ask-J Abg-W "· I
A. N. ». PUHU8HLNO COMPANY •*
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
The Alaskan, six months,. ... $2.60
'i Us Alaskan, per year .. $4.00
Published every Friday by the a. N. B. Publishing Co., Petersburg
Entered in the Post Ol&ca in Petersburg as Second Class matter.
SOURDOUGHS BOYCOTTED
William S. Taggart, William A.
Gilmore an dJ. V. Sheldon, former
Nomeites, now of Seattle, started a
taxi company known as the Red
Top Cab Co., in Seattle but found
that another taxi concern had sufli
cient political backing to prevent
the ‘Alaskan’ concern from operat
ing at one stand after another.
The Red Top now has the backing
of the Alaska Weekly which has
broadcast the story thru its editor
ial columns.
The same old story of Seattle
hoggishness which has prevented the
development of the Territory and
thereby has incurred the hearty dis
like of Alaskans. -
’Member the, time you shipped 30
boxes and more of halibut to the
brokers in Seattle and received ar
urgent request to remit for the
freight bill? And the countless
number of dollars that poured into
Seattle banks thru said brokers
while you lived on codfish and
clams then went seining in order
that you might buy the needed
clothing and food? Then the Ru
pert market was thrown open only
to have Seattle attempt again to
close it. But Dan Sutherland
fought it through and defeated the
effort to divert all the earnings cf
*the halibut fleet to “an American
port.
Alaskans are used to “'his Seat
tle spirit’’ and not for noiliing arj
they sour doughs. The winning will
come to the Red Top Ta\i even as
it came in the halibut gime aril
Alaskans going to Seattle will do
well to keep their eyes open for the
Red Top Cab and use iis service.
We know not these Alaskans who
are fighting the# powers that be
in Seattle, but we gladly pasr along
the word ‘Alaska for Alaskans.’
SHALL WE HAVE REAL.
CONSERVATION ?
By Herbert H. Vertrees
Secretary of Pike County Isaac Wal
ton League of America.
Our people have been mislead by
false report's which have appeared
in the large city papers. Many of
them were published in 1923. They
gave very flattering and misleading
ncccunuts of of work which, it was
published, the Bureau of Fisheries
was doing in our pearl fisheries.
It is a fact that the Commissioner
of Fisheries Henry O’Malley actual
ly kenw of these misleading reports
which were being published, yet. he
continued to receive these unmerit
ed garlands of praise, while he con
curred in silence, and omitted to
object to these erroneous and mi's
leading reports. In May, 192 4, the
Pike County Chapter of the Izaaic
Walton League published a docu
ment entitled “Our Vanishing Pearl
Fisheries,” which revealed the ex
hausted condition of our pearl fish
eries, and the fact that the Bureau
of Fisheries was permitting the pub
lic to become mislead. The publi
cation of the erroneous reports
then ceased for eighteen months,
when on December 6, 1925, some of
the very largest city Sunday news
papers published a full page Illus
trated article which was very false
and mi-.leading and which appeared
under the following heading in large
heavy type: “Secrets about those
pearls you’r wearing and the new
experiments' by the U. S. Govern
ment which may make a big rope
of genuine pearls within the reach
of every working girl.” As was
the case with other false reports
there was nothing to indicate who,
had written the article. A letter
addressed to the American Weekly,
Inc., elicited the name and address
of the writer, who is a prominent
feature writer in Washington, D. C.
When he was asked for the source
of his information, he wrote that
the statement regarding working
girls wearing ropes of genuine
pearls should not be taken too liter
ally. In other words it was not
true. Since 1912, the Bureau of
Fisheries has sent out encouraging
assurances regarding the vast sup
plies of pearls which would soon
become available because of the
scientific work of the Bureau. Will
the Bureau of B’isheries make move
promises of this kind soon? The
more money the Bureau of Fisher
ies has spent and the more time it
has used in efforts to restore our
vanishing pearls the less shells and
pearls are to be found in our riv
ers.”
(Continued next week.)
