Speech #500148454

But one thing which was very apparent to those who were examining that question. on this side at least. was the extreme difficulty with which any exact information could be obtained from the owners of the vessels. The fishing industry of the United States or of New England has changed since those halcyon days when it was in fact a nursery of American seamen and manned the ships that in the war of 1812 humiliated British pride upon the sea. and it has followed. as other American industries have followed. the direction of concentration in the hands of a few capitalists who own the ships. owning from a dozen to twenty. and manning them where they can obtain fishermen and sailors the cheapest. and resorting to that great source of fishermen and sailors. the Britsh provinces. recruiting their men and fitting out their crews from that great hive of sailors and fishermen. pursuingas they had a right to pursuetheir calling in a way that would be most for their benefit. and getting sailors and fishermen where they could get them cheapest. But what I was going to say is that since that debate closed it has come about that a committee appointed by the House of Representatives. the committee called the Ford committee. that has been investigating the matter of contract labor. has disclosed the fact that we underrate the percentage on this side of Canadian fishermen who are employed in American fishing vessels. and that committee asserts. and I believe it has been so published. certainly I have been so told by a member of that committee who has been actively conducting the investigation. that 75 per cent. was an estimate quite within bounds of the number of Canadian fishermen. not men who came down from the provinces and expected to be naturalized. but of men who shipped for the season and went back to their homes in those provinces after the fishing season was over. So I believe the argument. such as it is. drawn for the purpose of maintaining a nursery for American seamen. has been by this time thoroughly exploded. I admitted the force of that argument when the facts supported it.