Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 157, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1912 — FISH FOR 40,000 DESTROYED [ARTICLE]

FISH FOR 40,000 DESTROYED

Wholesalers Declare They Cannot Sell at Low Prices —Buyer* Fear Taint. ; New York.—While the cost of living: is mounting steadily and beef is bringing Civil- war prices, tons of fresh fish, are being shipped dally from Fulton market, the headquarters of the New York fish trade, to be made Into fertilizer. On some days more than 200 barrels of fish have been destroyed—enough to supply 40,000 meals. In fact for several weeks more fish have gone to the fertilizer companies than, have been sold to the retail trade in New York city. Wholesale dealers say they have todestroy the fish because the public apparently is afraid to buy at the low prices. Exceptionally large catches are reported all the way from Cape Henry, Va., to Seabright, N. J., and the supply of fish is 75 per cent, larger than the average season. The chief reason that good eating: fish have been destroyed, says a statement given out by the market officials, “is that dealers who place It on sale at low prices cannot sell it. The average man does not know how to judge the condition of a fish, and the only test of its quality is the price. It is lower than he has been In the habit of paying, he Is afraid the fish Is stale. He won’t buy unless the dealer charges two or three times what would be a fair price. * Another factor is the belief of many people in this city that freßh fish can. be obtained only on Friday. They think what Is on the market any other day is stale or left over. As fish day cemes only once a week, the retailer has only one good selling day in the week, and he has to make a larger profit, so he sells at an advance of from 300 to 500 per cent. "The public is capricious in another respect. It has a taste for winter fish In summer, and for summer fish in winter. When fish is in season, the demand usually Bhlfts for some other variety that probably Is costlier and poorer in quality.”