AN OPEN LETTER TO R. P. La
^e^retary of Commerce,
Hon. Robert P. Lamont,
6 aky E -e aoi etao tao etao
Washington, D. C.
My clear Secretary:
You will find in your files a
great deal of matter against me
in the form of criticisms of Se
cretary Hoover and the Bureau
of Fisheries. I don’t believe you
will find any reference to Mr.
Hoover since he became Presi
dent.
But you will not find a single
thing to indicate that I have
been wrong in anything that I
have said.
All that my people in Alaska
(and there are over 5,000 of us
banded together in the ALASKA
NATIVE BROTHERHOOD) ask
for is a FAIR hearing. This
ITenry O’Malley as Fish Commis
sioner has never given us, and as
you know, the law makes the Se
cretary of Commerce responsible
for the sins of the Bureau of
Fisheries—when Mr. Hoover was
Secretary it was Mr. Hoover, and
since you became the Secretary,
you are the one. Mr. Hoover’s
attitude to this .department
that has the power of life and
death was much the same as
yours appears to be, namely, j
it to Henry O’Malley.
My contention is this—that
vhen a group of citizens feel
they have a grievance, especially
against a Bureau that has the
extraordinary powers of the
Fisheries Bureau, hey have un
der our Constitution a right to
be heard.
WE HAVE NEVER BEEN HEARD
When Henry O’Malley was
passing thru Ketchikan on his
boat, the Brant, the secretary of
the seiner’s association, consist
ing almost entirely of Alaska
natives numbering about thirty
boats and employing over one
hundred seiners having an av
erage family of three, invited
Mr. O’Malley to our meeting SO
THAT WE COULD DISCUSS
THE FISHING REGULATIONS
WITH HIM, particularly the
‘•Hook-off” rule; but Mr. O’Mal
ley refused to come and depart
ed from town while we were
gathered in a meeting waiting
for him. His only message to us
was this;—“If you are going to
talk to me about the rule against
he ‘hook-off,’ it is no use any
way because I won’t change it.”
Still we are entitled to our day
in court.
The injustice of the rule
against “holding a hook” with
cur seines is this—the fish trap
is nothing but a hook which op
erates 24 hours a day and which
has an automatic trap which can
be lifted and cleaned of fisn
without disturbing the HOOK
OFF which is made by the LEAD
to the shore.
Henry O’Malley permits the
trap to use the “Hook-off,” but
forbids it to us with our form of
moveable gear.
The siuation is this—virtual
ly every bay that is suitable to
our form of gear for catching
fish has been closed by Henry
servation Inmn lm: - atE eta eta
O’Malley under the plea of “con
servation.” This has driven us
into the open channels and wat
ers where salmon do not school
and hence our gear is a failure
To force the salmon to school,
our people make one end of their
net fast to the shore, (either by
tying it, anchoring it, or merely
holding it). Because our gear
does not have a trap which can
collect the fish, we have to pick
up our net with what fish it con
tains every half hour. A hook
off usually lasts a half hour, but
since we have to pick up our
nets, the entire operation lasts
about three hours, during which
time our gear is actually fishing;
only half an hour. Contrast this
with the 24-hour serpice of the.
trap using the very same hook- j
oft device, which Mr. O’Malley
permits. i
I have been right in every
charge I have made against,
Henry O’Malley and 4;he Bureau
oi. Fisheries. All I want is a
chance to prove it before an im
partial judge.
Take the matter of closing the
Chilkcot River.
This is one of our ancient fish
ing grounds, and yet Mr. O’Mal
ley has closed that small river
to a point SIXTEEN BILES from1
I its mouth. The only gear that is
j practical in that locality is the
gillnet. Because of that unjust
legulation, our gill nets are not
effective, because 16 miles below
the mouth forces us into clear,
phosphorescent waters except
in times of heavy rains when the
Katzehin River discolors the
water. I call your attention to
the i'act that Henry O’Malley
permits fishing WITHIN the
streams around Yakutat even
tho it is contrary to law, and he
permits it on the grounds that
it is the only practical fishing
method. We think that the real
reason is that the great firm of
Libby, McNeil & Libby wish it
done. But in the Chilkoot dis
trct, he has closed us down 18
miles below the river’s mouth.
We have asked him to move the
line to a point seven miles from
the creek. Even this is unfair
but our people are in sympathy
with conservation; we rebel only
only against carrying the whole
load.
Take the matter of marking
.the mouths of the creeks. This
is done in your name. And in
your name, every little bight
that comes to the attention of
I the Fish Wardens is closed in
in your name even where there is
no salmon stream, merely a com
paratively calm water to fish in.
The country around Lime Point
and Hetta Inlet, on the West
Coast of Prince of Wales Island,
has a number of such injustices.
Last October a man named Shel
don from Wrangell was arrested
end in his ignorance, to save his
gear from seizure, he pleaded
guilty to fishing within the
markers that marked the mouth
of a salmon stream EVEN THO
[THERE WAS IN FACT NO SAL
[mON STREAM in that so-called
jbay. I called up the fish warden
lend he confessed to me that
there was nothing in his files or
his knowledge to warrant the
[placing of markers at that place.