AMERICA N PATRIOTISM
THE HOLLANDER AS AN
AMERICAN
By Theodore Roosevelt
These, then, are the qualities that
1 should claim for the Hollander a3
an American: In the first place, that
he has cast himself without reserva
tion into the current of American
life; that he is an American, pure
and simple, and nothing else. In
the next place, that he works hand
in hand and shoulder to shoulder
with his fellow Americans, without
any regard to differences of creed
or to differences of race and reli
gion, if only they are good Ameri
cans. In the third place, that he is
willing, when need shall arise, to
fight for his country; and in the
fourth place, and finally, that he re
cognizes that this is a country of
laws and not men, that it is his
duty as an honest citizen to uphold
the laws, to strive for honesty, to
strive for a decent administration,
and to do all that in him lies, by
incessant, patient work in our gov
ernment, municipal or national, to
bring about the day when it shall
be taken as a matter of course that
every public official is to execute the
law honestly, and that no capacity
in a public officer shall atone if he
is personally dishonest.
MODERN CATECHTSM OF
SUCCESS
Give definition of success?
“Money!” '
Give a synonym of happiness?—
‘Money!”
What attaches honor to a name?
“Money!”
What produces privilege and
fame?—
“Money!”
What relieves the sinner from all
“Money!”
Give the definition of respect?-—
“Money!”
What enables people to connect?
“Money!”
What brings haughty monarchs
to their knees?
“Money!”
What brings titled suitors over,
seas?—
“Money!”
What makes wisdom look lice
cottage cheese?—
* Money!”
Give a synonym for goal?—
‘ Money!”
What is more important than
tlie soul?—
‘ Money!”
What in lieu of beauty will suf
Ice?—
‘f Money!”
What is proudlv gained at any
price?—
“Money!”
S. E. Kiser.
SUBSCRIBE for The ALASKAN.
TOKEN FROM BERGEN’S |
1TDENDE
Translated from the Norwegian by'.
Rev. S. Sydness.
(Continued from last week.)
In the previous article a descrip
tion was given of the scale of the
fish, how the rings on the scale
were formed, that each ring repre
sented the winter, the era between
the ring, the summer, and further
more that the width between each
ring was determined by the growth
of the herring each summer. When
a person has a scale of a herring
and knows when it was caught, has
knowledge as to the spawning sea
son of the herring, it is compara
tively easy to find out how many
summers and how many winters
I he herring has lived.
In order to find out the age by
means of the scale, it is best to use
the big scale found on the side oi.
the fish, The reason for this is
that the rings on those scales found
on the front part of the fish are
more distinct. Usually it is neces
sary to wash the scale in order to
get rid of the shiny substance that
sticks to the scales. Afterwards,
place them on a piece of glass with
a drop of water on it, and it is ready
for examination.
Some of the rings may easily he
detected by the naked eye. By us
ing a little magnifying glass the
rings may easily be seen. However,
if the herring is very old it is dif
ficult to distinguish the outer rings,
due to the fact that they have in
this case grown very closely togeth
er, and consequently it is hard to
tell them apart. While the fishing
season for storsild and vaarsild,
is on, let us examine the scales,
they are as beautiful as so many of
natures’ small structures are.
When we first were able to make
use of this to establish the age of
the fish, it gave us a new method
to study the fish from other points
of view; and this age m’ethcd has
enabled us to find out more about
the herring and fish in general than
it otherwise would have been pos
sible. Norway made use of this
method very early through Prof.
John Hjjj’th, that time director
for the fishing industries.. He knew
the value of it, and adopted it be
fore it was recognized by the world
of science; and thereby gave us
years of experiments and informa
tion of indispensible value. Quite a
few very interesting facts could be
mentioned, but the most important
and that which also is of greatest
interest, came later on-—after years
of experiments. The work is not
half complete, and the early years
observations increase in value as
the work is carried on.
As mentioned in the previous ar
ticle, the young herring which the
fishermen call Mossa, are herring
that are not one year old. The
Bladsild is in its second year. The
Petsild that especially is caught in
the northern part of Norway, con
sists of individuals in their third
and fourth year. Only on rare oc
casion have we found herring
among the Fetsild older than four
years. However, more about that
later on. Vaarsilden and storsilden
appear to be older. Herring among
that species has been found as old
as twenty-three years.
