42 FISHEEMEN OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and coming at any hour that may be set, time daring which they are actually at work alone being 

 counted. No other race of people could work at such rates and upon such terms as these, and in 

 the present state of things but for Chinese labor the canneries must needs be closed. They come 

 in April and leave in August, and very few return. They are employed directly and without the 

 aid of any agent. The Chinese, as a rule, work very faithfully. They are never engaged in any 

 drunken riot, and their work is uniform. On the other hand, they are not devoted to their 

 employers. If dissatisfied, " they are the hardest class in the world to manage." They would 

 "use a knife for two cents." If their pay should exceed a day's indebtedness, they would very 

 probably resort to foul, mean work. They are inveterate gamblers, and their wages, as earned, 

 go from one to another to pay their gaming debts. A Chinaman dare not fish in the Columbia, it 

 being an understood thing that he would die for his sport. They are only tolerated because they 

 will work for such low wages. Each cannery employs from one hundred to two hundred Chinamen. 



27. MISCELLANEOUS FISHERMEN OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



There are fifty Slavonians on the Pacific coast of the United States, employed as fishermen. 

 They all live in San Francisco. 



In Los Angeles County, California, there is one Chilian fisherman. In the same county one 

 Irishman is engaged in fishing. 



In Santa Cruz County, at Soquel, there are four German fishermen. 



At New Tacoma, Washington Territory, there is one negro fisherman. 



28. THE ARCTIC WHALEMEN OF SAN FRANCISCO. 



Professor Jordan says, concerning the men on the Arctic whaling fleet, that the crews of all 

 the vessels, whether owned East or on the Pacific coast, are made up in San Francisco. The oflS- 

 cers are usually American, but there are very few American foremast hands. When an American 

 ships before the mast, he seldom stays there long; he either gets aft or leaves disgusted. Portu- 

 guese, Scandinavians, and Germans form the bulk of the crew, and are all very hardy, and like 

 the business. Now and then an Irishman is inveigled into the service by the boarding-hoase 

 keepers ; bat Irishmen are never at home on a whaler. 



29. THE FISHERMEN OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 



There are upwards of 2,500 men engaged in salmon fishing ou the Lower Columbia; about 

 half of them in Astoria, the rest at the other cannery towns. A few of them, not one-tenth, live 

 permanently in the towns where employed ; the rest come from the interior, from San Francisco, 

 and from the crews of various vessels along the coast. They come to the Columbia in April and 

 leave in August, perhaps not half of them returning the next year. Some of them, especially 

 Scandinavians, own small farms in the interior of Oregon and Washington. Many of the Italians 

 and Greeks fish in San Francisco Bay when not upon the Columbia. 



As to nationalities, exact information is unattainable. Looking over various lists of names and 

 making inquiries indicate the preponderance of Scandinavians and Italians, with Greeks, French, 

 Finns, Irish, and a few Americans. No Chinamen are employed in this fishery, though they work 

 in the canneries. There are very few Indian fishermen on the Lower Columbia, none of them of 

 pure blood. 



About one-third of the men are married, and two-thirds of these, chiefly Scandinavians and 



