The Open Forum
FISHERIES NO VALUE?
Petersburg, Alaska
February 24, 1930
Editor The Alaskan:
Dear Sir:
In the February issue of The
Pacific Fisherman, an answer to
Delegate Sutherland’s speech in
Congress is attempted and which
takes the controversy .so far
from the truth that there is no
use arguing their point. In fact,
they seem to prove that the fish
of Alaska is worth absolutely
nothing and in some instances,
less than that.
However, there is one state
ment that the Pacific Fisherman
seems to take delight in where
by they figure they have Suther
land pinned to the mat, and
that is the statement' that it
takes more men to kill the fnh
In British Columbia than in
Alaska. That is one time they
admit that Sutherland told the
truth but they did not admit
tnat their scientific fish destroy
ers were the cause of the differ
ence. They did not tell of the
ISuschmann trap in Cross Sound
\,hich took the seining grounds
of eight crews and pushed them
out into the open waters, taking
the seining grounds away from
lorty men. These men fished
mly on slack water while the
trap fished 24 hours a day and
depleted many streams; nor of
all the closed areas to fishermen
who now have no waters to fish
in and are on the point of star
vation they being reduced to a
condition lower than peons as
the peons lived on the land and
always had something to eat be
cause the boss had to have him
v/ork where if he starred he was
no good for work.
That is the condition that Mr.
Sutherland knows is wrong and
that is the condition that the
Pacific Fisherman thinks is right
and rejoices in.
Very truly yours,
Pete Sommer.
TIMBER “CONSERVATION1”
Petersburg, Alaska
February 22, 1930
The ALASKAN.
Gentlemen:
I quote an Act of Congress:
Be it enacted by the Senate
and House of Representatives of
,he United States of America in
C ongress assembled, That tim
Lcr lawfully cut on any national
i orest, or on the public lands in
Alaska, may be exported from
the State or Territory where
^rown if in the judgment of the
Secretary of the department ad
ministering the national forests
or the public lands of Alaska,
the supply of timber for local
t se will not be endangered
thereby, and the respective Se
cretaries are hereby authorized
to issue rules and regulations to
carry out the purpose of this
Act. Approved April 12, 1926.
(44 Stat. 242).
In the face of the above the
Forest Department recently
blocked an attempt, by local
people to work up an export bus
iness on hemlock logs, regardless
of the fact that here in South
east Alaska, at the present rate
cf cut, there is an estimated
stand of ripe timber sufficient
to supply local demands for
1700 years; also in the face of
the fact that the logging equip
ment already in the field is not
being operated at above 50 per
cent of its capacity.
I quote from an article pub
lished in the West Coast Lum
bermen’s Association publication
“l oggers Daily” over the signa
ture of Col. W B. Greeley: “The
proportion of the hemlock in the
imput of West Coast logs is
steadily increasing. Its profit
able manufacture and market
ing is one of the serious prob- j
lems of our lumber industry to-j
d ay, primarily because the spe
cies while intrinsically good is
coming on the market too fast.
Yet the character of the timber
ahead of our logging operations
indicate the probability of a
steady increase in the proportion
of hemlock logs.”
The author of the above state
ment, Col. W. B. Gree.ey, was at
one time the whip which was
cracked over the heads of our
xocal mills and loggers by the
enforcement of the rigid cutting
regulations which have resulted
in so much hardship to our local
lumber industry, held the posi
of Chief Forester in Washing
ton, D. C. He is today, Secre
tary-Manager of the West Coast
Lumbermen’s Association.
Today the loggers of South
east Alaska are supplying our
.ocal mills with all the logs they
can use at a price lower than the
price on logs in the State of
Washington. We have no fir tim
ber. In that species we cannot
compete but in hemlock, the
ogging and sale of hemlock logs,
.iven a chance, the Alaska log
gers can give all comers a run
for their money.
The hemlock logs before men
tioned were to be loaded aboard
vessels for transportation to
Oriental ports. Alaskan waters
are nearer these ports than are
Puget Sound and Columbia Riv
er shipping points. The price of
fered, better than local prices.
This order will be filled. Who
will fill it?