The experiment in the labratory
is carried on in this way First we
buy a barrel of herring and take
it to our experiment station. Here
every herring is masured, weighed,
cut open in order to find out if the
herring has roe or if it is ‘mPk
sild' (if this milky substance is
found in the herring) and how tar
these products have developed, and
and if there is any yet left in her.
The result of it, as well as a number
is then written down on a piece of
glass that is one inch broad and
three inches long, written in such
a way that it cannot be erased.
On the center of the glass are
three tiny specks of glue and on
each of these specks is pasted a
thoroughly cleaned scale taken
from that particular herring of
which the notes have been taken.
The scales must be placed on the
glue with its inside down otherwise
it does not stick very well. Fur
ther care must be taken that the
scales used are taken from that par
ticular herring which is being ex
amined and not scales from other
fish that happen by chance to be
near. Because men of science have
not been careful on that line, curi
ous mistakes have resulted.
Now when the glue has dried do
we have a glass plate that contains
all the information that has been
written down with ink and also
the scales where nature itself has
written its information.
By this time the glass plates are
ready to be put under the micro
scope and examined. Scale after
scale is carfully looked over, the
winter ring and summer eros count
ed and written down. ,
From the herring bought there
will always be a great number that
has lost their biggest scales and
thus make the herring valueless as
far as experiments are concerned.
When the herring have been exam
ined we are able to determine hov
many there are of each and thus
determine the percentage of those
of three, four, five years, etc.
The following table shows one
of the experiments:
6 year-born 1920-7 of them 15%
7 year born 1919 5 of them 71 %
8- year 191S 2S of them 61 %
9- year born 1917 2 of them \4 %
10- yr. born 1916 0 0%
12- yr. born 1915 2 4 %
13- yr. born 1913 2 4 %
If the herring sample in this ex
periment had not been so small we
would have had some that has been
four or five years, and some thjt
were ten and eleven years—and
very likely a few that would -have
been over thirteen years old. But
the sample was too small to be a re
presentation for such details.
It is the percentage that we are
mostly interested in, and it is very
remarkable that 61 per cent of the
herring—in other words over a
half of them are eight years old;
while the rest of them are divided
in the other classes. This fact may
not be so outstanding before we ask
the question Why is it that the one
particular age is so strongly re
presented in the sample case. The
first answer possibly may be that
it happened by chance that there
were so many eight-years old
and another sample case may prove
other wise, for instance that there
would be goodly numbers of nine
[or ten, or about equally divided in
all classes-.
However the correct answer can
be given on the strength of the
'earlier experiments this year, and
(he conclusion is following. This
year (1920') we find of the eight
year group, a great, majority. It Is
nothing more than what we would
expect to find—a majority of the
8-year old herring. It could have
been told last year.
These 8-year old herring, as the
table shows were frbm the year
1918, and we were aware of this
fact two years ago. that there were
more frye from the year 1918 than
any other year. Consequently this
i result came not as a surprise but
rather as a verification of previous
'years’ experiments.
There is also a difference as to
the qualities of the herring. The
herring from 1917 for instance may
not he as good as the herring from
1918, or vice versa. These differ
ence of qualities from year to
year are not small. On the con
trary they are quite big,, and would
almost be unbelievable if it were
not for the material and proof at
hand
In order to be able to give a cor
rect impression as to the strength
of the proof, and also the difference
in the qualities of the herring one
year in comparison with that of
another experiment was made of 13
fair sized samples taken from the
beginning to the close of the Vaar
sild season of 1915. This sorting
or experiment may be imagined to
have been carried out in the follow- j
ing way:
After the herring according to its
age has been sorted it is laid in
small holes, five in each box and all
holes where there are herring of the
same age are placed on top of each j
other. When there are less than
five herring the box is made equally
3mall. These boxes placed on top
of each other are put on the floor
so that those boxes containing the
younger herring are found further
to the left. After this comes the
next year, etc. The next sample is
placed on the floor below, etc. By
the time we are thru we have quite
a series of experiments with the age
written on top of the fish and below
the year it was hatched in.
