A Letter to Hon. Tom D. McKeown Replying
To His Speech Before Congress
Ketchikan, Alaska
Feb. 10, 1930
Hon. Tom D. McKeown,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. McKeown:
.. ALASKA .FISHERIES: Your
Address of Jan. 25, 1930. ,
. VI should not have taken part
in that matter except for the
fact of my high regard and per
sonal friendship for Mr. Henry
O’Malley who is the head of that
department, and my personal
knowledge of his conscientious
performance of his duty in Alas
ka.”
Your high regard for Mr.
O’Malley should rather lead you
to scrutinize his conduct in view
of the charges. My experience
in , fidelity bonding business
when I had to do with the sure
ty of the honesty of thousands
of persons in all walks of life is
this—the greater the trust, the
greater the necessity for scru
tiny. It is the fellow in high of
fice having the absolute confi
dence of his Board of Directors
t.nd whose administration is not(
audited that later wrecks the in
stitution. So much for your'
first “reason.”
“My personal knowledge of
his conscientious performance
of his duty.”
As a matter of fact your
speech indicates that you do not
know ANYTHING about Mr.
O’Malley’s conscientious perfor
mance of his duty EXCEPT
what Mr. O’Malley tells you
and considering his self-inter
est, you should apply the rules
of evidence in this regard as you
would in a court of law or equity
The Task of O’Malley
The job of administering the
fisheries »of Alaska is not diffi
cult as you claim. It is like the
slave question—difficult only for
those who would compromise.
After Lincoln issued his procla
mation, the rest was easy. It is
like the difficulty of standing
an egg on end—easy when you
know how. It is like the Gordi
an knot, easy for the right per
son. The length of the coast
line as you suggest does not
make the job harder if you
start with the right principle.
Justice
There is such a thing as
justice.
You as a man of influence and
one who has expressed himself
erroneously, owe it to the 5,000
natives of Southeast Alaska to
take the time to inform your
self and if our FACTS are strong
enough, you should have the
courage to expose Mr. O’Malley
in spite of your confessed per
sonal friendship. Isn’t that so?
The Matter of Making the
Regulations
Mr, O’Malley makes the regu
lations in spite of what the law
says.
After he makes his first drafv,
he goes to San Francisco and
to Seattle Washington, and there
calls together conferences of
'‘those Interested in Alaska fist -
eries” as he terms it, but in
le^lity the cannery and trap in- 1
terests which you have defend-1
ed. In theory, we can go there.
Practically, we cannot go be
tt.
cause we have not the money.
After these conferences, Mr.
O’Mklley publishes the regula
tions detrimental to our form
of gear. |
fUt’r - Examples j
£he regulation which prohib-*:
itef! strolling with power boats
durjng January, February and
March of each year was so pub
lished. After much argument,
O’Malley finally admitted
CBefc 23*1929) that “the closed
season of three months from
January 1 through March 31 is
less effective as a conservation
measure than at first contem
plated." As a matter of fact,
this regulation is an insane one
promulgated without informa
tion of any kind by a person to
tally ignorant of salmon trolling
in Alaska and based partly if not
wholly on tagging experiments
conducted about Vancouver Is
land more than 300 miles from
our nearest waters. In speaking
about the force of these experi
ments, Mr. O’Malley said (Jan.
23, 1929) “If the same thing ap
plies in the Alaska troll fishery"
etc. But why soak us on a guess
especially when we know from
personal experience that this
closing order has absolutely NO
value as a conservation meas
ure.
The Hook-Off
Without notice to resident
iishermen of Alaska, Mr. O’Mal
ley prohibited the “Hook-oil”
with seines. I wonder if you
know what that means or why
our people were forced to this
device for fishing. The fact is
• his—all our seining grounds are
closed “in the interest of conser
ation” and so we are forced tc
fish in the open channels and
waters which are favorable only
to trap fishing. The essential
difference is this, traps fish suc
cessfully only where the fish are
moving hence traps are placed
where the tides are strong and
swift. Seines fish normally on
ly where the tide is slack and
where the fish have already
schooled. When our seines were
forced out into the trap areas,
we had to do exactly as they do
—put out a lead from the shore
and force the fish to school. This
is called the “hook-off.” Mr.
O'Malley without notice to us
prohibited us from doing pre
cisely what he permits the fish
trap to do—run a lead to the
shore. Indeed when he did
come to Alaska, we called a
meeting and invited him to at
tend. He refused on the excuse
that he was scheduled to go to
Anan Creek “to inspect the
weir” and then “to catch the
tide at Wrangell Narorws.”
