FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
205 
against the canneries, which offered the fishermen 55 cents per salmon 
for the season, The strike continued until the middle of May (at an 
estimated loss to the business of $500,00.)), when the canners acceded 
to the demands of the fishermen by paying G5 cents per fish. In 1880 
the union had a membership of about 2,500, which included all the drift 
gill-net fishermen on the river. The headquarters are at Astoria, where 
the union has a large reading room on the main street of the city. Here 
the fishermen have collected a considerable number of books bearing 
upon their work; the leading periodicals and the daily papers are also 
available to them. This is the meeting place of the union, and here 
such business as comes before it is transacted. Some officer of the 
organization, usually the secretary, is continuously on duty at the head- 
quarters, where the fishermen assemble in the evening to read the news, 
or converse, or to amuse themselves by playing games. 
It is intended that the organization shall be composed only of gill- 
net fishermen of the Columbia River and its tributaries, and that no 
one shall be admitted to membership whose influence may in any manner 
conflict with the interests of the union. The following, extracted from 
the constitution, shows the limitations of membership : 
No liquor dealer, gambler, politician, capitalist, lawyer, agent of or for capitalists, 
nor persons holding office, whether under the national, State or municipal govern- 
ment, shall under auy consideration become members of this organization, but all 
such shall be strictly excluded from membership in this uuion. No stockholder or 
shareholder of any cannery is eligible to membership in this uuion. Protection to 
members shall only apply to the Columbia River and its tributstries. 
The union is decidedly opposed to methods of fishing other than with 
gill nets, and is specially antagonistic to pound nets and wheels. It 
therefore naturally does not affiliate with those who operate such 
forms of apparatus. The dues are $4 per annum, or $1 per month for 
the fishing season. There are no benefits, except that a sum of $50 is 
appropriated for the "burial of deceased members of good standing. 
The uuion fixes the prices of gill-net salmon at the beginning of the 
season. This is not changed without consulting the union, and the 
canners must pay the rate decided upon or stop operations, since they 
have no other recourse and no voice in the matter.* Indeed, no gill-net 
fishermen except a member of the union can sell salmon at the can- 
neries, since acanner who bought of others would be liable to have his 
supply of fish cut off. The employment of a non-union man on the boats 
is strictly prohibited. Not only does the union determine the price of 
salmon, but it arranges the lay of the fishermen, both as concerns the 
* The price fixed upon relates to salmon above a certain size, which is usually 24 
pounds. Those of less weight count as two for one, or else they are weighed and the 
average of the standard size is taken for determining the number. Bluebacks and 
steelheads are usually sold by the pound, the price for the former being 5 cents per 
pound in 1888, and the latter selling for 3 cents. Sometimes three or four fish count as 
one salmon. 