In conservation and forestry
literature, you will always see
stressed for the sake of cheap
ness and economy, the necessity
Ot taking into consideration
| the transportation charges. The
[interests of the consumer whe
ipays the freight bill are better
; served by furnishing him an ar
ticle produced near at home,
thus saving him the cost of a
long haul. This policy is suppos
ed to have a broad application
land be of general benefit. It is
' jie of the foundation stones of
the conservationist’s theory,
ihe Forest Service has always
claimed it as its own. I have al
ways held it to be more or less
theoretical for the reason that
the cost of production and dis
tribution, if not tampered with
automatically takes care of the
subject. It is a good argument,
however. I cannot dispute it
Neither can the Forest Depart
ment.
The question that I wish tc
raise is this: Is the Forest De
partment going to allow Alaska
forests to rot until the privately
owned forests in the States are
exhausted and then make the
consumer pay transportation
charges on Alaska timber to fill
demands there, or is it going to
j allow Alaska to fill foreign de
'rnanas and thus conserve the
timber nearer American market
and save an immense freight
bill for the lumber consumer in
the United States?
Is our Forest Department sup
posed to administer our Nation
al Forests forthe benfit of the
people of the United States or
[for the benefit of the Pacific
Coast Barons?
The item of hemlock logs re
ferred to is but one of many
timber items in which there is
a possibility of profitable busi
ness for the Alaska forests and
lumber industries. These de
mands cannot be filled, our lum
ber mills cannot prosper under
present conditions. In another
letter I will undertake to tell
you why this is, and why it is
chat the Alasksn timber indus
try has not been able to success
fully compete in the world’s
markets.
If the people of Alaska cannot
be made to see and oppose the
cold-blooded enormity of the be
trayal of trust of which the Bu
reaus have been guilty, I say,
God help Alaska.
Very truly yours,
.E. S. Hungerford.
I>0 WE ALL ACiiCLE ?
--u
SIXTY THOUSA YO <* AGLV: , !
Editor ALASKAN
I have read Subscriber’s (why
doesn’t he sign his name?)
printed letter in THE ALASKAN
wherein he shows quite piairiy
another slant of the Alaska
eagie complex.
Is it a fact that tile Territory
has paid bounties on OOCJe
eagles? 1 knew the number
was large, but 1 never kept very
close tab on the wanton slaught
er.
Why ,in the first place, was a
bounty placed on the American
eagle? I have been an Alaskan,
off and on, since March 1898 arm
I have yet to learn details of
that bit of freak legislation. In
the first place, the hue and cry
was that the eagle was a deer
killer. No thought of K.-os
ihen, nor fish, nor anything but
deer. When the fox fever hit,
the Territory, and the theoret
ical increase in foxes failed woe
fully in a majority of instances,
then the eagle was the fox eat
er. Deer were sidetracked anc
all but forgotten. Also, anolhe
fifty cents was added to tin
county for dead eagles. This
dollar per head (or rather per
two feet) was a wonderful
method oi making mmey by
I many who had never earne..
that much money before -an
I the Territory paid, and pays, th
| bills. Great system, surely. Th:
I commonwealth of Alaska is ou.
j thousands of dollars and the on
ly beneficiaries are the beach
combers. The whole affair i
just about os far fetched as was
the scheme of feeding adult fox
es, carnorivorous animals, roller
eats and expecting heal hy
puppies and prime pelts. For
I the thousands of baby foxe,:
! that died from ma-nutrition
j the eagles got the blame and
| the gun.
There is no we.l-autne.iiieat
ed statement, nor balanced
. videnee, that the eagle ever
captured a baby fox. The write
is acquainted with many to.
armers and no few of them
:-uite successful in their venture
All were, a]'d maybe are. more
■r less anti-eagle and the ill
feeling was all based on wha 1
they had heard, not on what
they had seen. Down to bras,
itacks they had never witnessed;
j the destruction of any kind ol
jiox, little, old or young, by an
eagle.
