Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

PARAGRAPH 273-FISH, SMOKED, FROZEN, ETC.

Mr. DAVIS. I will tell you what my idea is. It is just like you are going to buy things. When you go to buy you go where it is the cheapest, and if you have anything to sell, where it is the highest; and he can sell his labor highest in our markets.

Mr. JAMES. Well, why is it that you pay twice as much to the Nova Scotia fisherman for doing the same work as the Nova Scotia owner has to pay him for similar labor?

Mr. DAVIS. Well, I do not think it is a matter of record that we do it, excepting on the share basis, and then he has to take what he gets. We pay twice as much for the wharf laboring man.

Mr. JAMES. For the what?

Mr. DAVIS. For the man that works ashore.

Mr. JAMES. But you do not pay any more for the man that works

at sea.

Mr. DAVIS. The man that works at sea on the Novia Scotia boat goes share and share alike, just as the man on the American boat does. Mr. JAMES. The foreigner gets just as much as the American for fishing on the sea?

Mr. DAVIS. He does.

Mr. JAMES. Now, I understood a moment ago, from the other witness that the American fisherman paid twice as much to his workmen at sea as the foreigner did. Now, it turns out that these men who are doing the fishing for you, one-fourth of them live in Nova Scotia? Mr. DAVIS. I would say approximately. I could not say straight. Mr. JAMES. And the tariff that we are laying upon fish consumed by Americans keeps up the wages of the foreigner, does it not? Mr. DAVIS. Why, it does not keep them up; no.

Mr. JAMES. It does not.

Mr. DAVIS. It keeps them up here, that is, but not with him; we are trying to build this country; we are not trying to build the other country up.

Mr. KITCHIN. Well, if the man who lives in Nova Scotia-you say about one-fourth of your men live in Nova Scotia-gets more here than he does on the Nova Scotia boats, why do not all of the Nova Scotia fishermen leave the Nova Scotia boats and come to the American boats?

Mr. DAVIS. Why do they not?

Mr. KITCHIN. Yes; it looks like they would do that.

Mr. DAVIS. It looks that way, does it not? Well, now, I can only tell you from a matter of opinion. That is that that man has got a family or some other connection with him that keeps him in his home place. We do not all go west.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Kitchin, I think I can ask a question of the witness that will give you the information you want.

Mr. KITCHIN. All right.

Mr. GARDNER. They come down during certain seasons of the year, do they not, Mr. Davis?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. GARDNER. And go back when the season is over, do they not? Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. GARDNER. Those are birds of passage?

PARAGRAPH 273-FISH, SMOKED, FROZEN, ETC.

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir. When the lobsters are good, and they are making a lot of money catching lobsters on their shore, they will go back and catch lobsters on their shore.

Mr. KITCHIN. How much do you give and what do you get rent for your boats?

Mr. DAVIS. He gets one-quarter, if it is a large vessel; and he goes on the quarters; he gets one-quarter of the proceeds, less the towing charges, and what we call the stock charges, which comprise towing. Mr. KITCHIN. You buy the product, and pack them, and salt them, do you not?

Mr. DAVIS. We do buy the product, and pack them and salt them. Mr. KITCHIN. You buy the product from your fishermen, do you not?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes.

Mr. KITCHIN. How much higher does your fresh fish cost the consumer by virtue of this tariff of three-fourths of a cent a pound? Mr. DAVIS. How much higher does it cost the consumer?

Mr. KITCHIN. Yes.

Mr. DAVIS. I do not think it enters into what the consumer pays for his fish.

Mr. KITCHIN. So you think, in spite of this tariff, the fresh fish from Nova Scotia and that from America sell at about the same price? Mr. DAVIS. I do not think it enters into it at all.

Mr. KITCHIN. So, where the tariff helps you is not on the green, fresh fish, but on the salted and packed fish?

Mr. DAVIS. Green and salt, both alike.

Mr. JAMES. Now, if fresh fish, or green fish, were placed upon the free list, you would not be at any disadvantage, so far as the foreigner is concerned, from the cost of labor in producing the fish?

Mr. DAVIS. So far as the foreigner is concerned, when he was on our vessels; but if he was in a Nova Scotia bottom or a foreign bottom he would be hard up, because his foreign bottom costs about 60 per cent of what ours does.

