238 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Mr. Dawes. The Senator will allow me to interrupt him again. 
I stated to him that during those mouths the fish were youug and poor fish; that they came up 
better fish in the after months; and the Senator’s attempt to show that this is for the benefit of the 
men who own shipping craft in Maine and Massachusetts shows that he understands that part of it 
just as little as he does the game laws of his own State. It does not make a particle of difference with 
the men in Maine and Massachusetts whether they fish down in New .Jersey and off Hatteras, or fish 
in Massachusetts or Maine. They do not go home at niglits; they are out on the ocean; and it does 
not make one particle of difference where they go for the fish. The effect is upon the iisli aud the fish 
market in the long run, not upon a man whose l)usiness it is to get 60,000 barrels at one haul, and make 
a lot of money by dumping them around in the different express offices of the country. That is the 
difference between the Senator and this bill. 
Mr. Miller. If I did not answer all the (|uestious and all the objections of the Senator from 
Massachusetts, it was because the questions were so long that I forgot most of them before he finished. 
I do not suppose the Senator from Massachusetts or the chairman of the Committee on Fish- 
eries will undertake to say that tlie mackerel grow from a little fish to big fish l)etween the first 
day of April and the first day of .June. That is absurd. It takes several years to grow a No. 1 
mackerel, the kind that the Senator from Michigan uses upon his table. They are not grown in 
ninety days. 
Undoubtedly it is true that the mackerel in the months of April and May are not quite as fat, 
not (juite as oily, as they are in September and October, but it is also true that the mackerel during 
the three mouths I have mentioned — March, April, and May — are perfectly good food, and are eaten Ijy 
the greatest epicures in this country, with all due deference to the chairman of this committee aud 
to the Senator from Massachusetts. 
If by purse seining they get too many of the small fish, this bill does not prevent it, except for 
tliree months in the year. As I have said before, it leaves the other nine months unrestricted. Now, 
if these fish are unfit for food during March, April, and Jlay, why, I ask in the interest of the health 
of our peojile, does the Senator from Michigan come in here and permit you to eat those which are 
taken by the hook aud line or are taken in a pound net, or in a weir off the coast of New Jersey 
during these three months! Are those fish which ct)me a little closer to shore any Jjetter in March, 
April, and May than the fish taken out in the open sea? I think not. The fact remains simply that 
the fish in those three mouths are not as good as they are during the rest of the year, but they are 
perfectly good food and are eaten by all our people who can get them at a reasonable price. 
The Senator from Massachusetts referred to the game laws of my State aud of other States. 
Sir, we do not have any game law in the State of New Tork which forbids fishing for trout aud bass 
except during the spawning mouths. We have not got any such law as that, and. that is what this 
bill is. This bill says you shall not begin fishing for mackerel in the high seas until the spawning 
season begins, aud then you may fish all you like. Who ever heard of such a game-xireserving law as 
that is? It is absurd on the face of it; aud I say when a law is made with that absurd x)rovision 
you must go and look at the selfish interests of the men who brought the bill here aud who have 
advoc.ated it before the committee and who have ajiiieared there and made their arguments. The 
thousands of iioor fishermen who go out in these mouths and partake u this industry have not been 
here asking for the jiassage of this bill, but only the caxiitalists; and they have found that we are 
catching so many fish under the present system, that we are so reducing the jirice even of No. 1 
mackerel, that they with their capital may no longer find it profitable ; but I have no fears in regard 
to that. This great industry will not be allowed to die and iiass away because of its enormous 
jiroportions. It does not cost us, as I said a moment ago, anything to grow these fish. Providence 
takes care of them, or they do themselves, and all we have to do is to catch them aud distribute 
them among our people. 
One other j)oint mentioned by the Senator from Massachusetts I desire to refer to, and that is the 
enormous catch that took xilace two years ago, of 60,000 barrels taken- by a fleet of 170 vessels, nearly 
the whole of which was brought into the port of New York, and from there distributed, as I have 
shown, all over the country east of the Mississippi River. The Senator dealt, 1 think, in a little 
exaggeration, not intentionally, in stating that one-half of them were dumped off’ the wharves and 
allowed to go to waste. 
Mr. Dawes. I did not say they were dumi)ed off the w'narves. They were taken to express 
