VOL. I
PETERSBURG, ALASKA APRIL 22, 1927
NO. 41
On Monday evening the City
Coucil met in regular session with
retiring Mayor Edward Locken, pre
siding.
PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
The Public Works Committee re
ported that work had been com
menced on the hospital building and
that the City Hall and Band Stand
would be painted as soon as the
weather permitted. Hans Wick re
ported that the road to the new
garbage dump had been completed
and that work was started on F
Street.
After several other reports, the
meeting was adjourned and the re
tiring Mayor gave a short talk to
the old members of the Council
and the members of the Council
elect upon the importance of com
pleting the three projects now un
der consideration, the Water Works,
School house and Power Plant!
Unit. He stated that in his opin
ion all this should be completed
within the year, as the Treasury,
was in a healthy condition; the
earning power of the Light Plant
was greatly ncreased and the /com
ing year would show a big increase
in taxable property. He thanked
the Old Council for their coopera
tion during the past term.
.NEW COUNCIL TAKES OATH.
The New Council then convened
and the oth of office w^s adminis
tered to Mayor elect C. E. Swan
son and Councilmen R. M. Allen.!
Knud Stensid and Jacob Hanseth,
after whch they proceeded with
the regular order of business.
SALE OF LOTS
Lot 5 in Block 31 was sold on
notion to Mrs. Hollingstead for the
sum of $75. with the usual build
ing stipulations in regard to im
provements. Lot 6 in Block 31 was
sold to Lars Stokke under similar
conditions.
TO AMEND WATER REGULATION
A proposal was read to amend
Section 1 of Ordinance 36, which
is an ordinance to regulate the
management of the Petersburg Wa
ter System, establishihg the rates
for selling water therefrom, etc,”;
the amendment being, “That the
City shall furnish pipe of sufficient
size to meet the requirements, to
extend the mains to commercial
docks the owner of which shall
pay for the installation of the same.
Also “ An ordinance prohibit
ing the spitting upon any public
side walk, or upon the floor of
any floor or approach of any
church, theatre. hall, assembly
room, or other public building in
the Town of Petersburg.
.Also “An Ordinance to provide Re
gulations for the sale and vending
of milk, cream and other milk pro
ducts in the Town of Petersburg
and to provide for the issuance of a
license therefor.”
There was a general discussion
in regard to the proposed ordinance
providing for the extension of the
water mains to the Commercial
Docks.
A motion was carried that the
„ rules be suspended, and that the
first reading be considered the se
cond and third reading. The mo
tion was then made that this ordi
nance be adopted but the motion
was lost.
A vote of thanks was awarded
the retired Mayor and Council foi
the good work done during Iasi
COMMERCIAL CLUB
The Commercial Club held its
regular meeting on Wednesday
evening at the Home Cafe. Mr.
Ralph Bartholomew of Ketchikan
was the guest of the evening and
1 gave a few words of greeting to
(lie Club.
A communication from the Ket
! ehikan Commercial Club was read
' setting forth the fact that they had
gone on record as protesting against
the bill introduced in the legisla
ture which would provide a subsidy
of $40,000 for the operation of a
freight boat to carry halibut and
iialmon from Juneau to Prince
Rupert via Petersburg and Wrangell.
The matter aroused quite a dis
cussion, bringing out the fact that
Petersburg occupies a position be
tween two fires: i.e., if the pro
posed bill passes it will give Juneau
a decided advantage over Peters
burg in deflecting fish fare that
would otherwise come here. On
the other hand, if the present ar
rangement is maintained. with
such a boat operating between
Ketchikan and Prince Rupert, Ket
chikan will have a continued ad
vantage over us unless Mr. Strong
sends his boat to carry our fish
to Pupert. A tentative promise has
been made to the Petersburg Com
mercial CJnb by Mr. Strong to
this effect. It was finally decided
that our club would protest the
passage of the proposed bill.
The matter of the Fourth of
July celebration which the Club
referred to the Council was referred
back to the Club. Altho the mat
ter was discussed briefly, no furth
er action was taken.