Mr. JAMES. Well, there is 40 per cent difference in the purchase of the vessel?

Mr. DAVIS. And there is 50 per cent difference in the running of the vessel.

Mr. JAMES. How often do you buy a vessel? What is the life of a vessel at sea?

Mr. DAVIS. The life of a vessel for fishing is about 10 years. After that it is antiquated.

Mr. JAMES. So every 10 years you have to buy a new vessel?
Mr. DAVIS. If you wish to keep in business; yes.

Mr. JAMES. And there would be 40 per cent difference for your vessel and what the foreigner would pay?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. JAMES. Is your vessel made out of better material?

Mr. DAVIS. We think so.

Mr. JAMES. It lasts longer, does it not?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. JAMES. It is really a better vessel?

Mr. DAVIS. We could not use it if it was not, perhaps.

PARAGRAPH 273-FISH, SMOKED, FROZEN, ETC.

Mr. JAMES. So that, apart from that cost of producing the fish, everything is equal between you and the foreigners?

Mr. DAVIS. Is what?

Mr. JAMES. Everything is equal between you and the foreigner? Mr. DAVIS. Oh, no; no, it is not either.

Mr. JAMES. Why not?

We

Mr. DAVIS. Why, we have to pay a duty on the hooks we use. have to pay a duty on hooks; on all class of things that we use aboard our vessels. He does not. We have to pay from 25 to 50 per cent duty on the articles that are aboard our vessel.

Mr. KITCHIN. Suppose you could reduce that, then you could stand a reduction in the tariff, could you not?

Mr. DAVIS. What do you want to kill that man off for?

Mr. KITCHIN. Your idea is that you are willing to go in for protection for everybody else in the United States, provided you get this little protection on your fish?

Mr. DAVIS. Have I said that?

Mr. KITCHIN. I am asking you that.

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir.

Mr. KITCHIN. Do you want the tariff reduced? Do not your men wear woolen clothes, hats, and shoes, and underwear, and sometimes buy ham and bacon and fresh beef? Do you want to keep the tariff up on all those things that your laborer must have to live in order to keep your tariff on?

Mr. DAVIS. If we keep it on our products, we must pay it to the other man and say nothing. It belongs to him. He is worthy of his hire, as I am worthy of mine.

Mr. KITCHIN. But if yours is reduced you think all the others ought to be reduced, do you not?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir.

Mr. KITCHIN. So that if we reduced this, you think that the other ought to be where it is, so that the laborer will have to pay more for his clothes, for his hats, and his shoes?

Mr. DAVIS. I think the laborer should be protected in all cases.

Mr. JAMES. You say you pay a tariff on the hooks and the things you buy?

Mr. DAVIS. We do, sir. Your schedule shows that.

Mr. JAMES. Does the tariff increase the price of the hook?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. JAMES. You tell the committee that the tariff rate is added to the prices of the hook, and you have to pay it?

Mr. DAVIS. We do in our country; yes, sir.

Mr. JAMES. That you use in catching fish?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. JAMES. Now, I used to understand the protective tariff announced to be this: That the high protective tariff was not added to the cost of the article, but merely kept out the foreigner, and that competition within the protected boundary kept the price down reasonably?

Mr. DAVIS. If you could buy a 16 hook in Nova Scotia for 13 cents or 14 cents a gross, when you have to pay 22 cents a gross in the United States, would there be any difference in the cost?

PARAGRAPH 273-FISH, SMOKED, FROZEN, ETC.

Mr. JAMES. Oh, I entirely agree with that; you are right; that the tariff is added to this article, just like I stated that the tariff is added to your cost of your fish. I do not dispute that at all.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Now, right there, do you have to import your hooks?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. LONGWORTH. You import them all?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir; largely.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Those hooks are not made in this country?
Mr. DAVIS. Very few of them.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Then the duty is added to the price only because they are not manufactured in this country.

Mr. DAVIS. They used to manufacture them in New Haven.
Mr. LONGWORTH. But you have to import your hooks now?
Mr. DAVIS. Either that or go without any.

Mr. LONGWORTH. They are not manufactured in the United States?

Mr. JAMES. Are there any made in the United States?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir; there used to be some in New Haven.

Mr. JAMES. How often do you buy them?

Mr. DAVIS. From 6 to 10 gross a year. It takes 250 gross to start the first time.

