No. 4.] THE HARVEST OF THE SEA. 143 



The Nub or the Matter. 



Our coast waters belono^ to the whole country, and hence 

 there should be one supreme law. The whole country is 

 taxed to improve and defend them, and therefore the wheat- 

 farmer of Ohio, the cotton-planter of Tennessee, the potato- 

 oTower of Maine or the niarket-o;ardener of Massachusetts 

 has as much right to ask that the nitrogen and phosphoric 

 acid which can be harvested out of the sea in the form of 

 menhaden or other fish should be taken for the benefit of his 

 exhausted farm, as the sportsman has that he should be pro- 

 tected in his right to fish off his piazza on Buzzard's Bay, 

 or the line fisherman that he should take a few mackerel in 

 the old-fashioned way for his support. 



I admit that we do not want any hasty judgment ; but 

 when it is uroed that the catchins: of menhaden in enclosed 

 waters like Buzzard's Bay is detrimental to the food-fish 

 industry, and therefore should be prohibited, it is going 

 too far. New methods of fishing are as important as new 

 methods in any other industry, and should be fostered. 

 We might as well propose that the steam and electric rail- 

 way should be abolished in the interest of the horse-lireeders, 

 and that the mowinij-machine should be discarded in the 

 interest of the fiirm laborer ; while the hand shoemaker 

 may claim that the modern shoe-shop, with its improved 

 machinery, is interfering with his livelihood, and therefore 

 should be abolished. We are moving ahead ; and any new 

 method which will secure greater benefits to mankind should 

 be encouraged, whether it relates to the shop, the factory, 

 the sea or the land. 



The Policy of the Goverxmext. 



It has been the policy of our government to admit plant 

 food from all sources, including foreign countries, free of 

 duty ; and it is a right policy. The plant-food industry has 

 been built up on a free-trade basis, and, fortunately, it can 

 live on that basis. It asks for no protection ; but what must 

 be said of a policy that admits plant food free from foreign 

 countries, including even menhaden, and at the same time 

 prohibits the taking of this same fish from our own waters ? 



