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Published every Friday by the A Is b. Publishing Co., Peiei .bin
Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg as Second Class Matter
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Tfce Alaskan, six months. $2.6
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▲. N. B. PUBLISHING COMPANY
Louis F. Paul. Editor and Manager.
INVESTIGATIONS
Every year the Bureau of Fish
eries conducts investigations. So
lo other departments, for that
matter. But Alaskans are in
terested in their fisheries. The
manner of conducting those in
vestigations reminds us of the
following story
A certain customs deputy, in
the early days of Alaska when
sale of any liquor was illegal,
went to a certain house. The
madame of the house responded
to his knock, whereupon he pull
ed a notebook from his pocket
and said: “You are Mrs. So-and
So. It is reported that you are
selling illicit. Let’s see, this is
this is Monday; on Friday, I am
coming to investgate.”
Strange to say, when he made
his search there was not a drop
of liquor on the premises.
When the Bureau of Fisheries
“investigates” charges of illegal
operations by canner or trap
owner the operator usually has
ample opportunity to clear the
the decks and thereby refute
the charges. Strange! Isn't it
that those fellows always know
of “investigations?”
PLEASE REMIT
-x
..A group of men were discuss
ing the sale of the public util
ities when one of them said: “I
don’t see why the Alaskan
should oppose the sale of the
hydro-electric. It seems to me
that they would do more busi
ness with the company by keep
ing quiet, than they do now with
the city.”
To which another replied:
‘‘Maybe they ARE getting paid
for their opposition.”
If such be the case we add
Please remit.
LOCATION OF INDUSTRIAL
SCHOOL FOR NATIVES
Dr. William Cooper, United
States Commissioner of Educa
tion, is in Alaska with the pur
pose of selecting a site in south
eastern Alaska for an industrial
school for natives. This will
serve the needs of about 5,000
natives ,all but 500 of whom be
long to the Thlinget and Haida
Tribes.
We note that the various
Commercial Clubs are appoint
ing committees to wait upon Dr.
Cooper to urge the merits of
their respective communities as
a site. This is all well and good,
but the primary consideration in
choosing the site should not
be the desire of a community
that its town be selected, but
which community shall best
serve the needs of the natives
for whom the school is being
built.
Mr. Morrissey of the Ketchi
kan Chronicle urges the choice
of a site near Ketchikan, and
particularly the town of Mctla
katla and suggests further that
the school could well be a mem
orial to William Duncan. With
out decrying in any way Father
Duncan’s work among the Met
lakatla people, we have this to
say. We do not see why the Bu
reau of Education, of all agen
cies, should erect a memorial to
Father Duncan. No one in south
eastern Alaska was more oppos
ed to the work of the Bureau of
Education than Father Duncan
was and if he were alive today,
he would oppose most strenu
ously the location of this school
on Annette Island. The present
school there was established by
the Bureau over his strong oppo
sition. Father Duncan did not
believe in the education of the
Indian past tlie most elementary
stage. He found that the edu
cated Indian was not so tract
able or servile as the ignorant
one, and he was not able to con
tinue autocratic control over the
boys and girls who went away to
school. It is a fact that with
very few exceptions, the Indians
of Metlakatla who have any de
gree of education received it at
the old Sitka Training School
maintained by the Presbyterian
Church, and much against the
wishes of William Duncan.
There are 4,500 Indians in
Southeastern Alaska not con
nected in any way with the is
land of Metlakatla, speaking
another tongue, with a heritage
of different customs and ideals.
They do not wish the school es
tablished on that island and
their wishes are certainly entitl
ed to more consideration than
are Edward Morrissey’s. If the
school is to be a memorial to
anybody, we respectfully urge
the merits of many good and
faithful teachers of the years
gone by who did not amass a
fortune in the process.
GOMORRAH
The Hebrew had his Sodom
and its Gomorrah; Alaska has
its Ketchikan. A resident of
that notorious city recently said
that it was the toughest, rotten
est city of its size he had ever
been in. The average Alaskan
who has spent any time in that
city never deny such an asser
tion. The gamut of crime is run
daily and with indifferent toler
ance by the powers that be.
Into this mess of illicit liquor,
dope, immorality, Eddie Morris
sey would have Indian children
and their parents and relative5
travelling—for the little they
would spend in that city.
