LO 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
by selfish motives and may be abrogated at any time when prices recover under the 
* stimulus of increased demand. 
Before the opening of the salmon fishery in 1891 it was reported that 600,000 cases 
of canned salmon were in San Francisco warehouses and that in London about 
400,000 cases which had passed into second hands were still on the market. This 
represents about two-thirds of the total average annual output of the Pacific coast. 
Finding that the market was overstocked and the price of canned salmon reduced in 
consequence, so that in many cases business became unprofitable, the canners decided 
to make a combination and curtail the fishing in the season of 1892. The output of 
the canneries of Alaska and the Pacific coast canneries for 1891 has been tabulated 
as follows : 
Cases. 
Columbia River 390, 000 
Other Oregon Rivers 20, 000 
Puget Sound 20, 000 
Fraser River 225, 000 
British Columbia and elsewhere 235, 000 
Alaska. 800, 000 
1, 680, 000 
It was expected that the organization of the canners would include those of Cali- 
fornia and .British Columbia as well as Alaska. The first subject of agreement was 
the reduction of the output to one-half of the usual quantity. By this means the can- 
ners hope to improve the trade, especially in the English market. The canners are 
under heavy bonds to keep the agreement and at the end of the season to declare 
under oath the amount of their packs. Of the thirty-seven canneries in Alaska only 
nine will be operated, and the men usually employed in the other establishments will not 
be hired. The same reduction will be made in California and British Columbia. In 
Alaska the intention was to operate two canneries at Karluk, two on the Kushagak, 
one at Chignik Bay, one at Cook Inlet, one either at Loring or Chilkat, one at Alitak 
Bay, and one at Copper River. The Alaskan output is to be limited to 400,000 cases. 
The following agreement was entered into March 25, 1892, between the salmon- 
canners of Fraser River, Skeena River, Rivers Inlet, and elsewhere in British Colum- 
bia: 
Whereas, on account of the overproduction of canned salmon on this coast, the markets of all 
salmon points in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain are overstocked with canned salmon, 
and it is desirable in the mutual interests of the parties to this agreement that some limitation in the 
pack of the coming season should be agreed to, in order that the supply of and demand for that arti- 
cle may be equalized ; the several parties hereto have agreed to limit the pack of canned salmon at the 
canneries owned, controlled, or operated by them and each of them respectively upon the terms and 
in proportion hereinafter mentioned, as follows, viz : That the reduction in the pack of canned salmon 
during the season of 1892 shall be upon the Fraser 50 per cent upon the capacity of each cannery, and 
on the Skeena River and northern points 25 per cent upon the capacity of each cannery. 
The salmon-canners on Kadiak Island constitute the following eight companies : 
The Karluk Packing Company, the Kodiak Packing Company, the Aleutian Island 
Fishing and Mining Company, the Hume Packing Company, the Arctic Packing 
Company, the Royal Packing Company, the Russian- American Packing Company, 
the Alaska Improvement Company. 