There is some evidence—noi j
much, that the great horned ow.
is a fox pup destroyer. I am
speaking now of the coast re
gion. In the Interior, there is
no question but what the bi
owl now and then kills youn:
foxes because remains of those
animals have been found in
;nd around their nesting places
Down at Security Bay I saw ar.
owl, one evening just at dusk
drop silently down out of a tre
and into the thick brush. In a
few seconds he emerged from
'the jungle with a fox pup in
; his talons. This, of course, was
| real evidence. The bird perches
jin a dead snag a short distance
j beyond and let his prey g :
when a bullet cut close to him
Although I picked the fox pup
up within not more than a pos
rib’e ten minutes after I had
first seen the owl, the pup was
not only dead, but stiff. I am
Inclined to believe, therefore,
that the pup was dead some
time before the owl came
around. There wasn’t a scratch
on the animal although its fur
was ruffled up some from the
mauling it had received. Against
this liklihood of the fox pup be
ing dead, is the claim of natur
alists that owls don’t eat meat
that they doivt themselves kill.
I don’t know enough about the
bird to stand either for or
against him in this matter.
“Subscriber” sheds rears about
the young geese, fawns, ducks,,
ptarmigan, grouse and so onj
that Baldy the Killer” eats.
This is another brain storm
Fhe eagJe doesn’t bother young
leer unless they have been kill
ed, or have died, in some place
a here an eagle may find them.
4n eagle isn’t very keen on get
ting into dense brush or in posi
tions where he can’t use his
hngs. The great destroyer of
baby geese, ducks and all sorts
of field birds is the raven. He
not only is a baby bird killer,
but lie is a past master as an egg
uhief. Tne common crow is no
’ouch either in this egg crack
tig game. At Salt Lagoon, Rocky
ass, one spring day, I saw ra
vens fighting mother geese off
fair nests so that they—the
:avens—could destroy the eggs,
:md several days later I saw the
same ravens, probably, chasing’
lie toddling goslings here and
'here through the back brush
-i;i killing them. There’s real
evidence. There were eagles
’.round, but they weren’t molest
ing any of the birds. However,
have seen eagles pick up and
rry off crippled ducks that I
d brought down, and I have
en them attack geese that I
ad winged or injured. I don’t
e d this against them, for I,
. ely would have lost the game
yway, and the eagles might
is well have the cripples as the
* easels. The live ducks that
ae eagle sometime takes are
.e black surf ducks and the
ving scaups when they hap
:en to be feeding in shallow
water.
Another destroyer of geese,
- - fere they are flying, is the
wolf. I saw evidence of much
f this kmd of slaughter near a
esh water lake in the Port
im ien region, and on a stretch
: muskeag close to a salt la-'
con and fresh water creek near
1 ydaburg. For all these stunts
he gle dies and provides some
moling beach hiker with a
I : jllar or so.
The eagle is first, last and
st about all the time a fish
.ter. When I say fish, I refer
’ a:i those smaller things of
se sea be they Crustacea, mol
usca or just plain nsn. me lew
'(her items on this bill of fare
re merely occasional ineident
:s. True, it is that he eats a
1 msiderable quantity of salmon
ong the spawning beds of the
ream, but if you watch him
osely and with a desire to be
air, it will be noticed that the
reat bulk of his salmon eating
. off the carcasses of stranded
h and those that have died
aid floated ashore. With plenty
0 cat, the eagle is indolent and
ustles no more than is neces
ary. The younger eagles are
ecidedly lazy. One sawbill
v’uck will destroy more salmon
by egg and fry eating—in a
veek than an eagle will kill in
1 month of Sundays. Alaskans
-many of them—are so hide
ound and biased in this matter
•f eagle killing that they over
ook the real killers many times
md tack every death of game
nd fox, that they don’t kill
hemselves, on to the eagle,
hat is one of the reasons there
s so much justified opposition
o the shooting to extinction of
the emblem of the Nation.
I have looked into between 80
md 100 eagle nests—from the
*iaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island
nd eastward to Mary Island, in
he spring seasons and I have
et to find the remains of deer
ox or any other animal of val
e. And it should be considered
hat in the spring time the pa
ent eagles bring to the nests
early 100 per cent of what they
apture. Springtime is also the
eason of baby foxes, and if the
agles were such wholesale de
iroyers there would most cer
tainly be evidence in the scrap
heaps beneath the nests and
nesting trees.
Subscriber has it that the
eagle is not a migratory bird.
Why not? Along the upper
reaches of the Pacific Coast (the i
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