turned for Gloucester, and she grasped her opportunity. The new knowledge drew her men into larger fields involving larger risks, and she stands to-day mistress of the field, the queen of the fishing industries in this country.

The fishing in Gloucester has passed through many changes. There are men who remember when fishing was a matter of going out but a short distance and catching every day all that a man could care for. As the years went on, a good haul or catch near shore was a rarer and

rarer occurrence. The introduction of trawl-fishing rapidly increased the fishing area. As the fishing-ground was found further off shore, the boats grew larger; the man of money was able to own a share in many boats; the crews became, as time went on, laborers who shared in the results of their own labor. This method still prevails. The men have contracts, and share equally in the profits-a more satisfactory basis than the old one of taking out the tongues of the cods to have them counted at the end of the day's labor,

or marking each halibut with a man's private mark and counting these as a man's earnings, subject to cost specified. The difference in each day's return to each man of the crew varied, and while this method of tally prevailed for a long period, it was not, on the whole, considered fair. Profit-sharing is the present practice. The basis may be that one-half of the gross catch or "fare" goes to the vessel; from the other half expenses are deducted, and the balance, in which the vessel has again a share, is divided. Sometimes the basis is a fifth; whatever the basis, the vessel gets her assignment first on the gross, then one share of the net earnings, sharing costs equally with the crew. The shore fishing is still car

ried on. There are boats that leave and return in a day-a very small part of the whole number in the harbor. There are vessels that go for two or three days; and when the season is a good one, this branch of industry is very profitable. The two and three weeks' trips vary greatly in the returns. The Banks trips have called in the capitalist. The boats and equipment for this long-distance fishing are expensive; the stores must be provided in bulk, and there must be provision for the family of the fisherman while he is gone. Often when his share of the expenses of the trip, food, salt, etc., and the support of his family during his absence, are deducted, his balance is very small, and he must at once reship for another cruise.

The trawl and seine have, in some branches of fishing and on some grounds, entirely displaced the hook and line. Mackerel-fishing has appeared and disappeared on the eastern Atlantic coast. As early as 1657 mackerel was an article of commerce. In 1692 the General Court forbade the catching of mackerel in nets or seines, or their use, except when fresh, before July 1. Until 1821 the catch was small, but since that time, with varying seasons, mackerel-fishing has remained. an important part of the fishery interests of Gloucester. There are men in the business in Gloucester who say that some measure of protection will yet have to be given all kinds of fish on our Atlantic coast. This prophecy is made, although all

agree that the greatest change in the industry has come with the birth of the century. The spring of 1900 saw the first fishing-boat equipped with auxiliary power, and witnessed her complete success. Her earnings were the largest ever made in a season by one boat. One man explained it: "There was the fish, millions of them, and not a breath to move a boat. Chug-a-chug, away she went, and scooped 'em in; we looked on."

All agree that fishing has entered on a new era, and the day of sails as entire dependence for long-distance fishing is going. Some men say that this will change the working fisherman's relations; that the far greater cost of the boat and the cost of running must, in the nature of

things, make the question of wages prominent, and the end will be a reduction in the fisherman's earnings. The opposite view is taken by many, as the men worked on shares on the new boat this year, and earned more than the men on the sailboats. The new motive-power must be other than steam. The boats need all their space for fish; carrying coal is out of the question. The inventive genius of the country will solve the problem of generating a power from fuel, small in bulk, inexpensive, quick, and powerful. The fuel used in the new boat is gasoline. The cruises vary in their success; the years' records vary greatly, but the Gloucester of to-day tells the story of success in spite of fluctuations. The years show a steady gain. There is now a market always open. Refrigerated cars carry the product of the cruise west and south. When this demand is met, right at the docks are lofts and smoke-houses ready for the fish, fresh or salt, as it has been for the fisherman's interest to deliver it.

Here invention and chemistry have revolutionized the business. Labor, the chief factor in the curing of fish, is being displaced by machinery in one direction. and called in in another. Chemistry has turned all the waste into a valuable product; the skin of the cod is now turned into a patented coffee-settler; and a fertilizer is the product of the scraps cast aside in making the preparations for the table, which are constantly growing more dainty and attractive. This depart ment of the business gives employment to hundreds of boys, girls, young women, and men.

Anything less like a fishing hamlet than the Gloucester of to-day could not be conceived. A city of paved streets, electric cars, free postal collection and delivery, electric lights, and the telephone, and that last mark of commercial greatness, a foreign population and consequent social problems-that is the Gloucester of to-day. Previous to 1850 there were very few foreign-born people on the whole Cape. To-day there is an Irish population owning a handsome Roman Catholic church of stone, a rectory, and a library in stone and brick, a parochial school, and several small churches. A Roman Catholic church for the Portuguese is in process of finishing in the center of the Portu

guese section. These people are a most interesting part of the population. The men are the crews of the fishing-vessels, which are for the most part owned and sailed by the natives of Gloucester, but rarely manned by them. Many of these Portuguese own their own houses, while others have erected three and fourstoried houses occupied by four and more families. These are the modern fisherman's “huts.” From many of the windows no glimpse of the sea is given. The storm rages, the waves beat, and the fog enwraps the Cape, but the fisherman's wife cannot stand on the shore and peer out for the vessel she knows so well, for the shore is covered with storehouses, smoke-houses, lofts for drying fish. At night she does not sit alone in terror, nor does she go in a driving storm to her neighbor's for comfort or to comfort, for her neighbor is upstairs, downstairs, across the hall, at her door. Every American in Gloucester speaks well of these people. "The women are beautiful needlewomen; they stay closer in their homes than the women of any other nation," is the testimony of the women of Glouces ter. The streets of houses, the interests in vessels, the mercantile establishments in Portuguese possession, are the evidences of their thrift and industry. The Sunday-school, numbering about one hundred and fifty when visited, was entirely under the control of young girls not more than eighteen, some barely fifteen, yet good order and attention were the rule. The Nova Scotian rarely becomes a permanent resident. He appears in great numbers in the late winter, and returns home in the fall when the herring-fishing begins. Some become capitalists and are part owners of the vessels in which they sail. They make valuable members of the community, and are a large factor in the commercial success of Gloucester.

Another industry is rapidly gaining ground on Cape Ann. Her quarries are carrying her name around the world. This industry has attracted the Scotch and the Finns, especially the latter, who are taking possession of the old houses on the north shore, and building houses to meet their needs. The Finns live by themselves, have their own church, their own entertainment hall, keep their habits and their language, deal with their own