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The sun. [volume], November 23, 1913, FOURTH SECTION PICTORIAL MAGAZINE, Page 6, Image 46
About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916
Image provided by: The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation
Newspaper Page Text
BLAST KILLS MILLIONS he Salmon ,du ?wn Al.ka a)ill be Matched in Ala cu illlHslllllllH. rLUMHH Masses of Rock Falling Into Stream Trap Fish Ascending River to Spawn ing Grounds and All Perish DISASTKH of n kind wholly with out precedent has befallen the salmon Ashing and canning Industry of Puget Sound. It threatens seriously to Impair the pros jerlty of the Industry for many years to come. A short time ago. while blasting op (rations were In progress on the Canada Northern Itallroad to widen the roadbed ilong the bank of one of the principal tributaries of the Fraser lllver. Im mense masses of rock were unexpect tdly dislodged, falling into the stream tnd completely blocking It. If the accident had occurred a month liter It would have Involved no mo rentous consequences. Hut, unfortu intely. It so happened that nt this very Hmo the sockeye salmon were ascend ing the river to spawn and a body of sh estimated at not less than 1.000,000 Tns Intercepted. Cut off from access to their spawning grounds, all of them died without being able to deposit their eggs. The debris was removed from the stream as rapidly as possible, but too hte. Of all the vast flnny army not n Ingle Individual survived. Now the seriousness of this accident trill be realized to some extent when It to explained that the great salmon flsh tries and canning plants of ruget Sound re supported by the annual runs of pawning fish bound for the upper waters of the Fraser River. Minor pawning grounds exist on several treams In the State of Washington, but the success of the Industry and the live lihood of thousands of persons depend on the salmon which reach the head waters of the Fraser and Its tributaries. No wonder then that the Government fisheries bureau speaks of the occurrence here described as a catastrophe. Sup pose that In the blockaded army of sal mon there were 500,000 females. All of these were bearing eggs, and In the or. dlnary course of events they would have laid an average of 5,000 eggs each. This represents a total of two and a half billion eggs. If It Is assumed that only one egg In every 1,000 was destined to produce nn adult llsh, there would have been 2,r.00,000 full grown salmon from this brood alone to return from the sea to the Fraser River four years later. Sockeye salmon that were hatched In the headwaters of Paelllc coast rivers last summer will go down to the sea as finger-lings next summer and when they are four years old they will return to the streams In which they first saw the light, their habit being never to go far away from the mouth of the river In which they were originally spawned. It follows then that the number of adults returning as intending parents Is directly proportionate to the number of fry that survived out of the brood of four years previous. And thus It Is manifest .that four years hence, when the 1913 progeny como back to the Fraser, there will be a much diminished flock. Nor Is this by any means all the mis chief, for a smaller number of salmon returning In 1917 means fewer eggs and fewer fry In that year. The effect of this shortage wilt appear again In 1921 and the consequences will continue to be felt for an Indefinite time to come at four year Intervals. Tho sockeye Is by far the most abun dant species of salmon In Hrltlsh Co lumbian waters. It Is the most valuable commercially of all salmon and sup ports the canning Industry not only In Tuget Sound but also In Alaska. Ex tremely particular In the choice of its spawning grounds, It always selects for the purpose streams that are feeders of lakes. So far as known It never ns cends a river that has not one or more lakes as headwaters. On reaching the lakes It seeks the streams that empty Into them and there builds Its nest and deposits Its eggs. Ever since the early days of the can ning Industry the Fraser River has been famous for the enormous runs of sock eye salmon which ascend It to the lakes far Inland. In fact this is the greatest of all sockeye streams. The name sock eye Is that by which the fish Is known in the Puget Sound region, but In Alaska It is commonly called the redflsh or blueback. Tho species ranges all the -way from eouthern Oregon to Bering Sea. For merly It was numeious In the Columbia River and Us spawning beds In the headwaters of that great stream were Important and extensive. But only a few are found there to-day, a pitiful rpmnnnt nt --v. . . . visited the lakes annually In earlier times. The sockeye Is plentiful in the Alas kan rivers, and occurs In all suitable streams on the Asiatic side of Bering Sea and us far south as Japan. Third In size among the five species native to those waters. It averages In weight about six and a half pounds when full grown. It furnishes In Alaska an an nual catch of about 20.000,000 fish, rep resenting 1,600,000 cases of forty-eight one pound cans, with a value of some thing like 600,000. This Is