VOL. I
PETERSBURG, ALASKA AUGUST 27 1926
, NO. 7
PROTESTS TAX
ON
THE FOX RANCHES
Contributed
Is the present system of taxation
on Fur Farms just? The writer
claims that it is not and herewith
present the facts-why.
Let us take for example the Blue
fox rancher on the islands of S. E.
Alaska.
1,. A man or group of men
thinking of experimenting with rais
ing blue foxes for a profit must first
pay to the Territory a tax for do
ing business.
2. Then a tax is paid to the Bio
logical Survey Department, which in
turn advises in its bulletin about
blue foxes that island run foxes will
not reproduce their kind in captivi
ty. Hence at the present time and
since this bulletin came out, very
few foxes are being shipped from
the Territory. This tax is paid to a
department of our government
which advises the public not to buy
fr_m the payee of the tax.
3. For a place to raise blue fox
the present fur farmers are using
what before was worthless proper
ty of the government. Small, rocky,
uninhabitable and isolated islands,
now having dwellings upon them
and developed by hard work an ex
pense for which the rancher pays to
the Forestry Department a tax
which varies as to the size of the
islan. These otherwise worthless
islands are now bringing in a re
venue to the government and in
most cases a loss to the rancher.
4. Fishing for fox feed is inter
preted by the bureau of Fisheries as
commercial fishing and regulations
and taxes are the same for the fur (
farmer as for the seiner.
5. When the rancher has devel
ped his island by expense and very
hard work, to the time when he
can sell some of his own property,
(foxes which he paid in full for),
he must give to the government fif
ty cents for every skin he ships out
of the Territory.
Some ranches are incorporated
and pay the regular Territorial and
Federal tax. This last tax is rather
a neglected one. After the year is
up the profits of the average fur
farmer is a minus quantity, hence
no income tax.
As an example, the writer knows
of one ranch that paid out in build
ing material, labor and provisions,
nearly $10,000 last year. That
much cash was spent by one ranch
m the Territory. Paid in several
taxes nearly $550. The owners of
this ranch have not received one
cent from this ranch in four years.
Yet this ranch is not an isolated
case. It represents ninety percent
of the island ranchers.
Other fur farms are in similar
circumstance. Martin are not rais
ed successfully in captivity. Yet
there are a few pioneers experi
menting in martin and paying the
taxes for the privilege. The Bio
logical Survey has no useful in
formation about martin.
The mink rancher can get no in
formation whatsoever from the Bio
logical Survey, yet he pays the tax
es for his own experimenting.
Such are the reasons why the
taxes are unjust. Fur Farmers are
not asking subsidies. But they do
ask a chance to prove or disprove
the value of fur farming to the Ter
ritory without being taxed to death
in the experiment.
THE
SITUATION
The following is a brief summary
of the several sides and aspects and
claims of the vaious parties in the
Mexican religious situation. Cause:
Laws effective today enfocing the
constitution of 1857, reaffirmed by
the constitution of 1917. These re
gulations provide that no foreign
clergy may function Mexico. Church
ownership of property is forbidden
and all church property reverts to
the state. Religious instruction in
schools, convents and monestaries
forbidden. It is illegal for clergy or
their periodicals to criticise the
government. Effects: Mexican Epis
copate ordered as a protest discon
tinuance of all service in which
25.000 priests function. Some 10,
000,000 Catholics were unable to
have benefit of clergy. Results:
economic boycott ordered by Cath
olic laymen, purchases limited to
necessities. Troops calle dto main
tain order. Government insist that
church and state must be separat
ed and the church must get out of
politics. The struggle is a long
ways from being settled.
NEW V. S. DEPOSITORY
The First National Bank of
Ketchikan has been designated a
general United States depository by
the United States Treasury Depart
ment. i
Let’s try a Rainbow Special at
the Totem Pole.
Subscribe for THE ALASKAN.
Rudolph Valentino, known in the
screen world as the movie sheik,
died at noon on August the 23d. He
had gone to New York to attend the
Broadway premeire of his latest
picture and to bid farewell to his
brother who was returning to
Italy when he becafcne ill. He was
rushed to the hospital and operated
on for appendictis and apparently
had passed the crisis when the sud
den turn for worse came.
COED DORMITORY READY
Alteration work on the two story
building at Fairbanks College,
formerly occupied by the janitor,
have been completed for the use of
the girls as a dormitory th coming
year. . Lights and heat will be furn
ished from the central plant. The
hulding will be modern in every
respect and accommodate six. Miss
Martha A. Park .Instructor in Home
Fconomics will have charge of the
dormitory.
PROMINENT FUR BUYER DIES
E. C. Howard, prominent citizen
of Ketchikan, died last week at his
home after a lingering illness. He
bad been a resident of Ketchikan
for eighteen years. He became in
terested in the fur business and for
many years was representative of a
large eastern fur house. During
the late war he started in the fur
game on his own acount and devel
oped a very large business in Ketch
ikan.
ELKS NORTH
The first shipment of elk to Alas
ka. under the Territorial stocking
program will be made on the Queen
due to sail tomorrow, according to
word received at the local office of
the Alaska Game Comission. The
shipment is being made by S. F.
