ffljc ^iajpkan
Pubished every Friday by the Alaska Native Brotherhood Pub
lishing Company at Petersburg, Alaska.
Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg as Second Class Matter.
’ SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Six months, $2.50 Per Year, $4.00
Advertising Rates on Application.
LOUIS F. PAUL.MANAGER and EDITOR
They Have What They Want
-—-x
In the past several weeks the
Libby, McNiell & Libby Com
pany, operating the Kake can
nery, canned between four and
five hundred thousand pounds
cf king salmon. The cannery
employs about 120 men—mixed
ciew of white men, orientals and
what-have-you from the States.
They are said to have employed
two men from Ketchikan and
two from Juneau. No local labor
has been employed to cann this
salmon.
In the village of Kake are four
small stores, groceries and gen
eral merchandise. They depend
upon the local population for
their trade. The local population
is sitting around waiting for the
beneflcient corporation to em
ploy them—either as fishermen
or laborers in the cannery. They
will most likely sit around suck
ing their thumbs to fill empty
stomachs for there will be no
employment.
Recently a group of salesmen
from Seattle called on those
merchants for orders. They did
not make their expenses to the
town and they report that they
received the same kind of re
ception from all the towns on
the coast where they went.
The main line towns feed off
cf the smaller towns off the
main route—that is where the
population hails from. With the
people of the feeder towns un
able to earn any money, the
main line towns are beginning
to feel the depression which has
been the big problem in the sev
eral states for the past three
years. The various members of
the Chambers of Commerce are
just beginning to awaken to the
fact that they have a problem to
face. The money is not coming
in—and it will not come in any
better. Next winter the business
men will still have to sell their
goods—and if they would con
tinue they will have to say “No”
to many a customer who has not
the money with which to pur
chase the ordinary necessities of
life. Else they will soon be forced
to close their doors.
Perhaps that is what the
Chambers of Commerce have
desired—be forced to shut their
doors. They have failed to hear
the pleas of the fishermen for
a chance to make a living. They
have stood back of the canning
system which has continually
employed the too efficient trap
system while local labor has
stood aside begging for a chance
to earn a dollar.
Like it or not, now, the situa
tion is before the business men
of Alaska. They could have pre
vented such a situation had thev
the courage of their convictions.
But lacking that courage and
preferring to kiss the toes of the
canners and trap men and its
federal henchmen in the bureau
of fisheries, they must now pay
the fiddler.
There is only one solution to
the problem—remove the fish
trap opposition and give to
Alaska residents the opportuni
ty to work.
As Alaska Should Be
x
On the Columbia River are
employed two thousand gillnet
boats with an average of two
men to the boat or a total of
iour thousand fishermen on a
stretch of water not any longer
than the stretch between Ket->
chikan* and Lynn Canal. In the
Ketchikan and Lynn Canal Dis
trict are employed not over 500
fishermen.
If the average business man
of Alaska would do a little of his
own thinking and reasoning from
the economic standpoint, he
would soon realize that four
thousand men gainfully employ
ed makes a lot better group to
trade with than a group of five
hundred.
Last year Alaska contributed
$29,411,309 through her salmon
fisheries. Oregon contributed
$2,858,046 but employed more
local labor than did the entire
territory of Alaska as fishermen.
If Oregon, employing four
thousand fishermen is able to
produce just short of three mil
lion dollars, Alaska’s fishermen
should be distributed, in propor
tion, among ten times that num
ber of men or there would be
employed 40,000 fishermen. For
ty thousand fishermen would
mean an influx of families who
would build their homes and be
come a permanent part of the
territory adding to its wealth
and taxes. It would be a good
place in which to do business. It
would be a good place for labor.
There is a cure for the pre
sent depression and that is em
ployment of labor. We are not
concerned with trying to solve
the ailments of the labor classes
of the States. We have our own
immediate problem and the
solution is so plain that it is dif
ficult for us to see why any man
with normal faculties should re
main blind and continue in op
position to the proper and only
solution.
