104 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 
than the preparation of the herring for the market, as thereby the fish- 
erman is enabled to get a higher price for his fish, and the trader finds 
a better market for his goods. The object in view can best be reached 
by regulating the methods of preparing herring so as to obtain a 
uniform article marked with the government mark. For this purpose 
a complete knowledge of all the approved methods should be more gen- 
erally spread. . Such regulations regarding the salting of herring are 
in force in Holland and Scotland, and have contributed their share 
towards the development of the herring trade, by producing a uniform 
article which gradually has found its way into many foreign markets, 
where it is highly esteemed. Since 1859, however, the gratuitous mark- 
ing by the government officials of every ton of herring has been 
abolished, and it is now made optional with every salter whether by 
paying a small tax he will have his tons stamped with the government 
maftk. Experience has shown that the official marking of the goods is 
an incalculable benefit to the trade; and, though optional, it is quite 
general. The opposition, which every now and then has been raised 
against this system by some of the large Scotch salters, has not found 
favor either with the public or with the Fishery Commission, and the 
official marking therefore continues in use to this very day, as a strange 
exception from free trade principles in the land of their birth. It is 
evident, however, that the system of marking would never have come 
into such extensive use if it had not in the beginning been introduced 
by extraordinary measures, and had thus brought about a uniform 
preparation of the Scotch herring, which, in consequence, are highly 
prized in nearly all the markets of Kurope. In Holland, whose herring 
have for centuries enjoyed a world-wide reputation, and where the salt- 
ing is in the hands of a few firms, the official marking of the herring, 
after having been obligatory for a long time, has recently (1878) been 
entirely abolished, which, possibly, was caused, in part at least, by the 
circumstance that the herring on the east coast of Scotland, where 
most of the Dutch herring are caught, became inferior in quality. As, 
especially in the beginning of a herring period, when a new herring is 
first brought into the market it may cause incalculable injury to the 
future of the trade if it gets the reputation of being an inferior article 
(because a lost reputation is very difficult to regain); and as the experi- 
ence of our former herring periods proves in the most unmistakable 
manner that the herring best suited for salting are obtained a few 
years after the beginning of the period, it becomes our imperative 
duty to derive the greatest possible benefit from the experience of for- 
eign countries, especially Scotland, and to take those administrative 
measures relative to the preparation of herring which will enable us 
to produce as soon after the beginning of the period as possible an 
article of uniform and generally recognized excellence. Even if during 
the latter part of the period the natural quality of the herring should 
become inferior, as has been the case on the east coast of Scotland, the 
reputation once gained would carry us safely to the end of the period. 