Ilathbun, Washington State Super
visor of game and game fish, who is
endeavoring to secure the animals
to be placed on islands in south
eastern and southwestern Alaska.
Owing to difficulties encountered
in capturing the live elk, only two
will be shipped north on the Queen.
Each is a two year old. They will
be taken from Sitka and placed on
Kruzoff Isand.
Arrangements have been complet
ed for the capture of a considerable
number of elk next spring to be
shipped to the Territory. -Juneau
Empire.
The Empire might have been
fair enough to add that the first re
Guest for this program now being
carried out was made by a bunch of
‘•illiterates” in convention at Kake
three or four years ago.
QUIT KIDDING
It is reported in Seattle that H.
J. Faulkner, the well-known Juneau
attorney, and George Folta. private
secretary to Judge Thomas M.
Roed, intend to form a partnership
and open a law office in Los An
geles. California, in the near future).
-Alaska Weekly.
Practically all the Pacific Coast
salmon pack is marketed thru Seat
tle and Puget Sound ports, and the
average pack for the last 10 years
has been 8.000,000 cases of 36 cans
each. Seattle also handles and ships
more fresh fish than any coast city,
and is today shipping halibut and
G'.l er fish by the car load into fish
markets like Boston. The fishing
industry brings $40,000,000 a year
to Seattle, where fleets ar outfitted,
supplies purchased and fish market
ed.
MRS. CARR MARRIES
Word of the marriage of Mrs.
Carr and Harold Smith of Ketchi
kan has just been receivtd. They
were married at Ketchikan, Sunday
last and left on the Dorothy Alex
ander for Sitka.
Mrs. Smith was a member of the
teaching force in the Petersburg
schools before entering service in
the Bureau of Education. She has
had charge of the Bureau school at
Sitka for the past two years. Mr.
Smith is a forest Ranger with the
U. S. Forest Service and has been
in that department for several
years.
PORT O’ MISSING MEN
Information is desired of Henry
E. Roe, an American about 74
years of age, 5 feet 6 inches in
height, brown hair and eyes. Any
data regarding him should be sent
to the Governor's Office, Juneau,
Alaska.
BRITAIN PAYS CLAIMS
Payment of approximately $500,
000 has been made by the British
Government to Swift and Company
in settlement for bacon seized when
the Ministry of Food reassumed
control of food supplies in Great
Britain.
GREEK REVOLUTION
The dictatorship of Gen. Pangal
os was overthrown in a quick and
L bloodless revolution.
All INCREASE
IN MINERAL
Mines in Alaska produced $18,
220,692 worth of mainerals in 1925
as against $17,457,333 worth in
1924, according to announcement
made by the Department of the In
terior rcently through the Geologi
cal Survey. The total value of the
mineral output of the Territory
since 1880 is $553,304,968.
In spite of the gradual exhaustion
of the rich gold-placer deposits, the
gold output in 1925 was greater
than in 1924, just as the output in
1924 was greater than that of 1923, J
according to the figures of the Geo
logical survey. Placer mines pro
duced less gold in 1925 than in
1924( but this decrease was more
than made up by the inreased pro
duction of the gold lodes, which
now yield almost as much as the
placers.
The production of placer gold
from the vicinity of Fairbanks and
from Seward Pennsula was reduced
to some extent as a result of nego
tiations and preparation for more
active future work by some of the
principal operators. Extensive pre
paration for future mining is being
made at Fairbanks and will not be
completed format least two years.
Increase in the value of the min
eral output of Alaska in 1925, as in
1:124, resulted largely from the n
crease in the value of copper and
took place in "spite of the fact that
less copper wag produced in 1925
than ii.n 1924.
ALASKANS GENEROUS
'‘The response of Alaskans to
the United Jewish appeal drive has
been gratifying to me” says S. B.
Asia, member of the Seattle execu
tive committee in charg of the
drive for funds in Washington and
Alaska, who has been in Anchor
age in the interest of the campaign.
The quota for Alaska , excepting
Nome, is $10,000. This amount has
been oversubscribed, and Mr. Asia
still has Seward to visit as he is do
nating his time to the cause and
paying expenses out of his own
pocket.
Funds from this campaign will be
used for reconstruction work in
Europe and- Palestine, for Jewish
people left destitute by the world
war, the Russian revolution and the
Polish revolution.
THERMIT HELD SOLUTION
The melting of icebergs by use
of thermit, which the Hydrographic
office of the navy considers may be
of great importance in protecting
Wnes, has been successfully accom
plished off new Foundland by Can
adian authorities.
This information is contained in a
letter to the Hydrographic Office
from Prof. H. T. Barnes, professor
of physics at McGill University,
Montreal, and explains that thermit
is a mixture of aluminum metal
and iron oxide which generates a
heat of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
This ntense heat acted upon the ice
berg as sudden and intense heat
acts upon glass, cauisng the berg
to crack into many pieces.