Bunkum Conservation
-x
It is being pointed out that
the new trap restrictions set
forth by Commissioner O’Malley
is in the interest of conserva
tion. With considerable glee,
members of the Associated Press
in Alaska have pointed out the
“severe restrictions” placed upon
the salmon industry through re
gulation of the trap system—
through the closure of 157 traps.
Additional closures recently
brought the group to 171.
Let us honestly face facts. Mr.
O’Malley held a conference with
the canners and by agreement
he closed the original 157 traps.
This was done not in the interest
of salmon conservation but as a
protection of the trap sites. Un
Jess the trap sites are in opera- j
tion they are subject to “jump
ing” by other canners or fish
ermen. So to prevent the jump
ing of these sites, Mr. O’Malley
agreed that he would close the
sites “in the interest of conser
vation.” However, he advised
those canners who closed their
traps by agreement last year,
that unless they operate their
traps this year, they would be
forfeited. By what law is not
made known—except that the
gentlemen’s agreement was all
off—it was mostly the small and
independent trap operator any
how, who had that agreement
last year.
The more one studies the fish
eries situation and the adminis
tration of the fisheries by Mr.
O’Malley, the more one is con
vinced that he is not even |
sincere in his administration.'
And when he refuses to listen to
resident fishermen interested in |
the promulgation of regulations'
but goes to Seattle and San
Francisco to hold conventions
with the canners, it stands to |
reason that he is not working!
for the interest of conservation J
of the resource—he is in fact'
working for the conservation of |
the corporate and vested inter
ests. The Czar will live another
four years—during which time
resident business will have plen
ty of time to support his mea
sures.
Isn't This the Truth
-x
A recent issue of the Pacific
Fisherman points out that:
“Inability to arrive at some
agreement for limiting produc-1
tion, thus providing for a suit- j
able escapement, increases the]
competitive spirit and each at- 1
tempts to exploit the fishery to
the utmost -.... .Operators
feel that they must take every
fish possible, even when the sup
ply is poor and there is grave
danger of overfishing.”
For the past twelve years Alas
kans have pointed out this very
fact. For the past seven years
the Alaska Fisherman, and for
the past six years the Alaskan,
have pointed out these very
truths. For so doing their editors!
have been called “radicals and
bolsheviks.” Now the editors of
the Pacific Fisherman have
joined in with the “radicals andj
bolsheviks” in printing the same
truths. Coming from them it is
not radicalism but “good judge
ment.”
It is to laugh. In spite of all
that may be said, the fishing in
dustry will admit one of these
days that ‘‘the Siwash papers”
and the “Pauls” knew what they
were talking about.” Believe it
or not—it is not many years
distant !
Of Little Interest
-x
During the past several
months, the average American
citizen has paid but little atten
tion to the affairs in Congress.
It mattered not how much the
congressmen talked, or how little
or what they talked about. Sud
denly the citizens awakened to
find that they had to pay extra
postage over the usual old rates;
that they had to pay three per
cent on the electricity which
they used; that everything vir
tually which have become ne
cessities are on a tax list and
the poor citizen must do without
more and more in order that he
might meet the taxes.
The many bureaus still func
tion—parasites still infest the
tody politic and draw their
salaries—useless impediments to
society in its progress toward
better government. Eight and
ten day veterans of the World
War are sitting in the Veteran
Bureau drawing up to ten thou
sand dollars a year and also draw
ing pensions varying in sums
from a little $30 a month to the
retired pay of majors and gen
erals. Rather than decrease the
political appointments and the
curtailing of their pay, they are
kept on and to keep them on
the Tax Payer is made to sweat.
And the tax payers seem to like
it so they can just sweat on.
Will Wave Flag
And there will be patriotic
speeches telling us what we
should do to be good citizens—
bow our heads in servile sub
mission whilst the Wall Street
Flundercrats continue their or
gies of gambling and prostitut
ing of governmental affairs. We
will hear read the Declaration
of Independence—which no long
er holds any meaning to the
powers that be; we will even
hear read portions of the Con
stitutions but the readers will be
mighty careful not to read the j
first ten amendments to the j
Constitution whilst they never :
let us forget the Eighteenth i
Amendment. i
“Land of the Free and the1
home of the Brave,” “With
Liberty and Justice for All”—
moneybags. j
Curtail Stream Work
-x
For several years the Terri
torial Legislature has appropri
ated various sums of money to be
expended by agents of the U. S.
