[157] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



and selling of fish, without even opening the package. That time has 

 gone by now, as the brands are counterfeited by dealers South and 

 West, the fish oftentimes repacked, and poorer qualities substituted in 

 brands branded the best. This has become a serious detriment to the 

 business, and now there is really no further need of an inspector-gen- 

 eral of fish. Of late years the office has become a sinecure, from the 

 fact that it has become mixed up in politics, and given to men who 

 know nothing of the business, and whose principal duty is to receive 

 their fee on the number of barrels of mackerel inspected by their several 

 deputies. 



" There is need of some protection to the many well-disposed, honest 

 men engaged in the mackerel and pickled-fish business along the sea- 

 coast. As a class they are strictly honest, and take great pains to put 

 up their fish in the best possible manner, making a conscientious cull, 

 which will bear strict investigation, giving a full equivalent for the price 

 received, and securing the confidence of the consumer in all cases wtiere 

 they are fortunate enough to get the original package. Very many of 

 the first-class dealers, West and South, who have a business reputation 

 which they value far above the few dollars which they might make in 

 selling inferior articles, send direct to Gloucester for their goods, and in 

 this way they get what they pay for and secure their own trade from im- 

 position as far as may be. But it is very difficult to counterbalance the 

 other class who make it a business to defraud. Something must be done 

 to remedy this evil, and when the fishing inspectorship is abolished, 

 then we hope the fishing dealers will counsel together and take imme- 

 diate and active measures for self-protection. Have a law which will 

 make it comparatively easy to convict a guilty party of fraud in brands 

 or quality. Our correspondent, ' W. S.,' in another column, offers some 

 practical ideas on this subject which are worthy of attention." 



A correspondent writes to the Cape Ann Advertiser as follows, under 

 date of Portland, Ale., February 15, 1875 : 



" I was highly gratified to read in your last issue of a movement on 

 foot to abolish the office of general inspector of pickled fish. The 

 strongest argument used in its favor last winter in our legislature was 

 that our old mother, Massachusetts, had such a law and it worked well, 

 and no one complained. Statutes, hundreds of years old, were produced 

 to establish this fact, but all of no avail. We accomplished our purpose 

 in defeating it, and the bill to abolish the office was passed almost unan- 

 imously. It now only awaits th<* governor's signature, and then there 

 will be abolished a nuisance we have been obliged to suffer for thirteen 

 years. The office expired by limitation in this State last May, and 

 through the efforts of parties opposed to the office the governor and 

 council were persuaded not to make an appointment, thereby giving an 

 opportunity to appeal to the legislature. We have suffered no detri- 

 ment in not having a general inspector, but have got along much better 

 by allowing the deputies to act on their own responsibility. As a proof 