Mr. JAMES. What do they cost you a gross?

Mr. DAVIS. I think about 22 cents is the jobbing price of the hooks. Mr. FORDNEY. Pardon me; the gentleman asked you a minute ago if you wanted the duty taken off of boots and shoes and clothing, and one thing or another that your men use. Do you not realize the fact that the men engaged in the manufacture of boots and clothing, etc., are the customers for the product of the fisheries?

Mr. DAVIS. Sure, if they can not live, we can not sell them any fish. Mr. FORDNEY. And unless their wages are good, and their producing power is great, they are unable to pay you a good price for your product?

Mr. DAVIS. Certainly.

Mr. FORDNEY. And therefore you want protection for that reason? Mr. HARRISON. Mr. Davis, on this question of fishhooks, some gentleman from Gloucester appeared before this committee during the consideration of the Canadian reciprocity act and testified, as you have testified to-day, that the Gloucester fishermen buy all of their fishhooks from abroad; and in view of the fact that Canadian reciprocity put your fresh fish upon the free list, coming from Canada, when this committee proceeded to a consideration of the revision of the metal schedule, the duty upon imported fishhooks was reduced in the bill reported by this committee from 45 per cent to 10 per cent ad valorem, which probably would have amounted, according to my estimate, to a difference of $38,000 to $40,000 a year to American fishermen.

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

Mr. HARRISON. And if you will investigate the program of tariff revision of our party, so far as it has already been unfolded, you will see that the fish industry, like other industries of the United States, will derive benefits from our tariff reduction.

PARAGRAPH 273-FISH, SMOKED, FROZEN, ETC.

Mr. FORDNEY. My friend, before you answer that question let me put it this way: There being no domestic production in this country of hooks, there is no competition for the foreigner on his hooks in this country, and would it not be a great question of whether or not he will reduce the price of his hooks, even though they are on the free list, so far as there is no home competition, or domestic competition? Mr. DAVIS. He would reduce it just about as much as the Tobacco Trust did when the internal revenue was changed.

Mr. JAMES. Now, let us see how that is

Mr. FORDNEY (interposing). Just as the Sugar Trust did in 1911, when there was no domestic sugar on the market; they boosted the price from 5 cents to 7 cents.

Mr. JAMES. Let us see how that is: The foreigner has no competition now for hooks in the United States, has he?

Mr. DAVIS. No; apparently not.

Mr. JAMES. You testified that he sold them 20 to 30 per cent cheaper abroad than he does here, didn't you?

Mr. DAVIS. I told you what we paid for the hooks. I did not figure the percentage of it.

Mr. JAMES. You testified that they were sold cheaper in Nova Scotia than they were here?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes; I told you what we paid per gross.

Mr. JAMES. They have not raised the price on them, have they? Mr. DAVIS. What is that?

Mr. JAMES. They have not raised the price on them?

Mr. DAVIS. They have not raised the price-we have not paid any

more; no.

Mr. JAMES. But they have not in Nova Scotia. Now, what would make them do it here if they did not have to pay this tariff; if they are the masters of the market, as you suggested, like the Tobacco Trust was, or like the Sugar Trust is, and they could raise the price to whatever they saw fit, why did they not do it in Nova Scotia?

Mr. DAVIS. I will not answer the question. I will not attempt to. Mr. JAMES. I thought not. But you did answer Mr. Fordney's question.

Mr. DAVIS. I would answer that I think the Yankee will take a portion of that himself.

Mr. JAMES. The Yankee will do what?

Mr. DAVIS. Will take it himself.

Mr. JAMES. The Yankee will take it himself?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes; a large part of it.

Mr. JAMES. You do not think the Yankee is any meaner man than the Nova Scotian, do you?

Mr. DAVIS. I can not say anything about his meanness.

Mr. JAMES. But you think when the Yankee got hold of this, he would take about all the market would bear, do you?

Mr. DAVIS. They have shown that disposition generally.

Mr. JAMES. And the Nova Scotian serves on the theory of a live and let live rate, and you do not believe that about the Yankee? Mr. DAVIS. I do not know anything about the Yankees.

Mr. RAINEY. I there any competition between the men who pack fish, the wholesal. firms?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir; the very best kind of competition.

« AnteriorContinuar »