DIDN’T LIKE SMELL
Martin Knuppe, "independent”
candidate for territorial repre sent
at^e from the Fourth divsion.has
withdrawn from the race accordng
to recent reports. However his
withdrawal did not come soon
enough to remove his name from
the official ballot.
The cornerstone of the new
I'resbyterian Church at Juneau was
laid with Walter F. Meier, Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of
Washington Masons officiating at
the service.
R. E. Robertson made the state
ment of the purpose for which the
building is to be used and extended
formal invitation to the Grandmas
ter to lay the cornerstone. Mem
bers of the Mt. Juneau and Gastin
eau Lodges, F. and A. M. assisting.
Grand Orator O. A. Stillman, pastor
of the church made an address after
the laying ,of the stone and the
service was closed with the singing
of “America” and the pronounce
ment of the benediction.
The content of the cornerstone
are: a Bible, one copy each of the
Empire and Stroller’s Weekly of
August 21, containing the program
of the service and a history of the
church; a list of the names of the
church members; a list of the
names of the church officers; a list
of* the names of those who sub
scribed to the fund for the building
of the church; a list of the names
of the building contractor, architect
and the name of the Grand Master
laying the corner stone; a medal
lion of the Grand Lodge of the
Grand Lodge of Washington and
Grand Master Walter F. Meier.
The year 1926 has been a sad
year for the herring packers in
Alaska. The herring fishemen in
ihe Prince William Sound district
report fishery operations in that
district to be a complete failure.
The packers in the Chatham dis
trict report better packs but the
fishermen declare that they did not
get enough to make more than
wages. Continued destruction and
wanton waste of thousands of bar
rels of herring as has been reported
this summer will remove the pack
ers from this field. There is a limit
to the seed supply of herring just
as there is to salmon.
ALASKAN SECURES APPOINT
MENT TO WEST POINT
John J. Gilmore, son of Mr. and
Mrs. P. F. Gilmore of Ketchikan re
ceived notice of his appointment
as cadet of the U. S. Military Acad
emy,'New York. He accepted the
appointment and will take mental
and physical examination at Chil
koot Barracks in March. Passing
that examination successfully he is
to report to the superintendent at
West Point in July, 1927 at which
time his warrant of appointment
will be given him. Gilmore was
born in Ketchikan and is a graduate (
of the schools of that town
TRAVELING MAN WEDS
John F. Chamberlin and Mrs. Ida
King were married by the Rev. C.
F. Van Marter in Fairbanks on the
2 4th of this month.
After the ceremony and greetings
a lunch was served to close friends
of the couple.
Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin are well
known throughout the Territory.
Mr. Chamberlin has pioneered the
Territory as a traveling salesman
while Mrs. Chamberlin is well
known in Haines and Ketchikan
where she has resided for many
years.
The newly weds will make their
home in Ketchikan.
BIG HAULS IN JUNE
American fishing vessels, mak
ing 812 trips during the month of
Tune this year, landed at Portland,
Me., and Gloucester, Mass., 22,662,
G48 pounds of fresh fish, valued at
?813.691. the Department of Com
merce announced recently. This re
presents an increase of 11.29 per
cent in quantity and 23.37 percent
in value of fresh fish as compared
w th the same month in 1925.
Reports at Tanana indicate that
the run of silver and dog salmon
on the Yukon River is below normal
fhi3 summer. It is feared that there
will be a shortage of dried salmon
during the coming winter.
Notwithstanding all press reports
and the big packs of salmon on the
the coast the escapement of 50
percent as requird by law is not an
actuality. The truth can be hidden
but it will bob up at the headwaters
to prove that well written reports do
not always contain the truth.
BUREAU FISHERIES SPLURGING
The Bureau of Fisheries now
has four steamships, two auxiliary
schooners and 70 gasoline boats, re
ports an official of the Bureau.
A new vessel from the navy has
been secured and will be named the
“Albatross II,” after the vessel once
famous in these waters. This new
vessel will be equipped with a
floating laboratory, sounding and
dredging operations, a fish hatch
erry, and other modern equipment
used in fishery investigations. The
vessel will have a complete trans
mitting and receiving radio equip
ment.
The other new vessel i s the
“Brant” on which Mr. O’Malley
toured Alaska this summer.
Perhaps with these new vessels
urd fine acommodations the fish
will find their way past the myriads
of traps and get into the Narrows
and up the Petersburg Creek so
tnat we can go over and snag a
couple for dinner.
DEMPSEY RISES NOSE
The New York boxing commis
sion gave its approval to the bat
tle to be staged in the Yankee Sta
dium, New York on the night of
September 16 th.
Harry Wills the colored fighter,
said he was willing to fight the run
ning champion for money, marbles
or chalk just for the satisfaction of
knocking him out.
Wills said, “I have been reading
in the papers that Dempsey says
he has been trying to get me into
the ring for the past five years.
He’s a liar. If he keeps fussing that
sort of stuff he won’t have to wait
until he gets me into the ring. He
can fight me in the streets. I’ll
Knock him out so quick he’ll be
sorry he was ever born.”
Hire’s Root Beer on Ic© at the
Totem Pole.