about 70 per cent, of the total value of the sal mon catch In Alaska. Tho sockeye Is the neatest and most symmetrical of salmon. When caught in the ocean, or in the rivers fresh from the sea, It Is a clear sky blue on the back and upper sides, shading to silvery white below and on the belly. But soon after entering a stream to spawn the color of Its head changes to u rich olive, the back and sides turning to crimson and ilnnlly to ft dark blood red. The llesh becomes spongy, the back some what humped nnd the Jaws hoked or otherwise distorted. When the salmon swim up n river to spawn they go to their death, for not one of them ever returns nllvc to the sea. Theirs Is ft wholesale nnd tragic sacrifice of themselves for tho sako of the perpetuation of their species. On reaching the spawning grounds they pair oft nnd excavate nests in the sand and gravel of tho bottom by plow ing with their noses and sweeping out the material with their tails. By this means a bowl shaped hollow Is formed, perhaps three feet in diameter nnd eighteen Inches deep. The female lays her eggs In the bowl nnd covers them up, after which the two parents devote themselves to the task of fighting off enemies, particularly the cutthroat nnd Dolly Varden trout, which follow f o t-almon to the spawning grounds for the purpose of stealing and eating their eggs. Meanwhile the father and mother be come thinner and thinner, until at length they die. The business of their lives has been accomplished and not one survives. Sometimes the upper reaches of the rivers that lead to the lakes ore fairly blocked with masses of dead and dying salmon. The incubation of the eggs, burled In the sand and gravel, goes slowly on, re quiring eight or nine months before the baby salmon nre hatched out. Even then the fry remain hidden: but, if knows where to look for them on the spawning grounds, one can find them In numbers by wading In the shallows nnd picking up handfuls of tho gravel during early spring. As yet they are not nble to swim nnd they eagerly wriggle back Into the gravel to hide themselves, n yolksac attached to the belly of each little fish furnishing It with a temporary supply of sustenance. Later they emerge from the gravel nnd pass out Into the lakes, where they feed until they nre four or live Inches long. Being able by this time to take care of themselves pretty well they start on their long Journey down the river to the ocean, where they remain In deep water off the coast for three years, that Is to say, until they nre full grown nnd ready to make their trip up the river to spawn In the headwaters nnd there In their turn to perish. Ah n means of remedying to some extent tho loss by the recent accident the fisheries bureau will hatch as many young sockeye salmon as possible, for planting in the Fraser River. It Is not practicable, however, to restore Jn this way the brood of 1913 nnd subsequent four yenr periods until n number of years have elapsed. A catastrophe of .this kind upsets to a considerable ex tent tho arrangement by which the output of the Frnser and other streams has been insured. Fortunntely the bureau has a very extensive control over the salmon fisheries and in Alaska this goes so far that If such a measure were deemed wise the fishery could be suspended altogether for an Indefinite time. Formerly the canning companies pur sued practises which were absolutely destructive. By stretching nots clear ncross a river or by interposing other equally effective obstacles thjy pre vented the salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. The fish being shut on entirely from access to their breed ing places it followed that in four or five years no more of them were left In that particular stream. This was not considered u matter of importance by the canners, Inasmuch as when they wined out the salmon In one river they could rr.ovo on to another. If this sort or thing had been ncrmltted to en on tho salmon fishery In Alaska would nave ceasea to exist In n generation. A stop has now been put to destruc tive methods of fishing nnd tho fish eries bureau is in a position to maintain tho output of salmon to the end of time, oven without tho help of artificial hatching, except where tho fishery is w-Awuiuuiiiury ucuvo, or in cases in which tho spawning grounds In the heudwatera of rlvera are reduced In area by tho waste of sawmills umi mines. There is no danger any longer ui uuninuuoa or me supply of salmon. THE " SUN, Experience has proved that from 60 to 80 per cent, of the fish in any stream can be taken annually without reducing tho supply. In order to make this entirely dear It should bo explained that each salmon river possesses a certain value, meaning that it is capable of producing Just so many tUh yearly. More than this num ber it cannot produce because there exists In the headwater lakes only ft certain amount of available food for tho young fry. If there are more than a certain number of fry there Is not enough provender to go round nnd they DANCING AS From the Ilytuinler. v LL .4 H Laar aBaaaai j"" uitf H " 1 Most people tend. to regard the time of Louis XV. as one of the most "abandoned" in all history. Its morals, however, it they were really such as we are taught.to believe, were not reflected in the dancing ol the period. Above "SenV shows the stately minuet as practised by lords and ladies of the eighteenth cen tury court, and the er Tango, as practised by highly respectable Parisians of this present year of grace. