The Open Ft rum
---—x
“TROLLER” CONDEMNS THE
DISCRIMINATION
Petersburg, Alaska,
March 7, 1930,
Editor The Alaskan,
Petersburg, Alaska
Dear Sir:
Among the latest regulations
put out by the Bureau of Fisher
ies is one prohibiting the trollers
from killing king salmon weigh
ing less than six pounds. For
once the Bureau is at least part
ly right. I have been following
the trolling game in Alaska fif
teen years and I do not hesitate
to say that no king salmon of
that size should EVER be taken.
In fact, no troller would want to
take 6-pound fish. In the first
place, there is no profit in such
fishing. However, there is one
phase of the matter which it
seems has not not been consid
ered and that is this: If it is il
legal for one fisherman to kill
young king salmon with his par
ticular kind of gear, then it
seems to me it should also be il
legal for any other fisherman to
kill the same kind of salmon
with some other kind of gear.
Surely, if the fisheries regula
tions are to be respected, they
should apply to every one with
out favoritism. But that is not
the case in Southeastern Alaska
under the present rulings. Thou
sands of under size king salmon
run into some of the traps along
with the cohoes and sockeyes.
These fish are not canned but
they are killed in the brailing
process.
Is not that a discriminatory
ruling which condones the kill
ing of under-sized kings by one
fisherman but prohibits another
fisherman from doing the same
thing?
Now, this is no idle question:!
Thirty years ago on the Colum
bia River, at Baker’s Bay and
Desdemona Sands, the fish
wheels were taking blue-back
and Chinook salmon. At that
time, thousands of young stur
geon crowded into the traps.
T saw men stand all day chop
ping the heads off small stur
geon because they were consid
ered a nuisance in the traps.
Now there are precious few stur
geon left. Hundreds of tons of
them were destroyed in the
above described way.
I ask in all seriousness: “Is it
not time to prohibit the fishtrap
in Alaska? Why should one
class of fishermen be given pre
ference over another? and privi
leges that are denied to others
whose livlihood depends on the
perpetuation of the salmon
species?
Editor’s note:—Class, special
privileges. The system devised
to circumvent law and order, and
to hold labor in peonage and
industrial slavery. Those who
could benefit by a change of the
system acquiesce and give tacit
consent to perpetuation of the
system. “Some class”—without
sufficient brains to appreciate
the dangers of class favoritism.
Only the pangs of an empty
belly or the sight of an empty
till gives their brains any degree
of understanding.
A few, like “Troller” do their
own tninking—a few.
-x
WHAT CAN THE DEAD MAN
HOLD
By James R. Little
-x
Down here on the “Skidroad”
of Portland, Oregon, among the
employment sharks, age limits,
blacklist and blackball system of
civilization, the poor wage slaves
have a hard time to exist! This
greed for profits and the speed
up system is surely getting my
goat. I have been bawled out,
bawled up; helped up and held
down; bulldozed, blackjacked,
J
walked on, el'Ui&ted, squeezed
and mooched. Stuck for war
tax, excess tax, per capita tax,
state tax, dog tax, and syntax;
Liberty bonds, baby bonds and
bonds of matrimony; Red Cross,
green cross, and double cross;
I Chinese lottery, moonshine
bonded in bottles at $10.00 per
quart and 5-cent pie at 10 cents
per cut. I have been asked t
help John the Baptist, C. W. A.
Women’s Relief Corps, Commun
ity Chest; men’s relief and stom
ach relief. I have worked like
—11 and been worked like —11;
nearly got drunk and have got
ten others drunk; lost all I had
and all of my sweethearts. And
because I won’t spend or lend all
ol the little I can earn and go
beg, borrow or steal, I have been
bussed, discussed, boycotted,
talked about, lied to and lied
about; held up, hung up, robbed
and darned near ruined. And the
only reason I’m not back in Alas
ka, is I’m just sticking around
here to see what in hell is com
ing oft next!
Did you ever think, when the
hearse goes by,
That some day you and I must
die?
We’ll take a ride in the big
plumed hack
Out to the cemetery and never
come back.
I don’t care how much you hustle
for gold,
No dead man’s hand a dollar
can hold;
You can strive and thrive; you
can pinch and save,
But the dollar goes to Hell
when you hit the grave.
-x
THREE YOUNG MEN
By E. S. Hungerford.
-x
One from Kentucky, one from
Arkansas and one from Utah,
clean young men, raised in re
presentative American homes
are here pictured in an Alaskan
adventure.
Hard working, honest and
steady; looking for a chance to
settle and build themselves
homes as their parents had
done before them, they joined
forces in Los Angeles and drove
their ancient Ford to the Alberta
wheat fields where they worked
through the harvest season. At
its close, they eame to Prince
Rupert and on in to Southeast
ern Alaska where they received
their first Alaska impressions.
They rented a cabin and win
tered in the town of Petersburg.
This was no hardship. They took
to the country like ducks to wa
ter.
They had arrived at last in
the country they wanted to call
their own. They liked the coun
try; they liked the people. They
decided that they were born
and bred to the land, and to the
land they looked for a chance
to settle and become home
builders and owners.
Alaska’s millions of acres va
cant, looked like their chance.
