M Akt-kais
A. N. B. Publishing Company,
Published every Friday by the Alaska Native Brotherhood
Publishing Company, at Petersburg, Alaska.. Entered in the Post
Oilice in Petersburg as Second Class Matter.
Subscribtion Rates:
The Alaskan, six months, $2.5(1
The Alaskan, per year, $1.00 Louis F. Paul, Editor-Manager.
ALASKA REINDEER QUESTION
(Fairbanks, Alaska. June 12.) —
For some time I have had it in
my mind to write to you about
an article that appeared in The
Progressive of March 1st. I was
very much surprised to read an
editorial entitled “An Appeal
from the Land of the Arctic Cir
cle.” This is from one E. B.
O'Connor of Nome and refers to
the exploitation of the Eskimo
reeindeer herds in Alaska by the
white people.
It looks to me as though your
editorial staff simply grabbed
this thing without being inter
ested in the truth of it—and
made no investigation.
Last summer I spent consider
able time in Eskimo camps dur
ing the season of marking the
deer and from personal observa
tion know that the - statements
contained in the letter which
your paper so innocently copied,
are incorrect. The development
of the industry of the north, of
course, can only be done by
whites, and it is an industry
that takes tremendous capital.
To prepare the meat properly for
market necessitates modern lab
oratories and cold storage The
material to build here in the
north must be shipped up from
the states, freight is extremeh
high. In fact, any project in the
north is costly. Up-to-date, the
Lomens are the only people who
have gone into the industry and
have kept at it. They have own
ed deer now for some 16 years
and up to this time have made
no profit.
During the last year they em
ployed 497 Eskimos and 40 whites
with an expenditure of $209,000
You can judge for yourself what
this would mean to' the native
people. They no longer travel on
the sea by ther own power, but
now own out-board motors, buy
victrolas, accordians and have
all the luxury in foods that they
care to work for.
Mr. O’Connor is married to 9
native woman and is one of those
Irishmen who like better to stii
up trouble than anything else
Should the paper be interested in
any further information on the
situation in the north, would
suggest they communicate with
the Biological Survey, Washng
ton, D. C. They have good men
in the field who know the north
ern problem.—“An Alaskan.”
THE LOMEN BRAND
“Alaskan” writing from Fair
banks evidently has been brand
ed by the Lomcns. No man, with
an iota of fairness or under
standing of the reindeer situa
lionmakes any attempt to de
fend the depredations of Eskimo
stock by the various Lomen com
panies.
Just recently, a former em
ployee of the Lomen’s was in our
office. He said, “I have read
you articles on the Lomen’s and
the reindeer situation and I am
telling you that every word of it
is true. The half of it has never
been told. I know—two years of
intimate knowledge of how the
Lomen’s do it.”
As between this man who
came unsolicited to commend us
for speaking in defense of a
helpless people and one who has
not the courage to sign his own
name to his statements, we be
lieve not the man of saffron hue.
“Mr. O’Connor is married to a
native woman and is one of those
Irishmen who like better to stir
up trouble than anything else.”
Mr. O’Connor is to be com
mended for being man enough to j
give his name to the woman who i
bears his offspring. Too many,
men . of the type of “Alaskan ’|
satisfy their lusts and passions
by taking advantage of Indian
girls and woman—oft times thru!
payment of money or by getting'
them drunk. Then these same
men who are not ashamed of a
social contact under cover of
darkness, become brave men in
the light and damn such men
as O’Connor. We can point to
many instances of men—includ
ing men who hold public office -
whose children today walk the
streets of Alaska, unnamed, tin
wanted. We are not saying thv.
“Alaskan” has committed these
sins of commission and omission
but it is such type that creates
such problems.
The thing th. t surprises us
ilie fact that The Progressive
permits itseP to be used to gain
publicity favoring a predatovv
corporation and to print the p\n
paganda over a nom de plume.
The fact that tve man refuses to
associate his name with his o v .
statements is sufficient to chai
lenge the credence of it.
SOME FALSE IMPRESSIONS
CORRECTED
By Magnus Nordstrom
A considerable amount of mis
understanding due to the Bureau
of Fisheries in their regulations
lOp catching king salmon and
:ohoes with hook and line. The
Alaska Trollei’s’ Association has
.ried to make corrections with
jut success; in fact their sug
iesticns seem to have been ignor
a altogether.
In this article I shall endeav
or to explain how there is no
comparison with the type of gear
,ve trollers are using with other
ypes of gear used in catching
almon in Alaska.