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER OF SALMON IN . , ' l j perish of starvation. This, In fact, was nature's method of putting a limit on tho multiplication of salmon up to the time when man took a hand in tho game. Iteoejitly the fisheries bureau has taken the trouble to count the salmon In some of the more Important streams. The first salmon census, so to call It, was in Wood River, Alaska. A barrier, called ft rack, was placed clear ncios, with narrow gates to allow the flsh to pass up stream nnd they were counted us they went through. In this way It Is ascer tained how many salmon are required IT WAS AND AS IT IS 23, 1913. to maintain a supply In a given river. If the requirement is 500.000. all fish ing is prohibited each year until that number has passed up. Then the runners are allowed to take as many us they like below the barrier, the maintenance of the supply being us surcd. It Is easily seen that with this sort of control serious Impairment of the fishery Is rendered Impossible. As for the rivers which have been depopulated it is n matter of no great difficulty to repopulate them by artificial hatching. Thus the expectation Is that a genera- PUGET el or Crtchin .Salmon, nwr M Mouth of a Great Fishing and Canning Industrie; in the Northwest Suffer Unpre cedented Disaster tlon from now tho output of the Pa clflc coast salmon rivers will be much larger than It is at the present time. As for the prospect in the Puget Sound region, it is realized that In view of the large economic Interests at stake In both the State of Washington and British Columbia, extraordinary efforts must be made by artificial hatching and by careful superintendence of the fishery to counteract as far as pos sible the shortage which must neces sarily result from the accident to the Fraser River salmon. The fisheries bureau announces that the work of artificial propagation will be actively pushed. PROF. KIRCHWEY Continued from Fourth Page. of the teacher Is no more exhausting than that of the hard working man and woman In any other field of effort. "So far as I know' teachers nre the only people In the country who think that their well being demands that they work but two-thirds of the year and rest the other third. And I submit that the burden of proof Is on them. "I am well aware that a largo number of teachers In schools and professors In colleges report themselves as on the verge of going to pieces when the school year draws to a close. Looking at the matter candidly, I am convinced that they get Into this condition simply be causo they know that a long summer vacation is Just ahead of them. If that long resting season were not In sight most of the teachers would keep right on with their work and never think of breaking down. "Why should they? Other men and women do not get on the edge of pros tration after working Just as hard for a full solid year with two or perhaps three weeks vacation. The professor has no more business to go to pieces than has the banker or practising law yer or physician. "The system advocated of giving American children as good or better education than they now receive and of shortening the total period thereof by from two to four years undoubtedly would mean a considerable Increase In the teaching force and in this way ad ditional expense. Hut tho mono would be returned to the taxpayers, becauso each child would be In school fewT years than at present. While speakln.r of this I wish to express the decided opinion that it Is Impossible to expect good results from school work where the classes are as large ns tho-' are at prtvont. "Mure Important for than mere book teaching Is It for the teacher to under stand the Individual pupil's tempera ment, habits of thought, outlook on life and bis ambitions In tills direction or that. To have this understanding the teacher must be able to give individual Inst ruction to a large extent and also to have individual acquaintance with each of the pupils. Such personal knowl edge of the various pupils of ft largo class ts out of the question except In rare Instances. "The high school Is tho place where we should have a more general educa tion In citizenship. I do believe, how ever, that the college course, especially after the second or sophomore year, should bo so shaped wherever practi cable ns to furnish a basis of future work for students who Intend to pursuo advanced professional training. This Is being done now to n limited extent, but not consistently and systematically. "It Is true that many students do not know by the middle of their college course what their future career Is to be; they have not decided on their definite life work. On two or three occasions I have taken u census of my law students In this respect und ascertained that from one-half to two-thirds of them had made up their minds to study law by the time they had reached tho middle of their college