They could not help but see the
vast possibilities of the land and
timber of Southeast Alaska.
But alas, alack! They had
only read the pretty propaganda
for the Conservation of Na
tional resources and had never
been in personal contact with
the actual working of the
scheme.
They wanted and would have
taken up land and settled here
;n Southeastern Alaska. They
knew the possibilities of tim
ber land and the help and bene
fit they would derive from the
ownership of timber land. But
i hat of course, under the present
policy, was impossible.
This you might say cut the
ground from under their plans
for the future. They were not
loafers, however, and went to
work as soon as the season open
ed, at the first job offered. Mean
while, they were men of average
intelligence and they made it a
point to find out all about the,
conditions here and the work
ings of the so-called Conserva
tion Act.
! When they learned that the
land was being denied to the in
dividual, and the reason thereof,
they wanted to know how the
country was ever going to be set
| tied.
But when they learned that
the same land being denied
them as bona fide settlers who
wanted to live in the country
under somewhat the same con
dition as the rest of the United
States enjoys, was being offered
to the exploitation of pulp com
panies in immense tracts on
; long term leases under terms far
more favorable than actual
ownership, then, Oh, Boy! That
was where they blew up.
| The Arkansan asked, “Then
where does the Conservation
come in? It looks to me as if the
supply and demand will deter
mine the time of cutting Alaska
timber.”
The Kentuckian said, “Seems
to me that if I had a piece of
timber land here that I would
put in some of my spare time,
if I had any, praying that a good
husky pulp mill would settle in
our midst.”
! The one from Utah was just
plain disgusted. He left for Al
berta where he says that the
Canadian government at least
;knows the value of having peo
ple live on the land and develop
the country.
So, like three geese in Mother
Goose, One flew east, One flew
west and One flew over the
Cuckoo nest.
They took their summer’s
wages with them so that the
Alaska merchant has to get
along without that.
Alaska lost three good Ameri
can citizens, at least two of
whom would have stuck.
The United States Govern
ment completely lost the allegi
ance of one citizen and the faith
of two others.
All in order that an impractic
al, un-American, idealists dream,
if not a crooked piece of politic
al chicanery, is being carried
out at the expense of Alaska’s
welfare.
Is the candle worth the price.
-x
FAIR PLAY
-x
Petersburg, Alaska
March 11, 1930
Editor The Alaskan,
Petersburg, Alaska
Dear sir:
How we admire the man en
dowed with the spirit of fair
play. The man who lends a
helping hand to the under-dog
who protects the weak, who as
sists the sick and who lives and
lets live.
Last Sunday, the writer
A
watched three kids, they Were
under twenty-one years of age,
over on the flats near Peters
burg Creek, with shotguns shoot
ing ducks and seaguls out of
season. However, that’s anoth
er story. But shooting and
wounding gulls and other birds
and leaving them fluttering
about on the flats with broken
wings, with no intent to com
plete their murder is a habit
with some of the younger gen
eration hereabouts that will
leave them devoid of any spirit
of fair play as they grow older.
I have seen birds tied togeth
er and tangled amongst the pil
ing under the docks of Peters
burg. I have seen boys baiting
flsh hooks and catching gulls
oft the floats. And now lately
their gentle pastime is leaving
birds wounded on the flats to
slowly die of infection and starv
ation. I am sure that we shall
never see boys shoot at any
thing that can fight back. At
least, not until they are taught
•something about the principles
of sportsmanship and fair play.
Very truly yours,
Jesse Ames.
DEVELOPMENT OF ALASKA
“* * * As business improves so
will population and with these
increases not only post office, but
transportation, will pay their
own way. The point is to at
tract business and population.
Having paid $7,200,000 for the
Territory of Alaska and having
received in. return something like
90 times that amount in Alaskan
mining; having last year receiv
ed from Alaska ten times the
purchase price in Alaskan pro
ducts, of which the mines are
only a small part, relatively;
having sold to Alaska last year
more than four times its cost to j
the nation, it would be insensate
to abandon the progressive poli
cy and allow the territory to
lapse into its original wilder
ness. Worse could not chanced
the country had it been sold to
the aboriginal Indian inhabit
ants.
The point at issue is not aban
donment, but further develop
ment. Feeders must be con
structed, business must be en
couraged, the country opened
by a more liberal policy. There
is no real reason why Alaska’s
population should be decreasing,
instead of increasing, which
seems to be the case. The cause
lies in defective operation—not
of the railroad.—Railway and
Marine (Seattle) News.
The coastal towns of Alaska
show an increase in population
since 1920 census to be not over
two thousand in a total of nine
teen thousand. Some of the
Your copy of
Frye's “Meat
Guide'* will be
mailed on re
ceipt of 3c to
cover postage
Address Frye
& Company,
Seattle.
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thousands of plates It serves.
How long since you had a thick slice of
grilled ham for dinner?
i
i| Alaskan Glacier Sea Food Co,
I; Ohmer Will Buy Halibut For The
;; Fresh Frsh Market. See Earl
|| Before You Sell Your Fare.
Halibut, Salmon,and Trout
FUR AUCTION SALES
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March 19
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May 14
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July 16
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