THE GAME BREEDER 



165 



are landed and then leave plenty to do 

 the outside work. Let the fish be handled 

 by the commission, and the State derive 

 so much a pound revenue, thereby mak- 

 ing the business of raising fish by the 

 State at least self-supporting and using 

 the money contributed by the sportsman 

 for the upbuilding of the sport. You 

 make him pay a high rate on the small 

 amount of game, and the few pounds of 

 fish he catches on a day's vacation in the 

 year. Were the sportsmen who take out 

 about 150,000 licenses to get what their 

 permits entitle them to shoot in one day 

 there would not be enough game in the 

 State of California to last a week, yet we 

 raise fish for the alien, and let him catch 

 as many as he can 365 days in the year, 

 and if he catches so many that the price 

 would be within reach of the poor man, 

 he sends the over supply to the glue 

 factory for two cents a pound, so he may 

 get 20 cents per pound for the balance. 

 \\ hen there is an over supply of pota- 

 toes the poor man lays in a supply at 25 

 or 35 cents a sack, or even takes them 

 away for nothing to save dumping them 

 into the bay. When there is an over 

 abundance of fish the poor man pays 20 

 cents a pound just the same and the 

 chicken raiser buys fish scrap for 3y? 

 cents. This may be all right for the 

 chicken, but it don't make any differ- 

 ence in price to the consumer of eggs 

 and fish. Germany settled the food fish 

 question by sending out government 

 boats and going into the fishing business. 

 Last year the fish, lobsters, scallops, 

 clams and sardines caught in the State 

 of Maine were valued at $8,000,000. 

 Over 200,000,000 pounds of fish, includ- 

 ing shell fish, were taken in this State. 

 -Had the State of Maine received the 

 small rate of l /i cent a pound on the 

 entire catch it would more than pay 

 all the expenses of its Fish and Game 

 Commission. The salmon which with the 

 help of the U. S. Government we are 

 propagating by the millions, is the most 

 abundant, and with the help of other 

 fish, wholly within the jurisdiction of 

 the State, would at l / 2 cent a pound more 

 than pay all the expenses of this great 

 industry. We have tried giving these 

 aliens our fish for nothing, and the price 



of salmon has steadily advanced until 

 now 20 cents a pound is the price, while 

 at the same time you can buy a pound 

 of California salmon that has gone 

 through the process of cleaning, cooking 

 and canning for 10 cents retail. Our 

 herring, clams, sardines and crabs are 

 rated the same way. Surely the price 

 of fresh fish would not be changed if we 

 made aliens and big corporations pay for 

 the running of the fish factory. It would 

 work no hardship on the fisherman; if 

 he caught no fish he would have no rev- 

 enue to pay, if he caught a lot he ought 

 to be more than glad to pay for his luck. 

 It is only justice to the people of the 

 State that the men who are reaping the 

 money from the industry should pay the 

 expense of maintaining it. 



The State of Minnesota owns and 

 controls all the water power within its 

 border, improves and maintains the 

 same, deriving its greatest source of 

 revenue from its sale. If all the fish 

 propagated by the State and caught 

 by the fishermen were handled through 

 the Fish and Game Commission at so 

 much per pound, besides being a great 

 source of revenue, would give the com- 

 mon people, when there was an over 

 catch of fish, a chance of eating them 

 instead of their being consumed by the 

 glue factory and the chickens. 



As the Bowman Act makes the Com- 

 mission practically handle the game 

 farming industry, so should the people 

 of the State make the Commission han- 

 dle the fish industry, and they who have 

 made such a success in the propagation 

 of our food and game fish, can surely 

 make it financially self-supporting and 

 an asset to the State. That this state 

 of affairs is in no way the fault of 

 the Fish and Game Commission, must 

 be truly admitted. They are but carry- 

 ing out the Fish and Game laws, as 

 made by our legislators. 



This article summed up gives us the 

 following results. The sportsmen, nine- 

 ty per cent, of whom are native born 

 citizens of the United States, with their 

 bunting and fishing licenses paying into 

 the State many thousand dollars to main- 

 tain and protect the fishing industry, 

 which is controlled by a few rich cor- 



