessities 
of the industry require their constant presence in Alaska, they get 
very little opportunity to keep in touch with the world’s progress, 
and generally continue throughout their business life to carry on 
business in the same old groove in which it was running at the time 
responsibility fell upon them. They are also a very poorly remuner- 
ated class of men, with practically no opportunity for advancement 
beyond the position of station agent. This largely explains why the 
codfish industry of the Pacific coast is but little further advanced 
to-day, so far as methods of catching and curing the fish are con- 
cerned, than it was 40 years ago. 
While a small proportion of the white men are excellent fisher- 
men of the type required for hand-line fishing from dories, the 
majority of them are ordinary beach combers picked up on the 
