n^si 



Fair Play for the Fisheries 



Recently the Kellingham Journal, a weekly 

 new8pai)er that pretends to be an especial cham- 

 pion of the people of Northwest WashinKton, and 

 »whlch is In some respects a very creditable little 

 paper, laid down the following proiKisitlons: 



1. The State of Washington has paid all ex- 

 penses for the propagation of S.'>,000,000 young 

 salmon that have just been turned loose by the 

 state flsb commission. This enormous myriad of 

 tiny fish is the output of the fish hatcheries of 

 the state. A select few — The Fish Combine — reap 

 the golden harvest of salmon that mature each 

 year, propagated at great expense by the state. 



2. The fish of the sea are a NATURAL \XVr 

 SOURCK, and a royalty, or tax, should be paid 

 on each fish taken from the sea for commercial 

 l)uri)ose8. It is but meet and fair that the huge 

 combines that have a practical monopoly ot the 

 fishing industry, should place into the coffers of 

 the state tax commensurate with the immense 

 profit taken from a sea product that belongs to 

 the people. The people demand this and it is but 

 fair and Just. • » * Tax flsh. Cows are taxed. 

 An acre of cleared land that produces grain, hay, 

 fruit or vegetables is taxed. Wby not tax fish? 



Whether the Journal is ignorant of the facts 

 concerning the laws bearing upon the fishing in- 

 dustry of tie state, or is merely trying to mud- 

 dts its readers and embitter them against one of 

 the state's greatest industries, is not known. That 

 it is unfairly slatlnf th£ situation, is certain. 



In the first place, the peoplf o* the State of 

 Washington, through methods of taxation, do not 

 contribute a dollar to the cost of propagating sal- 

 mon fry. The entire cost of the hatcheries, the 

 maintaining of them, and the i>lanting of the 

 young salmon, is paid out of a fund supplied 

 wholly by the fisheries. These revenues were 

 sufficiently large last year to pay for all expenses, 

 and the surplus, $14,000, was turned over to the 

 general tax fund. 



Kor the biennial term ending April 1, 1911, the 

 amount paid into the fund for the maintenance 

 of the hatcheries and the distributing of the sal- 

 mon fry, was Jl.SO.OOO. The season ending April 

 1, next, promises to be sufficiently prosperous to 

 increase the sum several thousands of dollars. 



Under the law theFish Commissioner is pro- 

 hibited from expending a dollar more than is col- 

 lected from the fisheries in the form of special 

 taxes, and there is no truth in asserting that "the 

 state of Washington has paid all expenses for 

 propagating" young salmon. 

 * * • 



The special taxes levied upon the fishing indus- 

 try for the purpose of establishing and maintain- 

 ing hatcheries, paying the salaries of the Commis- 

 sioner and his assistants, and for the operating 

 expenses, is based on the following charges: 



150 for each trap location, whether operated or 

 not 



125 for each purse seine. 



tS.OO for each gill net. 



$2.50 for each set net. 



$2.50 to $45 for each drag net. according to size. 



$150.00 to $1,000 for each cannery depending 

 upon capacity tax and output. 



$1.00 per thousand on all flsh caught. 



Ninety cents on each ton on all kinds of flsh, 

 salted or smoked, in addition to the tax of $1.00 

 per thousand. 



In addition to these special taxes the fishing in- 

 dustry pays the same personal taxes uiwn its 

 property that the merchant, the mill-owners, the 

 farmer and every other holder of personal property 

 must pay. This fund goes into the general coffers 

 of the state, county, municipality and schools. 



If the lumbermen were specially taxed ui>on their 

 output and specially taxed u|x>n their mills to pro- 

 tect the forests and to pay for reforestrafiou they 

 would then be in practically the same situation 

 with regard to the state, as are the fisheries. 



If the horticulturists were obliged lo pay so 

 much per box for their fruit and so much i)er fruit 

 tree, to cover the cost of the State Horticulturist 

 and his assistants, they, too, would be dealt with 

 as are the fisheries. But they are not so taxed 

 and if they were they would raise a complaint 

 that would reverberate through all tbeae mighty 

 mountains. 



It is granted that some of the fisheries make 

 very large iirofits, as shown on paper, but they 

 also create an immense amount of wealth. Many 

 of them have lost very heavily. They have risked 

 great fortunes to take these values from the wa- 

 ters of the Sound and of the sea. The cost of 

 maintaining plants Is so great that all of thii nat- 

 ural wealtli would be a complete waste If men of 

 capltalLdld not prepare to recover it. 



In tT^ taking of these flsh from the waters and 

 placiqplheni upon the markets there Is expended 

 for li 'or, for machinery, etc., a tremendous sum 

 that would not pass into the channels of business - 

 if the fish were left to be taken by those whom the 

 critics of the fisheries hypocritically call "the 

 people." 



f The salmon would rot on the shores of the prop- 

 agating stream. 



If these great Industries were not operated there 

 would be 12,000 men and women to be employed in 

 other avenues of human endeavor, and the wages 

 -^"■ii fo them would diminish the commercial rev- 

 enues' bfV«e cni'ntrv^by Just that imiB»ine sum. 

 •;.\n idea of what t firs'" matlls may be had wniTa i»— ., 

 is known that during the past three years the fish- 

 ing industries of this country |>aid out for labor 

 $7,500,000 annually. 



• * • 

 In the creating of this great wealth no one is 

 robbed. The wealth is new wealth. It is all non- 

 sense to talk about the fishing industry robbing 

 the people, and It is only an ignoramus or a blath- 

 erskite who will urge such a thing. 



If a company were to prospect Mt. Baker and 

 find in that magnificent mountain a great ton- 

 nage of copi>er, or silver or gold, and place the 

 metal upon the markets through the use of mod- 

 em methods and by the employing of hundreds 

 of worklngnien, it would not be said that It had 

 robbed the people of a "natural resource." 



But the wealth produced from the mines could 

 remain intact for centuries and lose none of Its 

 value through the processes of natural laws, 

 whereas the failure to take fish fro mlhe sea at 

 an oiiportune lime means the failure to secure 

 the values of a season's catch. 



Every salmon that Is not taken is the loss of 

 its proportion of a natural wealth which the God 

 of the Universe planted In the sea for the use 

 of man and which must be recovered at the prop- 

 er season or It is lost forever. 



It may be true that the fisheries do not con- 

 tribute a fair proportion to the public burden. 

 Neither does the average man do so. 



Men, as well as corporations, are natural tax- 

 dodgers. And the rule is that the ones who howl 

 loudest about the assessments of others are not 

 strictly honest with the assesor themselves. 



The fishing industry of this section of the coun- 

 try is the greatest in theworld, and those who at- 

 tempt to harass such an industry, all things con- 

 sidered, are not only doing the community a 

 great injury, but they are indirectly Injuring 

 themselves.— Bellingham American-Reveille. 