course. Perhaps one half of that number had made up their minds to become lawyers when they entered college as freshmen. But, as already Indicated, the majority probably had no fixed plans for the future until they had spent at least two years In actual college life. And the habit of working barely enough to get through those first two years Is a great handi cap, which the young man realizes when too late. "A very grave situation Is crented by the age at which professional men who have had a college course become ablo to support families. This tfect has fur nished tho principal arguments for those who oppose higher standards of admis sion to the professional schools, "When a young man Is graduated from a law school, for example, he Is not qualified ordinarily to engage In SOUND i In Alaska the fisheries bureau maintains two fully quipped hatcher ies, established especially for tin propagation of the sockeye salmon One of these is nt Yes Bay In southeast Alaska, and the other on the Islam; of Afognak, south of the Abnithi chain. These two hntcherles are nhl easily to turn out 100.000.00u bal salmon annually und can probably d much better at n pinch. The eggs of the sockeye luckily nre readily ub tainable in unlimited numliers an -there Is no great difficulty In h.itclnn. them, ulthough the period of lncul'.i tlon is extraordinarily long, eight or nine months. ON EDUCATION the practice of law, but must spend 'ti or two years In the practical wort. ' n law office. I should say that In New York about six years of work i ii. . . snry after a law student Is grada 'iv before he can earn enough to Mippwt i. family. In smaller nnd prnrt-ivi communities he needs from tltiv t four years. "Among the remedies suggested fo this condition Is that of cuttlnu' d-wi the college course to two years an I duclng the period of time . t . t t professional study. On the other ! in.i there is no doubt whntever that a Ii r.. education Is a valuable asset to a I la wr nnd an almost Indispensable rv, ..-! to the highest success at the bar i ' course there nre exceptional m n wi make their way to the front apparently regardless of such handicaps as ih- In-1. of ft liberal education., Hut the r n illtlons of modern life and tin- siu ivnin complexity of the problems law.M-rs ur called upon to deal with, constitut.otn and economic problems, render It m r nnd more dltllcult for the half educ.'t nun to render the service demanded : him. The same thing holds true P medicine. In engineering and !:i h Church itself. "We do not need to give our chlldrei less education, but we do need t ct It to them In less time and wlt'i it enormous waste caused by m..;I. --i long vacations und artificial ineih N Prof. Klrchwey called attention ! tli. statement recently made by E. i: lt.i teahouse, conservation comni:i--i -un of the Equitable Life Auran S. eiety, who shows that there are t - l.i In the United- States alone 17. e unmarried men and women wliu at e' marriageable age. "Why." asks Mr. Rlttenhouse. ".ir thirty-nine out of every 100 male v.:!i out wives? Why should we have '7 ("10,000 unmarried persons in the V: 'in States, a number nearly equal to -Ii' population of Spain or that of C 1 and Mexico combined?" Of the eight millions of unmarried : r he adds, at least five millions are la . -v Ing their earnings upon them- ' many of them' developing eMi.n , and often vicious habits. And . result of this utterly seltlsh life r. great army of .young women .- f to toll in factories and businc.- : for the bare necessities of e For almost nil of these million- .f .' Ing young women left stli. . ., 1 m 15, without any special traini' ' would enable them to do sK I highly paid work. Prof. Klrchwey thinks ; seriousness of this condition - ' ' been overestimated by Mr Hit'' ' - "It Is claimed by certain in' ' observers," Prof. Klrchwey cor "that the conditions resulting m " teen million unmarried person" rlageable ago have been luouulu by tho Increased cost of llvhm. ! fear Inspired In young men tin' cannot earn enough to support fi when living expenses are rl.-r steadily throughout the world. I not dispute this opinion, but w.' few days figures havo been pui ll apparently based on uuthorll seem to show conclusively that ta ' ft. wholo the various eleineirs population marry at ti younger day than at any time In the p . t .? tory of the country. This of(.ei- i contrary to tho general opinion 1 hear it and rend it, but tt must I Into account; for there Is good i". to think It mny be one result of system of American education. "I think It reasonable to ur r of tho seventeen million unman ed and women an overwhelming ma probably wero pupils In tin p schools. Poes that look as If ' I11 school system has been adeq . ' succeeded In preparing cluldr. m to sumo the duties of cltlzenslid' I" -1' life and family life? "On tho contrary. It Indiea'' ' something In the system Is fun Un tally wrong It Indicates that too m tlmo has been spent In book study recitation, and far too little time in tlvatlng Ideals nnd In fitting boys girls for lives of usefulness As I Wilcox of Cornell has well evpres-.' 'What civilization needs Is not m sarlly larger families, but more and i ter fnmllles.' "