5070. MARKETS, Fish oil.—[further continued] .
The English began [in
1787] to deluge the markets of France with
their whale oils; and they were enabled, by
the great premiums given by their government,
to undersell the French fisherman,
aided by feebler premiums, and the American,
aided by his poverty alone. Nor is it certain
that these speculations were not made at the
risk of the British government, to suppress
the French and American fishermen in their
only market. Some remedy seemed necessary.
Perhaps it would not have been a bad
one to subject, by a general law, the merchandise
of every nation, and of every nature, to
pay additional duties in the ports of France,
exactly equal to the premiums and drawbacks
given on the same merchandise by their own
government. This might not only counteract
the effect of premiums in the instance of
whale oils, but attack the whole British system
of bounties and drawbacks, five-eighths
of our whale oil, and two-thirds of our salted
fish, they take from us one-fourth of our
tobacco, three-fourths of our live stock, * * *
a considerable and growing portion of our
rice, great supplies, occasionally, of other
grain; in 1789, which, indeed, was extraordinary,
four millions of bushels of wheat,
and upwards of a million of bushels of rye
and barley * * * and nearly the whole
carried in our own vessels. They are a free
market now, and will, in time, be a valuable
one for ships and ship timber, potash and
peltry.—
Report on the Fisheries. Washington ed. vii, 551.
(1791)