Everybody knows that catch
ng salmon by trolling is done
,vith hooks and lines. We troll
ers have no way of compelling
he salmon to take our hooks.
JVe are just trying to fool the
^almon, but instead of fooling
the salmon, we are often the
fooled.
The English satirist, Jonathan
Swift, two hundred years ago,
gave the right definition of an
gling—“A hook and line on one
end of the rod and a fool on the
other.”
The troller’s method of catch
ing salmon with hook and line
has no interference with traps,
seines, or gill nets. During the
regular trolling season (from the
month of May to November) the
trolling is done mostly on the
outside waters. Of the thou
sand miles of the coast line of
Alaska, we are only trolling from
Dixon Entrance to Cape Spencer,
a distance of two or three hun
dred miles. There are two kinds
of salmon that we trollers catch,
the king salmon and cohoes.
Very little is known concern
ing the habits of king salmon It
is commonly believed that the
king salmon we trollers catch
are just feeding along the coast.
Mr. Henry O’Malley claims that
they belong to the Columbia Riv
er, meaning that restrictions
must be placed upon Alaska
trollers. But he forgets that
there are no restrictions placed
upon trolling on the whole coast
of British Columbia and upon
the Cape Flattery trollers whose
gear the king salmon must es
cape before the salmon reaches
the Columbia River.
In regards to the cohoes, very
little percentage is caught by the
trollers in proportion to the oth
er types of ge^ar. As soon as the
echoes reach the inside waters
and salmon streams, we trollers
are not able to catch them be
cause they quit feeding.
These facts make it ridiculous
for Mr. O’Malley to place any re
strictions on Alaska trollers—the
regulations are ineffective with
out similar regulations in Brit
ish Columbia, even if we were to
grant that the king salmon be
longed to the Columbia River.
But when a joke becomes a se
rious matter, then it is time that
we all set politics and creeds
aside and face the facts as they
are. I am not speaking for any
personal gains by relieving these
restrictions on trolling. I am
| .speaking on behalf of the resi
dents of Alaska, who have in
vested in trolling boats and gear
every cent they have and then
some. Residents of Alaska who
are trying to support a family
with their income from trolling.
Before the year 1929, the week
ly closed period, and also certain
inlets closed to commercial fish
ing were already effective on
! (rollers without objection from
the trollers. Last year, more re
strictions were placed upon the
trollers. We were prohibited
from trolling with power boats
during the months of January,
February and March.
We took the matter up with
the Bureau of Fisheries through
our Delegate to Congress, the
Hon. Dan Sutherland. We stated
the difficulties we were operat
ing under. Later on more re
strictions were placed upon the
trollers.
First the trollers proposed sub
stitutes for winter closing.
Then Behm Canal was closed
for trolling during the months of
May and June.
Then additional closing on
ti oiling from August 24 to Sep
t< mber 30 was made effective.
The reason given by the Bu
reau of Fisheries for closing
trolling from August 24 to Sep
tember 30 was that they said
many of the trollers go to the
streams with nets during the fall
season to catch cohoes.
The Bureau seems to argue
that by prohibiting fishing al
together, no violations occur. We
maintain that the violations of
law are very few in number con
sidering the large number of
trollers there are. Would the
Bureau of Fisheries close down
all seining because a few seiners
violate the law? Or all trap
fishing because trapmen violate
the law? Why not continue
the same patrol that protects the
fish stream during the seining
and trap fishing season and thus
permit the law abiding troller
[ i o make his honest living instead
of shutting down the season and
making the honest troller suf
fer with the dishonest one?
The sea-lions which are pro
tected by the Bureau of Fish
eries eat more salmon than all
that are caught by the trollers
during the closed season. The
authorities of British Columbia
lecognize this menace for they
send out official boats to destroy
these sealions which Mr. O’Mal
ley protects. And when we com
plained of this fact and of the
dangers these great animals are
lo our boats as they often sur
round us, the Bureau advises us
that we may kill them when we
discover them taking fish from
our gear..
Then the Bureau of Fisheries
reduces our trolls from six lines
to four lines—a reduction of one
third, and except for a small
space around Cape Ommaney
rhe troller must stop fishing in
August.
It seems to us that we are
made the special objects of the
Bureau’s discrimination. Proof of
this is in the Janaury number
of the Pacific Fisherman where
in it is shown that the percent
ages of the salmon catch by the
several types of gear in south
eastern Alaska are as follows:
traps 71 per cent; seines, 25 per
cent; gill nets 1 per cent, troll
ing lines 3 per cent, although 7,
806 trolling lines are engaged in
the business.
