KEPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 67 



excuse; but wheu we come to learn that all, or nearly all, are shipped 

 away to foreign countries, we begin to realize that the people are being 

 defrauded of their just dues. 



The canner may claim that he is realizing but a small percentage of 

 profit, or he may affirm that he has met with material loss, yet this has 

 nothing to do with the subject. He is responsible for the increase of the 

 price of fresh fish, and he is to be blamed for the final exhaustion of 

 the rivers. There is no river, however rich it may be in salmon, but 

 must eventually become impoverished if the canner is to be allowed to 

 pursue his vocation, even when under limited Government surveillance. 



During one year, some time back, there were two thousand men and 

 one thousand boats engaged in the salmon fisheries of the Sacramento 

 River alone. How many of these were employed by the canners we are 

 unable to determine. As his means of canning fish are practically 

 unlimited, and he has the world for a market, the canner has but to 

 increase his fishermen until the stream is so far exhausted as to be of 

 no further value. 



In our judgment, the business of the canner should cease, or else the 

 Government should abandon the plan of stocking the rivers when the 

 results are so unsatisfactory. 



We feel that this is a question of the greatest importance, and that 

 the attention of the authorities should be called to it, and that the facts 

 should be set forth so clearly as to induce them to take steps to remedy 

 the evil. 



To illustrate the case still more fully, we will suppose that our rulers 

 should, while acting in the capacity of a paternal government, deter- 

 mine to set aside a large tract of land for a deer park, where large bands 

 of these animals might be cared for with the view ultimately that veni- 

 son should be furnished cheaply at certain seasons to the people of the 

 State. What would be said of the economy of such a proceeding if the 

 Government, during the hunting season, should permit individuals to 

 kill the deer without hinderance for the purpose of canning the flesh so 

 secured and sending it away to a foreign market? 