Since the government dredged
the Narrows, even the large
steamers can pass without hav
ing “to catch the tide." This ex
cuse is not legitimate because
iint.rrip
Tenakee Inlet
If you will look at the map,
you will see that this is a long
protected bay about 30 miles
long. When this bay was clos
ed, the seiners were totally de
prived of their catch of fish go
ing to this bay (180,000 accord
ing to the Bureau of Fisheries
figures for that year). The three
traps within the restricted area
merely moved out and found
positions from which they not|
only caught their former amount I
tut also the amounts thereto
fore caught by the seiners. In
ether words, Conservation by
Seiners Only—and Henry O’Mal
Ity knows this for we have pro
tested before.
Saginaw Bay
Saginaw Bay is one of the
principal and ancient fishing
grounds of the 300 natives who
live at Kake. It is on the north
west end of Kuiu Island. In the
interest of conservation this bay
was closed to Pt Cornwallis.
This put both the seines and
traps out of business so that no
body caught any fish. For some
mysterious reason, the line on
the north shore was moved to
ward the inner bay a distance of
1000 yards. The Alaska Consol
idated Canneries (really the
Bank of California) placed its J
trap in the newly opened area, ]
and have caught around ONE '
MILLION fish annually while >
tht Natives were able to catch
NONE. Suppose, Mr. McKeown, -
' i
you were a native of Kake and
Mr. O’Malley allowed a large
non-resident corporation to
catch hundreds of thousands of
salmon and stopt you from
catching ten thousand all in the
name of “conservation,” would
n’t you feel that this was dis
crimination? Or would you say
that it was all right out of your
friendship for Mr. Henry O’Mal
ley, the perpertrator of this dis
crimination?
Kasaan Bay
This is a large bay on the east
side of Prince of Wales Island.
Look at your map. The l^ay
lias several large tributaries. Mr.
O Malley will show you that on
ly a small portion of this huge
bay is closed to fishing, but he
does not inform you that as to
the seiners there, it is a closure
of the entire bay from Pt. Grin
dell to Island Point because the
only places where 'the seiners
can catch fish with their type of
gear are closed. THE CON
TRAST. However two huge
traps guard the entrance to
Kasaan Bay, which traps catch
o7er ONE MILLION fish that are
tceking the headwaters of Kasa
an Bay. When I appealed to
Mr. O’Malley agaipst this in
justice he said that he felt he
should leave the lines where
they were because there was a
poor trapowner ndmed Miller
who would be wiped out. I see
Mrs. Miller in town on occasion
and she manages to keep her
fur coat glossy I just got a
letter from a native in Kasaan
FINEST
STEAMERS
LARGEST
FLEET
Leave Seattle SB
Petersburg
Alameda
Alameda
Northwestern
Pass. & Freight to S.E. & W. Alaska.
Phone 15
Petersburg, Alaska
==s
darl Jlarolhunt
PETERSBl RG
ALASKA
Dealer In
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Boards, Paper Knives
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Indian made Silver
Spoons, Forks,Bracelets.
Butter Knives and Sugar
Tongs
MAIL ORDERS RECEIVE
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Factory Lumber
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S
asking me to try and get help
for a poor woman named Mrs.1
Williams who is destitute be-1
cause her children cannot catch ■
enough fish to feed thir immedi
ate families to say nothing of
her. The writer tells me that
the woman was left a widow
with “absolutely nothing and noj
means of support whatsoever.”
Since her husband’s death, she
has gone through life that is
beyond human expression.”
X could go on almost indefinitely
and prove that Mr. O’Melley is
not deserving of your confidence
and is defenseless. He places
the dead-line always at the
point where the fish school and
thus practically prohibits our
fishing because we cannot catch
f:sh anywhere else. If the fish
school 200 yards from the creek,
the line is placed 300 yards from
the creek. If the fish school
one mile from the creek, the line
is placed just beyond that point.
ry
DOES IT BEST
SANITARY
Carefully Handled Clothing
Satisfied Customers
Wash Days, Monday, Tuesday And Friday
Citizens Steam Laundry
Alaskan Glacier Sea Food Co.
Ohmer Will Buy Halibut For The t
[ Fresh Fish Market. See Earl
Before You Sell Your Fare.
Halibut, Salmon,and Trout
Frye’s “DELICIOUS” BRAND BACON always ccmes to you
juicy, mildi flavory and wholesome. The great Frye plant is
within a few hours distance of most all the territory it serves
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Four slices of f RYE’S “DELICIOUS” BRAND BACON every
morning with eggs and coffee! It’s the recipe for leaping into
the day in “high gear” .... and finishing in “high.”
Send 3c to Frye & Co., Seattle, for their famous
“Meat Guide” Contains 187 recipes.
H
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