Full Time, Full Scale
and Fully Equipped
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. . . WAS THAT "CONSPIRACY"?
In the history of Alaska’s shipping trade more than sixty companies
have come and gone in attempts to serve the Territory. Only the Alaska
Steamship Company has served all of Alaska with dependable year
around service over an extended period of years—because we (i*ve
been fully prepared to do the job.
Despite the Antitrust charges made against us, the greatest obstacle
in the trade has not been competition. This point is obvious when the
facts are considered.
The Antitrust suit brought against the Alaska
Steamship Company charges that we bpve “con
spired” to effect a virtual monopoly of the water
transportation business in the Alaska trade.
We have emphatically denied each and all of
the charges made against us. But a mere denial
does not prove a point. The facts must be drawn
from the background of the entire problem.
Every Alaskan can recognize these vital factors
from his own knowledge. They were apparently
ignored by the Antitrust investigators.
We already have discussed the political ele
ments involved. Here are the important physical . V
factors. m
A SHOESTRING WAS NOT ENOUGH
The Alaska trade has never required a certificate of Convenience
and Necessity which is usually a requisite of common carriers. As
a result the Alaskan service has been an inviting avenue to an
• exceptionally large number of operators even though it has not
H' offered an unlimited traffic potential. In addition, most of these
operators have entered with limited finances and a minimum of
•:!•> equipment which explains in part the unusual number of casualties
in the trade.
While it is in the American tradition to “begin on a shoestring,’*
unfortunately a shoestring has not been enough to provide depen
dable year around service to all points in Alaska: it has not been
enough to provide passenger ships and refrigeration service and
all of the varied facilities that Alaska requires for well-balanced
transportation; and, too, it has not been enough to withstand the
periods of adversity when real strength and determination is re
quired to stay in the trade.
Regardless of the charges leveled at the Alaska Steamship Com
pany, it is clearly evident that the biggest obstacle in serv
ing Alaska has not been competition — hut instead it has been
tile cold, hard, realistic facts of the trade:
It has been the fact of the one way haul,
It has been the fact of the short and intense
seasons,
It has been the fact of the tremendous distances
between sparsely populated centers,
And, it has been the fact of the limited traffic
volume available.
NO “EASY WAY”
The history of Alaska is littered with
the corporate hulks of operators who
thought there was an easy way to serve
the trade. It has been characteristic that
the majority has sought some trick way
to “skim the cream” during boom times
rather than to carefully measure the re
quirements and equip themselves for
long term operations.
The minimum requirement for any
operator has been merely to obtain a
ship or fleet of ships by whatever means
he could, to file a schedule of rates and
then to begin service to whatever ports
or areas he thought might offer satisfac
tory opportunity.
In view of the easy entrance coupled with the severe physical
obstacles presented in the trade, it has not been surprising that so
many companies ventured in hut proved to he unable to sustain
themselves. A review of the history of Alaska’s shipping shows
that during periods of good times and rapid expansion Alaska has
attracted a vast number of these operators and that they disap
peared when the boom tapered off.
OUR FIELD IS ALL OF ALASKA
The Alaska Steamship Company has not been under obligation
to serve all of Alaska. But we believe in principle, and our experi
ence has borne us out, that the success of our company or any com
pany is unalterably tied to the welfare and economy of the Territory
of Alaska. We believe that only by providing an integrated, well
balanced service to all of Alaska can we aid in the growth and
development of the Territory and in the long run insure the success
of our operations. Since the Alaska Steamship Company has its
investment and facilities committed to serving Alaska, we are vitally
concerned in the future of the Territory for our own survival.
Despite the unlimited opportunity to invest in and enter the
Alaska trade, who else has come forward with ships and “cash on
the line” to serve all areas and routes with a balanced service? For
the past twenty years the Alaska Steamship Company alone has
served the entire Territory—no other operators have established
an overall service.
1
DOES COMPLETE SERVICE MEAN
“CONSPIRACY*?
It is a simple matter for the Antitrust attorneys to charge that
the Alaska Steamship Company has “conspired ’ to effect a virtual
monopoly. But is that borne out in fact?
The answer is an emphatic NO.
The fact is that The Alaska Line is the only company which has
chosen the difficult task of serving all Alaska and developed the
necessary facilities to do so. We have not been serving Alaska on
the speculation that maybe by pinpointing our efforts we could
make an easy dollar.
For more than fifty years the Alaska Steamship Company has
been in the business full-time, we have been in the business full
scale and we have been fully equipped to do the job through
thick and thin.
Yet by Antitrust standards it is charged that was a conspir
acy to monopolize!
'W
f-VT.
ALASKA STEAMSHIP COMPANY
Serving All Alaska
....
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