296 SEA FISHERIES 



fish, prices were falling, the fishing-grounds were being 

 emptied of their fish, and many fishermen were out of 

 employment. The Congress of Douarnenez claimed the 

 exclusive monopoly of the fisheries for the naval inscript. 

 "The right of fishery," it declared, "is reserved in 

 favour of the naval inscripts, and it is merely in virtue of 

 an unjustified tolerance that the trawler companies, 

 formed by capitalists, are plying their industry." M. 

 Lamy, deputy for Lorient, proposed a law which would 

 impose a due of 10 fr. (8s.) per ton upon all steam 

 trawlers. The men of Royan were shocked at the idea 

 that a steamer " manned by 14 men can compete in 

 earning power with 80 to 100 sailing vessels manned 

 with 600 or 700 fishermen." Only two years ago the 

 Congress of Breton Inscripts demanded that access to 

 the smaller ports should be denied to the trawlers, " which 

 land too much fish and cut the nets of the fishermen 

 with their screws." 



II 



These few details show us that man is an unchanging 

 animal. Long ago the boatmen of the Weser smashed 

 the steamboat of Denis Papin, and the weavers of Lyons 

 destroyed the mechanical looms of Jacquard. The 

 Dutch in 1800 and the English in 1853 violently de- 

 manded the suppression of the simple beam-trawl. To- 

 day the fishermen of France are still fighting against the 

 introduction of modern gear. It is the eternal struggle of 

 the coach and the railroad. 



If the attack was violent, so was the defence. M. 

 Lockroy, then Minister of the Marine, disposed of the 

 objections of the senator Lamarzelle. But the backbone 

 of the attack was M. Lamy's proposed law ; once voted, 

 there would be an end of steam-trawling. The Com- 