Schooner Wreck Raised
The halibut schooner Majestic, of
Ketchikan, which sank early Fri
day morning when she struck
George Rock, north of Douglas
ilsand, during a blinding snow
storm, was raised Saturdac morn-;
mg by Capt. J. V. Davis, of Juneau,
and was towed to Juneau, arriving
at 10 o’clock Sunday morning.
Capt. Patterson, Karl ^ Abraham j
sen, Bergan and Lawrence Knutsen,
members of the crew, left Juneau
with Capt Davis Friday evening on \
the gasboat Lexine for the scene of '
the wreck, and with the aid of sev-1
eral other gasboats started work-1
ing on the Majestic.
When the schooner hit the reef
’.-.he slid off and was resting on her ■
side. When an attempt was made
to arise her the crew found that
she had turned completely over
and was upright. At extreme low
tide the water was a few inches
below the level of the decks, mak
ing it possibl to pump a consider
able amount of water from the hull.
A motion was carried that the
water main be extended to the pro
perty of Otto Welde and O. Benson
uecessary extensions to be made
and if necessary to intail a hydrant.
The Mayor brought ud the mat
ter of arranging for a Fourth of
July celebration and the clerk was
instructed to refer the matter back
o the Commercial Club with the as
surance of the cooperation of the
Council.
A motion was sustained that the
marshal be instructed to mark a
boundary line 60 -ft. from the
! present row of buildins on Main
Street, and that the city give pub
i lie notice of their claim.
A motion was also carried to re
tain all the present city employees.
There being no further business
the meeting adjoruned.
Sidelights on
Legislature
The House passed the Worth Bill
abolishing “nuisance” fur taxes in
the aid of the fox farmers.
The “Kaiser” in his speech at
the local “mass” meeting last night
declared that Mr. Paul went to
t.he Empire and begged them not
to print his attack on the promis
cuous sale of timber rights by the
forestry Department.
The talk being that Paul is
against mills. Paul went to Ber
nurd of the Empire and served
notice to the Empire that he would
laise “hell” if they quoted him
incorrectly in the Fog Horn.
\vliat he said, of course, was that
he was not in favor of tying up
huge tracts of timber with no
guarantee of mills. “Peggy” show
ed Paul the written statement which
was substantially correct. The Al
aska Fisherman will probably pub
lish the speech later. /
\
Hatcheries Abolished
The bill which virtually means
the abolishment of the present Ter
ritorial Fish Commission and the
hatcheries under its control has
been signed by Governor Parks
and is now the law. It is under
stood that the large sum of $132,
000 asked for hatchery operations
by Superintendent Wentworth as
well as the fact that the Commis
sion absolutely failed to comply
with the express directions for
stream survey made by the last
session are responsible for this ac
tion by the Legislature.
Molasses Without the “Mol”
The attitude of the cannerymen
and their lawyers has entirely
changed this session. Molasses
will melt in their mouths they are
so sweet. Such is sychophants.
What was it said about the kiss of
Judas. Dunn and Gaffney will
learn that the kisses of thp trap
interests are sugared with poison
Controller Bill Passes House
The outstanding feature of last
week’s session was the passage of
the Controller Bill through the
House by a 9 to 7 vote. Messrs
Benjamin. Ferguson. Johnston.
Grer. Paul, Ross Sundquist, Worth
and Speaker Smith voting for it
and Messrs Fisher, Lomen, Gaffney,
Murray, Scott. Sheldon and Rydeen
voting against it.
This bill is not identical with
the bill originally entered in the
Senate, but a compromise bill de
signed to meet the objections of
Senators Howard and Dunn, who
gave as their reasons for voting
against the measure the fact that
the Governor was not a member
of the Board of Control . In the
' hope that they were sincere in
their attitude and as a step in the
' right direction, a new bill with
| the Governor in the place of the
I Attorney General jwas introduced by
j the Election Committee as a sub
's dtute for the one originally intro
duced by Mr. Paul. A very un
usual point of order was raised
by Mr. Murray against its consid
eration by the House, the ground
being that the Senate had already
defeated a similar bill, but this
was overruled by Speaker Smith
in a written decision and sustain
ed by the House.
