AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2655 



Q. Do you know whether this is the case or Dot ? A. I know that 

 the whole valuation of the city <1oes include the suburban districts. 

 Q. The article continues : 



Five banks with nearly $'2,000,000 capital in them (including savings); and this iir- 

 <ira.se has arisen, not from foreign commerce, but from the once despised and insignif- 

 icant fisheries. 



It will be seen by a review of the history of Gloucester, that a foreign commerce did 

 not Imild the town up in population or wealth; that from 184") to 1850, its increase 

 h.-nl been very small ; but from 1850 to 1375, it has grown from .",000 to 17,000 inhabit- 

 ants, and its valuation from $'2,000,000 to $9,000,000! It is the fisheries that have 

 mainly caused this great change; it is the success of that branch of industry that has 

 lined Gloucester harbor wiMi wharves, warehouses, and packing-establishments, from 

 the Fort to " Oakes's Cove." It is the fisheries that have built up Rocky Neck and 

 Eastern Point, and caused ward 3 (Gravel Hill and Prospect street) to show nearly all 

 the gain in population from 1870 to 1875. 



Do you think that this picture is overdrawn as to the prosperity of 

 Gloucester or as to the cause to which this prosperity is attributed ? 

 A. Well, I think that it is a little overdrawn myself. 



Q. You think that a little allowance ought to be made for the centen- 

 nial year? A. Yes, I think so, in this respect. 



Q. Do you think that we should make the same allowance with regard 

 to the papers which you have put in concerning the cost of fitting out 

 and fishing schooners, &c., prepared for the centennial year ? A. No. 

 I think that these are below rather than above the actual estimates ; in 

 fact I know that this is the case. 



Q. Will you kindly tell me what your vessels cost when yon were in 

 the fishing business ? A. The Cynisca cost $3,730; the C. C. Dav'ies, 

 $3,300; the Anna, $2,000; the Daniel McPhee, $3,500; the Ella F. 

 Bartlett, $3,600 ; the E. H. Oakes, 84,200 ; and the I. C. Curtis. 80,500 ; 

 that is the whole valuation, but I only owned shares in them. 



Q. That makes an average of $3,830 for each vessel ? A. Yes. 



Q. And that is the number of vessels in which you were interested ? 

 A. Yes. 



You have given the valuations and what they cost ? A. Yes ; what 

 they cost. 



Q. This, I suppose, represents about their value ? A. Yes, at that 

 time. 



Q. Do you not think that there is a very great difference between the 

 yalue of the vessels actually engaged in the fishery and the value of the 

 fancy vessels,.tbe cost of which you sent to the Centennial ? A. Fancy 

 vessels ? That was the actual cost of these vessels in 1875. 



Q. What is the name of a vessel that cost so much ? A. The Victor ; 

 she cost $8,800. 



Q. What was her size '? A. 77 tons. 



Q. Was she an ordinary vessel ? A. Yes. 



Q. Does she represent the ordinary class of vessels engaged in the 

 fisheries ? A. Yes. 



Q. How is it that your seven vessels did not cost anything like so 

 much ? A. That was before the war, when prices were on a gold basis. 



Q. Is not the American paper dollar as good as gold now? A. .Yes; 

 very nearly. 



Q. That reason cannot effect it ; that has nothing to do with it. I 

 want to know if your vessels were of an inferior class or were they a 

 fair sample of the usual run of fishing-vessels ? A. They were a fair 

 sample of the vessels which were then engaged in the fisheries. 



Q. We are to understand that this is about the average value of the 

 vessels engaged in the fisheries ! A. Yes; at that time. 



