THE MARKET 321 



the low prices from which the producers have suffered, 

 the retail prices have not perceptibly decreased. Con- 

 sequently, increasing consumption does not tend to 

 moderate them either/' so that many a housekeeper prefers 

 to buy butcher's meat. 



At the municipal auction the fishermen are forced 

 to accept the prices offered, 1 whether remunerative 

 or not, must submit to the fluctuations of a forced 

 and often deficient sale, and look on as powerless 

 spectators of the manoeuvres of speculators, who, 

 profiting by the situation, very often act more like 

 pirates than respectable tradesmen. In short, it is not 

 the fisherman who makes the market. 



It is the same when the sale takes place on board 

 the boat itself. At the Congress of Maritime Fishers 

 of Dieppe, in 1898, M. Roussin, Commissary-General 

 of the Marine, wrote in his report : " Warned by 

 telegraphic advice of the needs of each place, of the 

 probable sale price of each class of fish, the salesman 

 goes to the quays, and, on the arrival of the boats, 

 concludes in a few words the purchase of each catch 

 en bloc, and pays the price. More often than not he 

 has made advances to the crew in the shape of pro- 

 visions, or perhaps even gear, and pays himself back 

 by instalments ; more often than not the bargain is 



1 Our English fishermen, especially in small ports, suffer greatly 

 from the lowness of prices fixed by "rings" of buyers. Moreover, 

 the small local buyer is excluded from the market, and has to 

 obtain his fish from distant ports. There are many English ports 

 where plenty of fish is caught, yet none fit to eat can be obtained 

 in the town, as it is all destined for the distant market ; and after 

 a double journey and a day or two of exposure on a dusty slab 

 it is practically unfit for food. Occasionally an isolated fisherman 

 will take his catch round in a basket or truck. I have known such 

 men to arnass small fortunes ; but such initiative is rare. Routine 

 is all-powerful. [TRANS.] 



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