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LOUIS F. PAUL, - -- -- - - - EDITOR
C. O. PARKS,.BUSINESS MANAGER
Pubished every Friday by the Alaska Native Brotherhood Pub
lishing Company at Petersburg, Alaska.
Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES;
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YEARS OF FAMINE
-x
In our humble opinion, Alaska
must face three years of famine.
More than a million and a
half cases of salmon are on the
market today at prices which
mean the death of the operator
who is not strong financially.
Virtually all of the small opera
tors of last year are facing ruin
and disaster. Many of them were
unable to pay even for the
salmon which they canned;
their stock and equipment ac
counts have not been met. They
are unable to finance operations
this year. The larger corpora
tions are curtailing operations—
eliminating duplication of effort j
by closing down various units
in different sections of the ter
ritory. But they plan to utilize
their traps and use as little of
the seine-caught salmon as
possible.
Attention is again called to
i he Canadian system which
though packing less salmon an
nually, yet employs more resi
dent fishermen than does the
Alaska packing combine. In Ca
nada there is no trap system
and all salmon are caught by
gillnets and seiners. Under this
system a cheaper salmon is pro
duced in spite of the statement
that the trap system is the most
efficient and scientific.
Canadian salmon last yeai
cost from two to four cents per
fish while the Alaska product
trap caught—cost the packers
from twelve to fourteen cents
This price thereby was the
standard demanded by seinert
but they got a bit less. The cost
cf corporation-owned traps rais
ed the cost of salmon to a highei
level than the system as wa;
worked out in Canada. The Alas
ka system then is not the “effi
cient, scientific” method ascrib
ed. It must therefore be changed
by the canners themselves i
they would save the industry
from going on the rocks.
Where the Resident Business
is Hurt
Under the American system
a thousand men are employed
as trap watchmen and two thou
sand seiners, to put up five mil
lion cases of salmon Under tht
Canadian system nine thousand
gillnetters and seiners put up a
little over two million cases. The
Canadian fishermen make a
better living, according to a sur
vey of the situation than does
the Alaska fishermen. The busi
ness situation in Canada there
tore is in a healthier conditioi
than it is in Alaska where resi
dent business men are carrying
and have been carrying fisher
men accounts for several years
always in the hope that enough
would be earned to wipe out th
accounts. Instead, however, the
accounts grow each year and th
ciebit accounts of the busines.
men grow heavier as they try t»
meet wholesale accounts.
For several years we have
tried to convince the business
men of this condition but they
have preferred to listen to the
,alse prophets; they have been
lulled to sleep by the songs of
the non-resident sirens whc
without compunction operate
without thought of the future
of the industry and without re
gard to the human side of the
problem.
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WASTE OF ALASKA TIMBER
By E. S. Hungerford
-x
Forestry experts estimate *hat
seven hundred million feet of
timber may be cut annually from
the Alaska forests without the
least danger of depleting the
supply. No one, to my knowledge,
nas given any estimate of the
loss suffered annually from rot.
But it may be reasonably assum
ed that it is equal to the poten
tial production capacity, less the
amount utilized.
When the industries of Alaska]
market or utilize less than that
amount, we are wasting, not
conserving our national re
sources. During the past twenty
years, despite the increase of de
mand and improvement in meth
ods of handling, we have utilized
less than one fourteenth of our
potential capacity.
I wish to go most emphatical
ly on record as saying that it is
not the quality of our timber,
nor our geographical situation,
but the Forest Service who are
responsible for this waste.
There is a market and a pro
fitable market for 50 per cent of
our timber today in sufficient
volume to keep pace with pro
duction. It is a market which
our millmen and loggers stand
willing to exploit for the benefit
of themselves and Alaska. It is a
market independent of pulp
mills , a much higher priced
market. The returns from which
would be spent 100 per cent in
Alaska.
It may reasonably be asked:
‘Why have we not been profiting
by this market?”
The answer is not flattering,
nor do I take any pleasure in
rying to make the matter clear
o the vision of men and women
not acquainted with the timber
business. I feel like a man who
‘s stirring up a ffithy mess with
a stick, with the idea that my
fellow citizens may see fit to of
'er a hand in its removal. I justi
y my actions by the simple
tatement: Filthy messes breed
disease.
Cancerous growths on our
body politic are the business cf
every American citizen and call
'or serious consideration. If we
’o not treat the growths in their
arlier stages, they become deep
ooted and dangerous They may
~ot be immediately fatal but
r.h°y are weakening, painful and
*emain always a source of worry
and danger. Our Forest Depart
ment in the administration of
the national conservation nro
rram here in Alaska is badlv in
seed of a good, big dose of the
erum of comon sense.
Conservation may be likened
o a cold. Doctors tell us that
"hey are really desirable in one
way; they relieve the system ol
a lot of impurities. But let the
olds settle in your lungs, like
the Forest Department has set
ted here in Southeastern Alaska
md it becomes a case of pneu
monia, which calls for serious
aedical attention. But let u« gef
■ack to the subject of trees.
Our millmen can go out and
get orders for various items ol
mill produce. Profitable orders.
">r at least they should be pro
fitable. The margin for manu
facture at a profit is ample. Our
'oggers can go out and get orders
For logs for export, at a pree
"onsiderably above what they are
ailing their logs for locally.
Why then can they not pros
oer?
Our representatives put the
Forest Department in charge of
our national forests to insure on
economical and helpful admin
:stration in the broader sense.
