Aiiierican Fls-h erics Societi/ •>{'.] 



eriiniont. Tt" an informal conferenee of thai kind should l)e 

 called, it would al any rate clear the ai]\ and it ini,aiit he' pos- 

 sible aftt'r that to have a conference commission of a nion 

 formal nature. 



To show you that something;- should l)e done, and something 

 sliould 1)0 done soon. I may toll you and frankly warn you that 

 it is (juite prohahle that within a \o]'y few yeai's thei'e may l)e 

 passed a hill ])rohihitinii- the export of food iish from our ])ro- 

 vincial waters. Now, considering that HT) jjercont of onr total 

 catch comes to this country, you can realize the im|)ortanco to 

 yourselves of tliis qnostion. Yon mnst renieml)er, and yon can- 

 not fail to nnderstand. that wln-n citizens of Toronto have heen 

 known to hny Ontario-caught Iish from Bnffalo dealers, paying 

 their own duty, the American duty, and the a(hled fivight. that 

 such a thing, if hrought to the attention of the ])uhlic. will un- 

 douhtoflly cause tronhle. '^Fhis has occurre(l and occuri'ed often. 

 Tlie proprietor of the Clifton Hott'l has ])laced in writing the 

 complaint that he has to hny from Bntfalo. Ontario-canght fish. 

 and that he cannot get them from liis own dealoi's; and liis owii 

 dealers state tliat they have made application for fish, and that 

 thev hnd they aix' contracted for to the States. Xow. there is 

 an nnderstanding. when licenses ai'O issued hy the ])rovincial 

 government, that the fishermen mnst snpply the local market 

 first. This has heeii very much ignort'd. As a matter of fact, 

 there are fishermen in this town, who know that 1 state al)so- 

 Intely the fact, when I say that the ice liousos. the tugs, the 

 whole machinery of cai'rying on the fishing industry of Lake 

 Superior and Lake Huron is entirely in tlu' hands (jf what might 

 he concisely termed, ''the American fish trnst." Xow. gentle- 

 men, there is a feeling in onr conntry that we are heing turned 

 into hewers of wood and di'awers of water: that we are getting 

 a very small snm for this ST) percent of tlie Iish that is coming 

 over here; and wiien that feeling is added to liy other little 

 frictions that mav come up from time to time, you will see that 

 then' is a po^sihdity (-( il'e prohiliition of ihe export of food 

 fisli. If within the next two or throt' years, you are ahle to take 

 np sucli an infoi'inal confeivnce, as 1 snggest. and if tliat confer- 

 ence is alile to couie to definite conclusions on two oi' three im- 

 ])ortant hasic- ]ioints: for instance, that no hsh that has not 