More Indian boys are going
hell bent for perdition; more In
dian girls are peddling their
physical charms in Ketchikan
than any other town in Alaska.
More Indian girls use “hop” in
the First City than elsewhere
and nowhere is it easier to get.
The section of that town where
the Indians live and where new
comers head for, is the center of
the restricted district.
Into this environment does
the former judge Morrissey wish
the Indians to go. That they
may go to hell quicker.
DESIRE ABLE LOCATION
Did we chose the site for the
Industrial school we would lo
cate it not in, but near a town
with a clean environment and a
minimum of contact with those
associations and do not ad
vance those people; a com
munity that is fair and kindly
in its dealings with more thot
of good for those people than the
financial benefit to the town.
Not in the woods forty or fifty
miles from line of travel nor in
or near a community whose lan
guage is other than English.
We are opposed to continuation
and perpetuation of the Thlin
get, Haida, Psimpshean or any
other language as un-American
and retarding the more rapid
assimilation into the body poli
tic or absorption of nations
within the nation.
BRISBANE ON $ $ $ PATRIOTS
This nation, at all events, has
no excuse*for mixing in the war.
In all Manchuria, where the war
would be centered, there is but
one American concession, with
only $2,000,000 invested. Our ;
generous government would 1
&. end more than that sending
(ea 3lc3 back and forth about the
wonderful things to be done.
And if we once started mobil
i
icing our noble dollar-a-year
•yatriot-eers” we should be in
| the war for billions.
“GO PEDDLE YOUE PAPflES"
. .The following which appeared
in the Alaska Weakly of Seattle
in its issue of Jane 12, nee fs
applanation:
■ Juneau, Alaska, July 2, .1320
The Alaska Weekly,
Seattle, Wash.
Dear Sirs:
| In a recent i 'sue of your nape:
| m article appeared on the iron:
page in which it was staled t'i if
the V7. B. Foshay Company of
Minneapolis had repress A bve:
in Juneau negotiating for the
purchase of a number of public
utilities, including tlm Alaska
Electric Light and Fowr Com
pane’s properties
The Air >ka Electric
Power Company ah ire • : ■ \
the columns of your p v • or, U
state that no negotiations hav:..
been carried on. between the
Alaska Electric Light & Powei
Company and the W. B. Foshan
Company for the sale of the pro
perty of the Alaska Electric
Tight & Power Company. Th
property of this company is no:
for sale, and no sale is contem
plated; no negotiations hav
been had and no appraisal of
f'e company's property has bear
made on behalf of the W. B. F;
?bay Company nor to any othe
-erson or corporation to exam
lie the company's plant, proper
ty or books, nor to appraise the
property.
Please publish this letter or
[the front page of your paper so
that it may receive the same
publicity as the statement by
you regarding the sale of oua
properties referred to.
Very truly yours,
Alaska Electric Light & Power Co
By W. S. Pullen, Manager.
WORTH BUYING—WORTH
KEEPING
The Alaska Electric Light &
Power Company evidently be
icve that their public utilities
; re worth keeping even if Fo
shay believes it worth buying.
The Juneau concern knows
what their business is worth to
them; what it cost to produce;
iwhat their costs of operation
are and what their profits are. ]
Allowing deductions, of course,
for depreciation. Having a util
ity that is proving a mint for;
them, they don’t care to even
'top to listen to any proposals
f the Foshay Company.
And why should the'' ? J
THE EXAMPLE OF COLEY,
KANSAS
-x
In the little town of Colby,
Kansas, there are no city taxes.
1 The city owns and operates its
own light and power plant and
its water system. Rates are low,
service is excellent and the
plants’ profits pay the taxes.
This year the water rate is to
be reduced.
Colby’s experience is just!
another answer to the newer
trust’s cry that “it can't be
done!” Colby’s doing it—and so
can any other town that makes
up its mind to do it. i
There is no more reason why
a town shouldn’t furnish power
to its citizens than it shouldn’t
furnish them with bridges,
streets and a police force. The
idea that it’s all right for a city
to run a non-profit making
bridge, but horribly immoral for
it to run a profitable power plant
is out of date.—Seattle Star.
O. R. T. BLOCKS TRUST
The little town of Vermilion, j
in Alberta. Canada, is having a ]
finish fight with the Power Trust I
and so far, Vermilion has won
every round.
