No. 4.] THE HAKVEST OF THE SEA. 157 



for the new and improved methods of catching fish, nine out 

 often Englishmen could not afford to eat fish at all. Now, 

 if we have got to have these new and improved methods 

 wiped out in order to protect the hand-line fishermen, not 

 only is the plant-food industry involved, but the food-fish 

 industry as well. Cheap food, whether it is for man or 

 plants, is what the world wants. You cannot get away from 

 it, and our regulations, whether made by the State or the 

 United States, should l)e in the interest of cheap food. 



Mr. Ware. I made the statement that I did, quoting my 

 authority. 



Mr. BowKER. What was the doctor's name that you 

 quoted in Boston ? 



Mr. Ware. I have not his name, but here is the Smith- 

 sonian Institute that you have quoted more than once, and 

 you have said yourself that the menhaden were the scaven- 

 gers of the sea, and that they lived upon the sewage that 

 floated into the sea from Boston and other places. The 

 whole thing is a perfect absurdity ; I do not l)elieve a word 

 of it, any more than I believe that the menhaden come and 

 eat sea-weed. They have not a tooth in their heads. They 

 cannot bite off anything. They take their food by suction. 



Mr. BowKER. You are quoting me wrongly. 



Mr. Ware. No, I know that to be so ; I have handled 

 thousands of these menhaden. 



Mr. Bowker. I did not say that the menhaden feed upon 

 sea-weed proper, but there are certain kinds of fish that do 

 feed upon sea-weed. 



Mr. AYare. If you did not say so you did not say any- 

 thing. The whole thing is absurd. This wholesale method 

 of fishing is driving the fish away from our shores. It is a 

 fact that I used to take them by hundreds of barrels right in 

 my cove for fertilizing purposes without having to go 

 through Mr. Bowker's mill at all, and now they are not 

 there ; and I say that if any legislation can be had which 

 will operate to bring these fish back again within the three- 

 mile limit, let us have it. But the idea of their eating the 

 sewage of Boston is perfect nonsense, and the statement of 

 that doctor from Boston was perfectly absurd. I do not 

 know what his object was, but that statement was nonsense. 