Why does the Bureau talk
about the seven thousand eight
hundred and six trolling lines?
Their catch shows how ineffect
ive they are. The only inference
is that they are already under
such heavy handicaps that fur
ther restrictions by Mr. O’Malley
are in the direction of persecu
tion. But the facts are still worse
because this three per cent in
cludes the four hundred and six
ty thousand pounds of salmon
caught in Hecate Strait by Cape
Flattery trollers and Alaska
trollers and sold in Alaska.
It is to be hoped that the busi
ness men of Alaska will consider
the plight of the troller and add
their protests to ours.
“CONSERVATION ”
A news item from Minot, N. D.,
reads: “Experts estimate that
516,000 000 tins of Coal, eno')»h
to last the United States ten
centuries, lie under North Dako
ta’s rolling wheat fields and
ranch lands. Steam shovels are
scooping it from the surface
where a few years ago sod house
pioneers toild with pick and
shovel.”
. Not so many years ago, serious
thinking men believed that a
world shortage of coal was im
-X
First Class Tailoring
For Ladies And
Gentlemen *
Fall and Winter Samples
Suits from $25. up.
Latest model cleaning and
pressing machine
M. A. Mis&ick
Alaskan Glacier Sea Food Co.
Dinner Will Buy Halibut For The
Fresh Fish Market. See Earl
Before You Sell Your Fare.
£ rr.
:j: Halibut, Salmon,and Trout
*
■yr-igaaia.
WE Move Anything Loose On One End
RELIABLE TRANSFER
General Hauling
3 and 12
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John R. Ko!strand
General Blacksmith
I Petersburg : : : Alaska
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Smokers Supplies of Highest Quality.
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THIi ARCTIC CLUB
HOME OF THE FISHERMEN
| FULL LINE OF TOBACCOS & CONFECTIONERY
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Be Ready
For the Canning Season. Get your supplies
NOW.
We have on hand, all kinds of
Jelly Glasses
Rubber Rings
Fruit jars
Jar Caps and Lids
Make your canning easy by using “Certo”
SANITARY MARKET
THE NEW FORD
Owing to the enormous production of new Ford Cars
-9700 per day. - we are authorized to pass on a re
duction in price of from $5 to $25 per car f.o.b. factory.
51 per cent of all the cars registered in the State
of Washington during the month of May were Fords.
This is only slightly over the average for the en
tire United States. THERE IS A REASON FOR IT.
Let us give You a demonstration.
Fryer Machine Woiks.
Local Ford Distributers
ysfl SKYMAN’S k*
BARBER SHOP
BEAUTY PARLOR AN!) BATHS
A WAITING YOUR APPROVAL
1 IBLOE PLHTE L(LM<®M
gg
| R Service Yptm WnCH Lnk©n
I Grand Cafe i
| Batteries .Supplied, Re-Charged, Serviced |
| SvedneaV ADIt'wq # Sv^pVves |
| Slaucard ‘Y&aifaT &aTOps 1
j <xj TELEPHONE EXCHANGE 0> |
l L. T. Swanson A^ent. ?
5... .. a y
Sam Kcmotsubare, Proprietor
Best Meals Served at all times.
Service: 6 a. m. to 12 p. m.
v.tu'.uttiittinttt
Factory Lumber
Boat Lumber
Mouldings
Shelving
Milwork
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Concrete Products
Patent Shingle^
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Building Paper
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LUMBER/ Ce,o,ex
AMD \ Roofing
EL!*8 i
MATERIAL/
-4tt! AVE. SO.-SEATTLE, WASH,
Brick
Lime
Nails
Plaster
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Passenger accom
dations on all
Admiral Line Ves
the I
es- [
;els have heer
completly and ma
terially improved. '
You will find them
very attractive and
I comfortable.
Northbound
Evans
Queen
Watson
Rogers
Queen
Southbound
Rogers
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IXFOHMATTON
F.fl. Locken.
I*ctersl»nrg
from Seattle
Aug. fi
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tom Petersburg
Aug. 9
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A\n TICRr.TS:
Agent.
. • - Maska
iWUmmilH..i.'HJl'.jl
Leave Seattle SB
Petersburg
Northwestern
Alameda
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July 29 Aug. 2
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Pass. & Freight to S.E. & W. Alaska
Phone 15 Petersburg, Alaska