In large measure, this is due
to Vermilion’s mayor, A. W. Fal
xuW. ill UCiChkiC'il to Ucing iXUiy •
\j-, iYlr. i tii.O W io U i. Ckiij. U-.Ci vi-iU ■
£.. UpnCi, u^caiu iOj. tiio ouilaUiU.i
*t.iLiOilUi, alid cl member iil gOOa
,.cUiiUh.ig 01 lliO U, Ik. 1. /ippclj.'
ntiy liie townsmen are baemng
..p meir figiitnig mayor in spien
md style.
liie l ower Trust is reaching \
out lor control oi Alberta, just,
us it is in Manitoba and other
evinces, as pointed out previ
ously in LABOR.
The Trust lias absorbed a lot
M municipal plants in Western
•.mnada; but Vermilion has re
used to weaken and sell out.
A town oi' only 1,700 inhabit
ants, it owns and operates its
ight, power and central lieat
Lig plant, the latter being fed by
tne exhaust steam from the
power plant.
The system is working perfect
ly. Rates are much lower than
n towns where the plants are
•rivately owned.
I NaturaDy that does not please
i.-e Trust, which has been com
elied to reduce its rates in a
amber of instances.
As a result, the Trust is deter
nined to get this example of
i lunicipal ownership out of the
ray. A year ago, Mayor Fallow
.Tanned to submit a proposal to
* -construct the power and light
plant, and add the heating sys~
' ?m, involving an outlay of
bout $100,000—a good deal for
. j small a town.
The Trust waited for the
-glit moment, then made a sud
den offer to buy the municipal
plant, and filled the town with
' aeir high power salesmen to
! ilk the people into voting the
i lan down. For a time it looked
-s if they had swept the citizens
c I Vermilion off their feet.
Fallow examined the offer of
tae Trust carefully and soon un
earthed the trick in the scheme,
lie called a meeting, being care
‘ il to have representative of the
company present, exposed the
| • joker,” and the people voted al
most 10U per cent for municipal
ownership and construction.
Vermilion has no local munic
ipal taxes. Town expenses are
met by the profits on the light,
heat and power system, although
these rates are very low.
Mr. Fallow is a pioneer. For
ty years ago, as a boy, he went
'Vest and did his part in trans
forming the wilderness into a
progressive, prosperous province.
“What Ontario has done in
| his matter of power develop
ment, Alberta can do,” he de
clares.
“Canada today is enjoying the
greatest measure of commercial
and industrial expansion in her
istory. Our waterfalls offer un
limited development of hydro
leetric power. What a colossal
mistake it would be to allow all
this to pass from the hands of
the people to private monopol
istic control!
“Now that we have just begun
to enjoy what has been won by
pioneering, hardship and priva
tion, I for one, resent the idea of
vested interests stepping in and
gobbling up that which rightful
ly belongs to the people.”—LA
BOR, Washington, D. C.
SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED
Last winter were promulgated
regulations prohibiting opera
ion of the “hammerhead” type
of trap. Independent trapmen
and the Wrangell Chamber of
Commerce protested this regu
lation to the Bureau of Fisheries.
Mr. O’Malley’s reply was that
such a type of trap was too ef
fective for the conservation of
fish, so it must go.
fish so it must go. Later he
modified the ruling by permit
ting the single “hammer-head”
type to be operated.
It is now reported that the
Sunny Point canneries are using
the “hammer-head” trap and
it is the only cannery in South
eastern Alaska doing so.
It is further reported that Mr. j
O’Malley has investment in the
same companies. Therefore the
Northwestern
Northwestern
Northwestern
Nione 15
Petersburg, Alaska
Leave Seattle
H
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Choice Cigars, Tobaccos And Candies
New Tables And Equipment
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W%*% A/*
AT FENTION !!
Boat Owners
We can take care of general repair in wood and caulking
and all the blacksmith work on any boat up to 100 feet in
length at
Petersburg Marine Ways
J. C. Holton & Ed. Walwick
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Landscapes
Alaska
v/iews
COPYING AND ENLARGING
TINTING AND COLORING DONE IN OIL
FRAMING DONE TO ORDER
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GENERAL
BLACKSMITHING
John R. Kolstrand.
Front Street.
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Petersburg, Alaska
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