The third reading was the occa
sion for a number of speeches
among these being an oratories
effort by Mr. Gaffney, “the frienc
I of labor.” This was described by
Mr. Murray as being the finest ad
dress ever delivered before the
legsilature of Alaska. Nuff sed.
The principal address in favor of
tne bill was made by Mr. Paul, in
which he denied that there was
anything radical in the measure but
that it was simply an attempt on
tbe part of the Territory to use
all means at their command for
their own government. His speech
also contained an arrangnment of
the present system of Bureau con
trol drawn mainly from his own
experiences with Bureau officials.
The gallery on this occasion was
well filled with cannery and trap
men as well as Bureau officials and
their families who applauded Mr.
Gaffney enthusiastically,
Who Goes There
Reception of the Controller Bill
was halted . at the Senate on a
point of order raised by Senator
Pratt similar to that raised by Mr.
Murray in the House. President
Howard announced that he wished
to consult authorities and would
defer ruling until Thursday after
noon at 2 o’clock.
FISH BILLS '
. I
Monday and Tuesday were main-j
ly given over to hearings by the.
Ways and Means Committee and •
the Fish Committee on the pro
positions to raise taxes on traps
and on non-resident fishermen. A
delegation from the lumber in
dustry was on hand with facts and
figures to show that if the can
neries went out of business the
lumber industry would also fail,
asserting that if the canneries
could not use traps they would
have to close down. Mr. Gardiner
of the Sawyer-McKay Logging Co.,
however, admitted upon questioning
by Mr. Paul that there was not a
10 year supply of trap piling left
in Alaska at the present rate of
consumption.
Messrs Mahoney, Murray and
j Baronovich of Ketchikan appeared
I for the independent trap owners
with the claim that a catch of
50.00 Ofish just about paid the ex
penses of installing their traps and
.that they must have a further free
i dom from taxation to make any
money at all. Just how much^good
they did their cause is very ques
tionable, however, because the con
clusions of an unbiased listener
would inevitably be that the trap
business is a gamble any way you
look at it and not a legitimate
business proposition and-that it
must certainly be in a large mea
sure the cause of the unstability
of the canning industry.
“Insurance Killed”
The establishment of a Terri
torial board to handle Workmen’s
Compensation Insurance went down
+o defeat yesterday when the bill
was indefinitely postponed; Mr.
Gaffney, “the friend of Labor.” is
chairman o fthe committee which
recommended that the bill do not
pass. There are several measures
before the legislature containing
minor amendments to the present
act and it is not known at present
what further action will be taken
in the matter.
Last Rush
Wednesday being the last day for
introduction of bills, both branches
have been deluged with new meas
i ures, bringing the total for the
1 Senate to 74, and for the House
l • to 85.
Schoenwald's “Mass”
Meeting a Dud
Mr. bclioenwald, manager o£ the
Petersburg Packing Company made
bis second attempt at getting the
people of Petrsburg to oppose
pending legislation lor the regula
tion of the trap system.
Mr. Jjocken of tbe Bans, of Pet
ersburg was chairman of the meet
ing and explained the measures
tne ncalled for an expression of
iU0 sentiment of the citizens of the
town of Petrsburg. Mr. Schoen
wald took the boor and spoke for
over two hours and talked from O.
p. Brown down to himself and back
again, from Ketchikan to Shumagin
island, eulogizing Henry O’Malley
and the Buieuu of .Fisheries for this
strict fairness and condemning
itepresentauve xJaul and misrepres
enting and also misquoting him at
times. By cajollery and threat he
attempted to intimioate the meeting
into stamping into opposing the
pending legislation.
Mr. Bd. Nelson spoke briefly and
to point declaiming tnat toe can
nery system was of doubtful bene
fit when it came to building up the
territory and pointed to the ram
snackle building at .different points
w here canneries had operated for,
many years withoht building up any :
communities. That the matter
pending was one for the. canneries
to light out alone without calling
on the citizens of Alaska in that
they had brought conditions upon
themselves.
