1848 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



not ? It is not a question as to what each fisherman sailing out of 

 Gloucester is to be charged. The question is this, whether the United 

 States must not pay for the privilege that enables Gloucester to main- 

 tain its present state of prosperity. Every nation has said, every nation 

 lias considered, that the fisheries form the nursery of her fleet. It is a 

 business which has been nurtured by large bounties by the United States 

 and other countries. The class of fishermen is a favored, privileged 

 class. This is the most ancient calling in the world. And can it be 

 said it is nothing to the United States to keep up that class f Is it 

 nothing that they have there the nucleus, out of which their naval force 

 must be kept up ? The United States cannot get on without herXavy ; 

 she must have a great l^avy. It is not sufficient that she should be a 

 great power on land ; she intends to be, and I hope always will be, an 

 important and great power on the sea. And how can she be a formida- 

 ble naval power in the world, unless she has some means of nurturing 

 her marine ; and how is that to be nurtured, except through the fisher- 

 ies ? It is one of the most important schools she can possibly have. I 

 shall have to call your attention to speeches on this point in which it is 

 shown to be one of the benefits accruing to the United States. I there- 

 fore say, that when Mr. Foster laid down the extraordinary rule that 

 your honors must approach the consideration of the question of value 

 as a common matter of business, with pencil in hand, he took a narrow 

 and erroneous view of the matter, for there is the fallacy underlying 

 their whole case, that it is a question between the fishermen of Gloucester 

 and Great Britain, when it is nothing of the kind. 



Upon the question of the value of the two fisheries, alluded to by Mr. 

 Foster, tables were put in by Major Low to which I wish to call your honor's 

 attention. In Major Low's evidence, page 402, he gives two statements 

 of Mr. Steele's transactions, showing the average of monthly earnings 

 of Mr. Steele's fleet each year, from 1858 to 1876, in each department in 

 which they were employed, after paying stock charges and so forth. In 

 1858, the number of vessels was 8. I am reading now from an analysis 

 of Major Low's tables, made up very carefully by Mr. Miall, of Ottawa, 

 a very able man in statistics, who has given me a great deal of assist- 

 ance in this matter, and who is very accurate in his figures. 



Mr. FOSTER. Let Mr. Miall be put on the stand as a witness. 



Mr. THOMSON. All you have to do is to refer to Major Low's evidence. 

 I want to call your honors' attention particularly to this, because a large 

 portion of the evidence submitted by the United States was for the 

 purpose of showing that the cod fishery was an important business, and 

 the mackerel fishery was not. This is the sum total of Major Low's own 

 figures, as put in for the years from 1858 and 1876, the average earnings 

 of each vessel in the cod-fishing business per month was $393, while the 

 average earnings of each vessel per month in the bay mackerel busi- 

 ness was $442, and on the American shore only $326. These are Mr. 

 Low's own figures, and the results which thev prove. Here is the state- 

 ment : 