This shows several striking feat
ures: First that every sample con
tains a lot of herring that were 11
years in 1915. Furthermore that in
the later sample one found more
herring that are five years old, and
the amount of 11-years decreases.)
Without that the proportion bo
* I
tween the groups of eleven and five
years old and other groups is put
out of place. The numbers of those
in the other group decreases also.
The conclusion is this that there is
a great difference in the amount
of herring from, one year to anoth
er. For instance, in 1904 there
were 25 times as much herring as
any other year and that in spite ofi
the fact that all the herring from j
1904 were older and had been!
greatly reduced in comparison with'
the younger herring of 1909.
It also proves that the Vaarsild i
which come early in the spring to j
the shore to spawn are not uniform j
or entirely alike. The increasing J
numbers of the 5-year old herring ^
proved that conclusively for the |
year 1915, and other years are ev-j
on more decidedly so. A more mi
nute examination of the observa
tions which are too intricate and
vast for this article has lead to the
following concisions:
There is every year a group of
older herring that has spawned be
fore and in the winter comes in to
the coast. This group (the old
spawners) are the ones that the
fishermen gets outside the coast of
Trondelagen, and more sometime
before the Vaarsild season begins,
and when the Vaarsild season is
in its beginning, the herring when
first caught belongs to the so-called
(
Quality
and
Quantity
For less at
The
Modern Grocery
Buy at Star Bakery and Save Mo < /
Fresh Doughnuts, Cup Cakes, * oo'"ir.
and Cinnamon Rolls
Always on Hand Fresh
STAR BAKERY
AMERICA FIRST arrives in Pe
tersburg Friday morning, leaving
for Juneau via Kake and way ports
about noon.
HAHOW TRANSPORTATION
COMPANY
^— - \
JACOBITZ TAXI
DAY & NIGHT SERVICE
Stand at Arctic Hotel
Phone 35
ALASKA CAFE j
George Kim, Proprietor
Meals at all Hours
i Good Services, Fair Prices ::
We Solicit Your Trade
“old spawners.”
Later on in the season another
type of herring comes along in
larger or smaller quantities. The
fishermen notice that this herring
is less and the scales also provb
that this one is younger. In 1915
the majority of them were 5-yeai
old; another year they were four
year old and still another year there
came to the shore great numbers
of the 4-5 and 6-year oldls.
The young herring may fittingly
be called Recruits, because they are
the ones that spawn for the first
time. According to the quantities
of the recruits—whether they are
largt*. or small the Vaarsild will ap
pear differently, especially as to
size. As a rule the recruits are
younger and accordingly smaller
than the old spawners. In the
year 1910 the increase of the re
cruits were amazingly large, and al
so in 1917 and 1923.
Due to the “age method” it is
quite possible to follow along and
know what goes on within the her
ring population, both during the
season or even from year to year.
If we are to give a picture or illus
tration as to what takes place from
year to year, we would have to se
cure all the single experiments for
a season and place them according
to age. In order to obtain true fig
ures and information, it is neces
sa.ry to obtain many samples, and
especially is it necessary to have
them during those seasons when the
recruits are especially large. Not
all the season’s observations have
been satisfactory; but fortunately,
it is possible to compose the differ
ent results from one season to
another and thus arrive to a fair
conclusion.
In the illustration that I have
worked out as to the age division
is boxed the same as my former il
lustration, only with this difference
that each floor stands for a year ,as
in my former illustration it stands
for the next sample.
These series of age divisions
gives quite a clear illustration as
::: When in Town Stop at :::
! ARCTIC HOTEL |
First Class Rooms :::
Reasonable Rates
ip CARL ROGER, Pro. |
Hi) 1 BoiHS
Home Service Mending
of Laundered Goods
We give full value for your
money.
H. OYAIViA, PRO.
xice»»»»sce^io:oo:o;ciox>^i2o:o? to’
|»«m»»nnnnnn»:nnnm:?nnttn«
| Sanitary Market
A Roast you’ll like
: The Very Choicest Beef
Mutton and Pork
!: Vegetable in Season
r
SITKA HOT SPRING
HEALTH RESORT
Rate $3.00 per
day and up
Dr. Goddard, Pro.