540 MISCELLANEOUS 



to dry them at home. Those codfish caught on the banks off-shore 

 are usually fine, well-conditioned fish, but, being cured in bulk instead 

 of being cured or packed ashore, are of inferior value. Apart from 

 the fishing facilities and business conveniences, thus afforded to 

 Americans for prosecuting both the deep-sea and inshore fisheries, 

 there are climatic advantages connected with this privilege of a 

 peculiar nature, which attach to it a special value. It is a fact uni- 

 versally known and ur disputed, that codfish, for example, cured on 

 our coasts, command a much higher price in foreign markets than 

 those cured in the United States. This is due in a great measure to 

 the salubrity of the climate and the proximity of the fishing grounds. 

 Permanent curing establishments ashore also enable the fishermen 

 to obtain more frequent " fares," and the dealers to carry on the 

 business of curing and shipping on a much more extensive and 

 economic scale, than if their operations were conducted afloat. There 

 are further advantages derivable from permanent establishments 

 ashore, such as the accumulation of stock and fresh fish preserved 

 in snow or ice, and others kept in frozen and fresh state by artificial 

 freezing; also, the preservation of fish in cans hermetically sealed. 

 The great saving of cost and of substance, and the rapid prepara- 

 tion of a more saleable, more portable, and more nutritive article of 

 food, which commend these improved methods of treating edible 

 fishes to general adoption, will, undoubtedly, induce enterprising 

 dealers to avail themselves very extensively of the remarkable op- 

 portunities which free access, and an assured footing on Canadian 

 coasts, are calculated to afford. The broad effect of these increased 

 facilities is to be found in the abundant and increasing supply to the 

 American public of cheap and wholesome fish, which supply would 

 certainly diminish or fail without the advantages secured by the 

 Treaty of Washington. 



5. Convenience of reciprocal free market. 



A reciprocal free market for any needful commodity, such as fish, 

 entering extensively into daily consumption by rich and poor, is so 

 manifest an advantage to everybody concerned, the producer, the 

 freighter, the seller, and consumer alike, that the remission of Cana- 

 dian duties on American-caught fish imported into Canada cannot, 

 in our opinion, form a very material element for consideration. The 

 benefits conferred by a cheap and abundant supply of food are evi- 

 dent, especially to countries where, as in the United States and 

 Canada, the chief necessities of life are expensive, and it is so de- 

 sirable to cheapen the means of living to the working classes. 



6. Participation in improvements resulting from the. Fisheries Pro- 

 tection Service of Canada. 



In addition to the statutory enactments protecting the Canadian 

 fisheries against foreigners, and regulating participation in them by 

 the United States citizens, under treaty stipulations, the provincial 

 governments have for many years past applied an organized system 

 of municipal protection and restriction designed to preserve them 

 from injury and to render them more productive. A marked increase 

 in their produce during the last decade attests the gratifying results 

 of these measures. 