Bureau of Fisheries in stream
cleaning of predatory fish. The1
last legislature appropriated \
$25,000 for this purpose for the!
years 1931 and 1932 while the!
salmon packers, who benefit !
most, contributed $8,000. Says!
the Pacific Fisherman: * Ow-\
ing to the depression, the terri- !
lory has only been able to con
tribute a small part of this.”
Regardless of whether or no:
the sum appropriated was avail
able the question arises, What
right has any agent of the fed
eral fisheries department to dis
pense territorial funds. Must
the territory continue to bow its
head and submit every ounce of;
itr self-respect to the buric rats | i
which infest the territory ana j;
which works not in the interests 1
of the people but in the inter - j
ests of those corporations which :
prostitute its resources and even'
laws? It is time that the legisla- j
tore began to limit its appropri-'
ations to expenditures through
territorial channels—either that>
cr turn its treasury over to the
federal government and let it!
run the entire territorial gov
ernment.
-x
If there is any person to whom
you feel a dislike, that is the per
son of whom you ought never to
speak.—Richard Cecil.
Monte Bay Fool Hall
-X
Candy - Cigars - Soft Drinks j
A place to meet your friends '
Yakutat, Alaska
Ben Petersen - - Prop, j
Joneati ^^odg |-Joase |
JUNEAb, ALASKA.
f^.C.7^.
Victor ]
Records - Phonographs - Radios J
Mail Orders Promptly Filled i
Sales FCFD Service
Hardware - General Supplies
Draying
Haines - - Alaska
Erick Oslund - - Proprietor
Carl Bjornstad
General Merchandise
Groceries
Shoes - Gents’ Furnishings
Haines - - Alaska
Hollywood & Beach
SHEET METAL - HEATING
PLUMBING - STOVE REPAIR j
Sitka - - - Alaska
I —
J. tj0DGIh|5
Dentist
Sitka - Alaska c
i- ir>inun| Ir rulintfl —fl h! mm*i*^^*.^*1a aa. j3
EVERYBODY LIKES PIE 1
We Make the Pies that 1
EVERYBODY LIKES I
Always Fresh At |
THE STAR BAKERY 1
i
i
Cigars and Tobaccos of all kinds
Pool and Billiard Tables
I BRENNAN’S
Northland Transportation Company
, SERVING ALASKANS
Sailing from Seattle every Mon
day night at 9:00 p. m., for
Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg,
Douglas and Juneau.
-x
N. B. from
Seattle
S.B from
Petersburg
Norco
Northland
Norco
Northland
Norco
Northland
June 20
June 27
July 2
July 11
July 18
July 25
June 25
July 2
July 7
July 1*3
July 23
July 31
For information apply to
The Trading Union Inc.
Passenger and Freight Office on Public Dock
Public Dock 22-11
Res. 42
Phone:
/
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS?S*+SSjfSSSSSSSSst^S&?&*^^Sif,*
Leaving Seattle Due Petersburg
Northbound Southbound
Alaska
Northwestern
Alaska
Northwestern
June 24
June 28
July 5
July 12
July 6
July 13
July 20
Pass. & Freight to S.E. & W. Alaska,
cnris Tveten, Agent
Phone 15 Petersburg, Alaska
Passenger accom
odations on all the
Admiral Line Ves
sels have beer
completly and ma-^
terlally improved. ^
You will find them
very attractive and
comfortable.
Northbound from Seattle
Admiral Evans
Queen
Admiral Watson
June 22
June 23
June 29
Southbound f. cm Petersburg
Queen
Admiral Evans
Admiral Watson
July 1
July 3
July 15
INFORMATION AND TICKETS:
Ed. Locken. Agent.
Petersburg-Alaska
ADMIRAL LINE