UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 11 



The modern cannery is equipped with machinery in units. A unit 

 is spoken of as a "line." The one-line cannery is equipped with a 

 mechanical cleaner or " iron chink," a cutter, a filling machine, a 

 capping machine, followed by a steam box for the preliminary cook- 

 ing before sealing, two crimping machines 1 for fastening the caps to 

 render the can air-tight, and the requisite steam autoclave capacity 

 for the final cooking. Such an equipment gives a daily capacity of 

 900 cases of canned salmon, each case containing 4 dozen 1-pound 

 cans, or 48 pounds of canned salmon. This estimate is based on a day 

 of about 12 hours. During the canning season a " one-line " can- 

 nery, or one with a single unit, is expected to pack about 40,000 cases. 

 The season's pack is determined by the skill of the management, the 

 condition of the market, and the fortune of the fishermen. 



LABOR. 



As many of the salmon canneries of Alaska are situated in isolated 

 and scarcely habitable places, laborers have to be imported. In 

 southeastern Alaska the natives are employed to a large extent, 

 as the men seem to prefer and to be more successful at fishing; 

 they are not found engaged in the indoor occupations to the extent 

 that might be expected. Women and children are employed in large 

 numbers in the canneries, performing the light and easy tasks such 

 as inspecting the cans for underweight, labeling, and packing, and, 

 where the filling machine is not employed, filling the cans by hand. 

 For this class of work the women receive 25 to 30 cents per hour and 

 the children about half that sum. The industry of the Alaskan 

 native is surprising to one who is accustomed to associate extreme 

 indolence with the American aborigine. That no part of the canning 

 industry is too complex for the skill of the Alaskan native is abun- 

 dantly illustrated by the operation of the cannery at Metlakahtla, 

 which is run on a cooperative basis. During the fishing season, entire 

 villages may be deserted, and it is no uncommon sight to see entire 

 families at work, the men at the fishing grounds and the women and 

 children in the canneries. 



This native labor is made use of so far as possible, but is entirely 

 inadequate to meet the demands of the industry, therefore labor 

 must be imported. The prevailing nationality thus imported prob- 

 ably is Chinese; there are also Filipinos, Mexicans, Japanese, and 

 other races in smaller numbers. The laborers are hired in gangs, 

 generally on a contract basis. The contractors most frequently are 

 Chinese, and the contract binds the contractor to pack so many cases 

 of salmon at a certain price. To a casual observer it appears that the 

 industry has an abundance of laborers and that there are about two men 



1 The capping machine, the cooking box, and the two crimping machines constitute the 

 solderless or " sanitary " canning apparatus proper. 