Mr. uhmer urged that the mat
ter be weighted carefully and that
if it was the belief that the pro
posed taxation would put the can
neries out of business, it should be
opposed. z
Mr. Paul declared that the sys
tem os injustice by and through
the trap system Drot on tne
troubles of lite canners. That elim
ination of the seines was an accomp
lished fact throughout the terri
tory and the earning power entire
ly of no account while in British
Columbia where the trap system
does not exist hte fishermen earn
ed enought to be satisfied and to
more than exist. He pointed out
the fact that, canners pair $1715
per trap on Annette Island and did
it gladly. And that thru elimina
tion of the injustices to* resident
seiners only could the matter be
A motion was made that the vote
be reported to Representative Worth J
showing 13 against the measure,!
11 for and the balance of the meet
ing totaling about 60 not voting.
As a meeting to oppose the pend- i
ing legislation it was a dud and j
Mr. Schoenwald certainly failed of j
his purpose,
properly adjudicated.;
A motion was made to have the
meeting erpress whether it was for
or against the measure and upon
a rising vote 13 expressed them
selves against the measure includ
ing four representatives of the can
nery, two connected with, the local
bank, and others not directly in
terested in fishing. Eleven voted
j for the measures pending and each
vote being men cognizant with fish
ing conditions and directly connect
ed with the operation of seines.
AUK BAY CANNERY MOVED
The former Carlson cannery at
Auk Bay, near Juneau, was trans
ported north on the steamer Ba
kina of the Alaska Steamship no.
and will be rebuilt at Kenai for
the Kenai River Packing Co. Tne
cannery will be in operation this
season.
BUY uUOUiS
. . 1SOY SCOUTS BENEFIT DANCE
The Boy Scouts in Petersburg are
enthusiastically working to make
their beneht dance on Saturday the
23rd, one of the biggest social as
well as financial events of the sea
son. The local merchants and
townspeople have liberally respond
ed to their requests for donations
ai d assistance and the boys are
working hard to go “over the top.”
When the local Patrol was in
stalled about a month ago there
were eleven boys but they have so
enthused their comrades that their
number has increased to eighteen,
who have successfully passed their
lirst examination, and a number of
others are ea&erly working to join
the new Patrol that is being form
ed. Petersburg is limited to 32
members or three Patrols of eight
members each which will form a
Troop. Hughie Harris, Arthur
Tveten and Teddy Andrianoff are
the Patrol leaders. They are in
"harge of the ticket sale for the
dance and have each one of their
Scouts working energetically to see
which Troop can make the most
sales.
S. E. Alaska Declam
atory Contest
The Southeastern Alaska Declam
atory Contest which was held in
the Variety Theatre on Saturday
night, April 16, was very well at
tended. *
Altho the cup was awarded to
Juneau, each contestant made a
good showing. Ketchikan won se
cond place; Skagway, third; and
Petersburg, fourth.
Miss Ruby Rayner delighted the
audience with a well executed
piano solo before the contest open
ed. During the intermission Dr.
Standard sang “Somewhere a Voice
*s Calling,” accompanied on the
piano by Miss Eloise. Dickens.
While the decision of the Judges
were beng audited, Mr. Judy gave a
\iolin selection, “At Dawning,”
Miss Dickens also accompaned him.
Mr. Mitchell, Principal of the
Ketchikan schools made the pre
sentation speech and ‘awarded the
cup.
KETCHIKAN-PETERSBURG
DEBATE
On Monday evening, April 18,
Ketchikan and Petersburg met and
argued the question: “Resolved
That there should be a Department
of Education created with a mem
ber holding a seat in the Presi
dent’s Cabinet.” Ketchikan up
held the negative while the local
team argued and won the affirma
tive by a three to naught vote.
The local representatives, Helen
Lund, and Herbert Mjorud, had
argued and lost the negative side
of the same question previously in
Wrangell by a two to one vote.
They handled their arguments in
a logical manner Monday evening
showing the results of conscientious
work and good coaching.
CORPORATION FORMED
,The Oriental Cooperative Cor
poration filed articles in the office
.of the Secretary of Alaska recent
ly. The incorporators are,, Theo
dor Tallefsen, J. C. Langley, and
Sophia Larson, all of Ketchikan,
The company is formed for the
purpose of importing and exporting.