THE MUSSEL FISHERY AND PEARL-BUTTON INDUSTRY. 
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or less dormant. Many persons expressed themselves as favoring the i)rohibition of 
ice fishing. 
The suspension of the ice fishing and spring fishing would, of course, keep many 
fishermen out of employment at a time when they need ready money. There is little 
reason to believe, however, that it would reduce their annual harnings, even at the 
outset, while ultimately it would undoubtedly prove financially beneficial. The man- 
ufacturers report that no injury would result to the button business from their failure 
to receive shells during a closed season, as they could — as most of them now do — lay 
in sufficient supply in summer and fall to keep the factories running. 
Not the least injurious feature of the fishery is the gathering of small mussels 
for market and the incidental destruction of small shells that are not utilized, but 
left on the banks or the ice to die. The testimony of the button manufacturers and 
the evidence afforded by their shell-heaps indicate that there are comparatively large 
quantities of immature mussels taken. This practice depends to some extent on the 
depletion of the grounds of the larger mussels, necessitating the gathering of the 
smaller ones to make a fair catch, but also on the indiffei’euce of the fishermen to the 
great injury thus done the mussel supply. The manufacturers are, of course, equally 
indiscreet in continuing to purchase lots of small shells, and a few of them refuse to 
do so, but it is generally not feasible to exclude the small shells mixed with the larger 
ones. The desire that there should be some restriction on the size of the shells taken 
is (luite general among the manufacturers.. However, as long as the fishermen bring 
them in, the manufacturers will buy them. Some of the button-makers, indeed, prefer 
com))aratively small shells — say uiggerheads or 2.] inches in diameter — for the 
reason that their quality is as good as or better than many of the large shells, and 
the waste is relatively less. 
If no mussels smaller than 2.t, 2^, or even 2 inches in diameter were gathered, the 
matter would not be so serious, although it must be acknowledged that shells less 
than 2i inches in diameter are very small, but many mussels only an inch in diameter 
have been sacrificed, and some of the manufacturers report that considerable numbers 
of shells no larger than a nickel or a dime are brought in. From a niggerhead shell 
an inch or less in diameter, only one medium-sized blank may be sawed. Thus, for 
two buttons, a mussel is sacrificed which, in a few years, would have yielded 8 to 12 
times as many. 
PRICES RECEIVED FOR SHELLS. 
The prices which the fishermen receive for shells vary considerably, depending on 
the supply and demand. The size and kind of the shells also afi'ect the price. The 
standard shell is the niggerhead. In 1897 the market value of this species in Musca- 
tine ranged from 40 to 62 cents per 100 pounds. Shells were cheaper in 1898 than at 
any previous time, but in Feliruary, 1898, there was a scarcity of shells at the factories, 
prices went up to $18 and $20 per ton, and many fishermen were thus induced to enter 
the business for the first time, and the supply was soon in excess of the demand. By 
July, 1898, the prices had fallen as low as 30 cents per 100 pounds for small “nigger- 
head” shells and 35 cents for large ones. 
The ruling prices for other shells in 1897 were as follows, per 100 i>ounds: Sand 
shells, $1.70; inuckets, 30 cents; deerhorns, $2; pocketbooks, 50 cents. The other 
species — bluepoints, butterflies, bullheads, hatchet- backs, etc. — are seldom sold sepa- 