They put under its control all.
or practically all, of the land in
outheastern Alaska. On thi~
.'and stands a virgin forest prao
Really 100 per cent ripe an
ready to cut. Owing to climati
conditions, a peculiar conditio1
of affairs prevail in this forest
Forest fires are practically un
known.
We would naturally suppose
hat an organization of such
broad-minded experts would
have seen the crying need of
marketing this deteriorating
timber and the putting of the
land to work producing a new
crop. In fact, I have been told
by individuals in the Service,
that the sooner the land was
put to work growing a new crop,
the better the forestry practice.
These are individuals, however.
How has the Forest Service
met the test?
Thoy have succeeded in kill
ing ofl the healthy, growing mill
business which was already es
tablished when they took charge.
They have done this by estab
lishing a vicious cycle in the
name of “conservation.” They
have kept public sentiment
smoothed down by promises of
great activity and profits from
pulp mills, just around the corn
ier. They have excused and ac-j
; counted for the failure of our
sawmills and helped their down
j fall by some of the most flag-1
lantly untruthful and rnislead
| ing propaganda that has ever
been written.
Their chief propagandist, u !
F. Heintzleman, is fond of refer-1
ring to the “Pulp Fore t of j
Southeastern Alaska,” giving j
It hereby the general impression
of cheapness or inferiority I ana
not a trained Forestry Expert,
nor do I put myself up as such
I am merely a logger who has
seen hard service in the pine,
ledwcod and fir forests of th
Pacific Coast states, with seven
teen years at the game here in'
i Southeastern Alaska I have liaci
the pleasure of looking at a vast
lot of country and timber in the
twenty-two years of my resi-j
jdence here in Alaska. This is my
i verdict: If the forests of South -
I eastern Alaska are pulp forests
{and nothing else, then so also
nvp the forests of California
i
! Oregon and Washington.
| We have just as nice timber,
Imd in many places heavier
stands than many countries en
1 oying the benefits of a prosper
ous mill business. The only dif
ference I can see, other than a
difference in species, is the a
: mount of rotten or cull timber;
caused by the lack of cleansing
1 fires. This inferior grade of tim
ber, which is mixed with the
better timber in greater or less
er proportions, is what I have
always considered pulp timber.
It is a timber which, with our
present market demands, cannot
be handled at a profit as a saw
mill timber. It is a timber which
is not very desireable even as a
• pulp timber, altho it is possible
to utilize some of it. It is this
timber which is being used as a
club to hold our sawmills from
I c xpansion and to thereby pre
! vent the development of a lum
ber industry in Alaska.
I If you owned a store and were
, compelled to buy goods from a
j wholesaler who would not fill
your order for butter and sugar,
which sold fairly well, unless
you took a like amount of dry
i beans which your costumers
i didn't want regardless of how
many beans you already had in
stock, you would be in the same
position that the Alaska mil!
ma" and logger is in toda.y.
In order to get timber to fill
| order-? the mills have to take a
varying amount of timber urfit
j ted for available markets. It
i speaks well cf the Alaska forests
j that they have been able to
operate even to the extent they
have.
me cuu/irig regulations ui uie
Forest Department take no heed
of this fact, nor do they take
;.ny heed of modern forest prac
tice which has come to recog
nize the added waste of hand
ling unprofitable material. They
introduced several years ago and
itre still enforcing the cutting
techinque of the timber hog.
without the saving grace of al
.owing the market demands to
determine what is and what is
not merchantable. They tell us
we must sell beans to a world
market already overstocked with
beans and to do without milk
and sugar.
No one can afford to pay the
weight on a rotten log when the
height on a sound one is no
more. No sawmill can survive
sawing rotten timber. Even a
pulp mill will turn up its nose
at a ten inch log which is two
thirds rotten, yet here is the de
finition of merchantable timber
as defined in the cutting regula
tions of the Forest Department
in the Tongass National Forests:
“All spruce saw logs are mer
chantable which are not less
than 16 feet long, at least ten
inches in diameter inside bark
at the small end and scaling 50
per cent of their gross scale;
Provided, that sound knots shall
not be regarded as defects.”
The trees which must be cut
are defined as follows: “Any tree
which in the judgement of the
Forest officer contains one or
more logs, merchantable as
hereinafter defined and having
a net total scale of 25 per cent
of the tree, may be marked or
designated for cutting as a mer
chantable tree.”
The above two paragraphs are
taken from a seven-page docu
ment which constitutes a timbei
sales agreement. I have no quar
icl with the balance of the con
ditions under which the loggei
must operate. They deal with
sanitation brush disposal fire
; entrol, height of stumps, etc.,
but under the head of other
conditions, the vicious cycle to
which I referred to above is
completed. Here it is: “Timber
c ut under this contract shall not
be exported from the Territory
of Alaska in the form of logs,
cordwood, bolts or other raw
products for primary manufac
ture elsewhere without the con
sent of the District Forester ”
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JOSEPH O. RUDE H
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Over People’s I)ruj? Store ||
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Home 66
u attmmutmrnmmmmmmmasmm
^aaomc*ccao:o:omo:cto:o:acco;ox>:<202a
Dr. A. B. Kearsley
Physician & Surgeon
Wrangell
Alaska
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“Licensed Embalmer"
Petersburg, Alaska.
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COAL
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Every Month
in the Year!
1930 SALES DATE {
1991 SALES DATES
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June lb Oct. 20
July 14 Mov. 17
April 14 August 18 Dec. 15
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INFORMATION AND TICKETS:
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Petersburg-Alaska
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