182 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
the principal competition is for this class of labor, for if the cutters are 
not on hand in sufficient numbers immediately after the iish arrive the 
whole lot may be spoiled before they can be cared for. 
Flayers . — Usually 10 cents an hour. 
Packers . — One dollar and a quarter for the first three hours’ work, or 10 
to 12 cents a case. The best workmen pack at least 20 cases in a day 
of 10 hours, and earn $10 to $15 a week under ordinary circumstances. 
General laborers and bathmen.— Two dollars per day and 20 cents an 
hour for overtime. 
S 'earners . — One dollar and a half to two dollars per day, or 6 cents per 
100 cans. 
Can-makers .— Fifteen to twenty cents per hundred cans. In some 
cases the combined wages of the seamers and can-makers amount to 30 
cents a case. 
Shipments and markets. — Many of the factories are owned or con- 
trolled by IS Tew York firms, and most of the others have permanent ar- 
rangements with some particular dealer, who acts as their agent in 
placing their goods upon the market to the best advantage possible. 
Others sell through various brokers, and it is now becoming a common 
practice for wholesale grocers to speculate in sardines and order their 
supply directly from the canneries. All the regular agents for the East- 
port canneries, as well as most of those for the ones at other places 
from Mount Desert Island eastward, have their headquarters at New 
York City; but the canneries on Deer Island and at Brooklin ship to 
Portland and Boston. The products are usually shipped by steamer, 
but sometimes go to New York in sail vessels. The price received for 
quarter oils in 1885 was from $4.50 to $7 per case, averaging $5. The 
average prices in 1886 were, for quarter oils, $4.50; half oils, $7 ; quar- 
ter mustards, $5.50, and three-quarter mustards, as well as the brands 
prepared with tomatoes and spices, $3.50. Russian sardines sell for 45 
cents a keg, or 13 cents less than the imported article. 
When a shipment of canned goods is made to the New York dealer it 
is customary for the firm owning the factory to draw a certain amount 
from him on its bill of lading. The dealers then, according to the nature 
of their instructions, either sell as soon as possible or hold for better 
prices, transmitting the balance due the factory as soon as the sale has 
taken place. When the market is known to be poor the shipment of 
goods is often delayed until a more favorable opportunity arises for 
disposing of them to advantage. 
In the spring of 1885 there was a stock of between 140,000 and 150,000 
cases on hand at the factory ; but in 1886 the season opened with a 
stock of only 40,000 cases. 
The combination entered into by the factory owners in 1885 resulted 
in considerable profit, controlling, as it did, the prices both of fish and 
of goods ; but the best-established firms got the most trade and suc- 
ceeded in obtaining the largest share of fish. It was finally broken 