[Eut Sheldon paid a fine of $250
lend now unjustly has the repu
tation of being a law breaker,
besides suffering loss of time in
a season so short that every hour
counts.
j I want to call your attention
[to the tyranny of the Bureau of
Fisheries for which you are re
sponsible. I welcome a hearing.
II have never been wrong in any
| charge I have made. My protest
-is a constitutional right and you
as agent of our great country
should not condemn me without
AHHaHaninmnnw
a hearing.
On Monday morning, August
27 1923, three crews of natives I
I
were awaiting the hour of six to
begin fishing. Seing the stream
watchman near by, the nearest
ccew hailed him and said,
•'What time is it now?” This em
ployee of your department, Jas.
Foss, said. “The Hell with you.
Fish by your own time.” The se
cond crew likewise asked youi
employee the time and received
the same answer. These two
crews thereupon looking at their
clocks and finding the time to be
G: 20 began fishing in the pre
sence of the watchman. The
third crew followed suit think
ing it was all right since they
saw two other crews talking with (
the watchman. The stream
I watchman thereupon arrested
all three boats and crews for
fishing before six o’clock. The
trouble was that the natives were
using cannery time which was
Seattle time or 'Pacific time—one
hour earlier than Standard
meridian time. Since this can
nery time regulated all their
business (they quit fishing Sat
urday by cannery time) they
thot they were within the law.
rThis mistake cost each crew $400
ipius costs. In the case of one
man, Maxfield Dalton by name,
I his entire summer’s earnings
i amounted to $79 of which he
gave the government $72 as his
snare of of the fine and our kind
ly United States Government al
lowed him to keep $7 to feed his
NINE children for the winter,
i James Koss is dead now, but
your district warden, N. O. Hardy
told me that Ross did right. Mr.
Hardy has been promoted now
until he is in charge of the Ber
ing Sea district. Mr. Hardy un
til last year could not tell the
difference between a humpback
land a dog salmon, but I have no
doubt that his opinion is highly
legarded in the Bureau of Fish
eries. This Mr. Hardy is the
(same man of whom Henry
! O'Malley said to Hon. Dan Suth
|eriand and me, “I won’t have
! a man of his type in the service.”
Over at Hetta Inlet, Robert
\ oung appeared with his seining
,toat and it being about night,
anchored for the night in a safe
place. Your stream watchman
i
came over and said. “Don’t you
know that this place is closed?”
meaning that fishing was not al
lowed. Young said, “Yes.” The
watchman then said, “Then get
i right out of here.” Young, a na
i five, said, “Can’t I anchor here?”
i
;Your subordinate replied, “No
You can’t.”, And yet you know,
Mr. Lamont, that your subordin
ate has no such authority. But
our poor natives, for whom Ihave
been protesting for many years
| without being given a hearing
!and for which cause I am con
Idemned by your files, being ig
rorant of the law, have often
gone out into storms seeking j
shelter in the dark.
On the last day when fishing
was allowed THIS YEAR in Hia
tt ock Bay, an old Indian, Kuiu
Charley by name, a man who has
not made his salt for three years,
t aught ten thousand salmon. He
loaded his boat. It was small
and could only hold 3,000 fish.j
The stream watchman went out
to him and told him that he had
to have his fish DELIVERED to
the cannery by FIVE o’clock. Th<
poor fellow did not have time to
run to the cannery and back so
lie started to tow the balance of
I the salmon to the cannery in his
pursed-up seine. About half
way, he struck a snag and lost
not only his fish but part of his
net. Of course my poor Indian
does not own a cannery and have
money enough to go to Seattle
and meet Henry O’Malley or to
Washington and see you, so he
‘ells me his troubles and I pro
test to Dan Sutherland, to the
newspapers, to your or to your
predecessor,. LIr. Hoove1 or to
our legislature, and your files
condemn me. But in the case
of the fish trap, Henry O’Mal
ley gives them 36 hours to emp
ty their traps after closing time,
while your subordinate told my
Indian friend he had to have his
salmon in the cannery one hour
BEFORE the season ended.
I am absolutely right in every
thing that I have undertaken
and in all my charges about the
mismanagement of our fisheries
All I ask is a chance to be heard
by an impartial person. In 1923,
I predicted that the system of
conserving salmon by closing
the season wrould mean that
eventually no salmon would run
except the salmon that breed
during the closed season. My
predictions are coming true.
Canrterymen now admit it. My
prediction antedated the same
statement by Dr, Charles Gil
bert.
I have written you a long let- j
ter and I hope you read it. I
represent five thousand Natives
ci Alaska whose fishing lights
have been taken from us with
out compensation by the Bureau
oi Fisheries under the plea of
conservation. If these five
thousand natives were to call on
you, you would hear them. So
von’t you please consider this
letter carefully and give us a
hearing? The ENTIRE BURDEN
OF CONSERVATION is now and
always has been borne by us Na
tives. The Bureau of Fisheries
has got us where our average
earnings is less than $100 and in
many cases only $40.
WE ARE ENTITLED TO A
HEARING.
With respect, I remain.
William L. Paul,
Grand President,
Alaska Native Brotherhood
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BASKETBALL
Ketchikan Town Team
vs
Petersburg High School
Friday January 17th. At 7:30 P. H.
Ketchikan Town Team
vs.
Petersburg Town Team
Saturday Jan. 18th. At 7:30 P. M.
' ;_i—
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