SPECIAL SALE!
I
| For a FEW DAYS ONLY OUR ENTIRE STOCK of |
Winter and Spring Coats 1
All of these garments have been selling a t unusually low figures and with the
additional discount they are now being offered at prices which cannot again be
duplicated.
These coats are of the latest style and of the best materials obtainable. They
H consist of Chinelle-Boliva, Broadcloth, V elour, Serge, Silver Tone and Wonunba,
in all the new shades.
We have also received a new shipment d ^rect from Fifth Avenue, New York, of
Afternoon Dresses
J| These are all in up-to-the-minute styles, in beautiful color combinations, in the
Foulards, Georgette Crepe, Crepe Metor, Charmeuse, Crepe de Chine and Chif
fon Taffetas. Some with touches of embroidery, others with beaded effects.
Also new Serge Dresses and Skirts. All of these are the best values we have
ever offered.
C©rd©va Style SI a [
OF BIOSS CAUSE
The following article, prepared and
presented by Mr. John Rustgard, vice
chairman, was read and approved at
a recent meeting of the Alaska terri
torial council of national defense, and
it was directed that the council of na
tional defense be requested to lend its
aid in procuring the enactment of a
law carrying into effect the recommen
dations contained in the article:
The time seems opportune for again
■calling the attention of the public au
thorities to the vast destruction of hu
man food caused by the swarms of
wild predatory birds which prey on
fish and fish eggs near our shores.
Alaska has a coast line of some
twenty-five thousand, miles, ninety per
cent of which borders on waters teem
ing with valuable food fishes while
the fishing banks of the adjoining
oceans are not equalled as fishing
grounds in any part of the world. Yet
the government of the United States
is sedulously protecting from molesta
tion untold billions of sea fowls whose
only mission in life is to destroy the
food fishes now so sadly needed to
feed humanity. For the purpose of
preventing the overstocking of the
■ocean, these fowls undoubtedly served
at one time a good purpose in the
economic scheme of nature, but now
that the sea food is needed by man,
the natural enemies of the fish have
become the enemies of man as well,
and allies of the U-boat.
The fishes in which we are special
ly interested at the present time are
herring and salmon. Let us consider
the effect of these birds on these
species:
Practically every female herring
spawns some thirty thousand eggs in
a year. A gull, or other sea fowl, will
eat several times that many eggs in
a day. Assuming that all eggs might,
if protected, be brought to maturity,
the spawn from one herring has a po
tential capacity of sixty barrels of
herring. Assuming that a gull con
sumes two hundred thousand eggs per
day—which is probably a very low
estimate, it destroys during the spawn
ing season of two weeks, herring eggs
of a potential capacity of five thou
sand six hundred barrels Scotch cured
herring. In other words, one gull de
stroys more herring in two weeks
than the average seine crew destroys
in a season.
Nor are the gulls alone in this
work. They are assisted by a large
variety of other species of birds. The
number of these agents of destruction
is incalculable, but along the Alaskan
coast line there are certainly millions
of billions of them. They live almost
exclusively on fish, fish eggs and fish
fry.
Mr. Ernest P. Walker, inspector in
the service of the bureau of fisheries,
after an investigation of this subject
on the herring spawning grounds of
southeastern Alaska, reported that
about fifty per cent of the herring
eggs were laid above low water mark
Of these, fully ninety-five per cent
were consumed by the gulls, and that
of the fifty per cent laid below low
water mark, fully nine-five per cent
were consumed by ducks of different
species.
“The most destructive of the en
emies of the herring,” reports Mr.
Walker, ‘‘are the myriad of water
fowls of the region. As the time of
spawning approaches and the herring
schools up in the vicinity of their
grounds, these winged hordes congre
gate in the vicinity in vast flocks,1
best described as clouds of birds, and
remain there the entire time that the1
herring are about. I
“From the time the fish first appear
in the region, usually early in the win
ker, the birds begin to collect. During
this time they feed on the adult her
:ring, and by the time the herring are
ready to spawn many of the migratory
birds have arrived to augment the
block. They prey on these fish from
daylight until dark for the entire time
and practically without cessation,
often becoming so gorged as to be un
able to fly; but as soon as the food
becomes somewhat digested they are
filling themselves again. When they
are gorging themselves it is a com
mon sight to see a gull take half a
dozen adult herring in as many min
utes.
“During the spawning season, these
vast voracious swarms feed almost ex
clusively on the eggs of the herring.
At Craig nineteen birds were killed^
and their stomachs examined to ascer-J
tain their contents. Of these there
were only three not gorged to their ut
most capacity with eggs from the crop
of the pylorus, and usually even the
mouth was full to overflowing.”
Mr. Walker’s statements as to the
destructive capacity of these enemies
of the herring are not exaggerated, but
are rather conservative. The fact that
lilillilifllifllllllilllilM
the herring schools do not increase
but rather diminish, proves that no
more than two eggs from each female
herring survive—that only two eggs of
each thirty thousand eggs escape these
enemies against whom we have it
largely in our power to protect them.
Attention is frequently called to the
inroads into the supply of herring
caused by the natives who, during
each spawning season, gather and dry
tons of herring eggs for food. That by
this agency a great many hundreds of
thousands of barrels of herring are
destroyed is undoubted, but the
amount thus destroyed by the natives,
when compared with the amount de
stroyed by the birds is infinitesimal,
and it would seem a travesty to pro
hibit the natives from using herring
eggs for food, while we permit the use
less birds to carry on their devasta
tions not only unabated but under pro
tection.
The seining of herring during and
immediately prior to spawning is also
a useless w'aste of fish and should be
discontinued, but this feature too is of
minor importance as compared with
the depletion caused by the birds.
The salmon does not fare much bet
ter than the herring. Each female
spaw’ns from three to four thousand
eggs. When the salmon schools do not
increase, it proves that only an aver
age of two eggs out of each lot of three
thousand or four thousand attain ma
turity.
During and after spawning season
one may go up almost any salmon
stream and observe gulls and ducks
standing on their heads in the water
digging salmon eggs out of the sand.
Kill some of them and cut them open
and their crops will be found filled
with salmon eggs. Kill one of these
birds at the mouth of the salmon
stream when the young salmon are
going out, and their crops will be
found well filled with the fry. While
the trout may be a worse enemy of
the young salmon than are the birds,
destruction of the latter will so con
siderably augment the escape of fry
that the depredations of the trout will
be much less noticeable. There can
be no doubt but that the destruction
of the predatory birds would increase
the salmon hatch very much more than
any number of artificial hatcheries
that could be established, and would
cost far less. It is probably safe to
assert that all the hatcheries in Alas
ka do not mature as many salmon as
are destroyed by a small flock of gulls
or ducks.
This subject was given a cursory ex
amination, so far as salmon was con
cerned, by Dr. E. Lester Jones, then
deputy commissioner of fisheries, in
rJH, and he reported his observations
in part as follows:
j Of the birds, probabfy the most
destructive to fish are tJte gulls and
terns, it fs difficult to state adequate
ly the amount of damagp they do and
the menace they are to the future sup
ply of salmon. To make this clear I
will cite one experience r had in west
ern Alaska at Sierra Creek. I inspected
this stream on a rainy day at low
tide, and as 1 approached it at the
mouth my attention was attracted by
a movement of birds itr the water and
along the banks. As P drew nearer 1
saw thousands of salmon fighting their
way up the shallow stream, and among
these fish were gulls, picking out first
one eye and then the other. 1 Hushed
this enormous herd of gulls which, I
believe, numbered at least ten thou
sand. Going closer to the stream I1
found humpback salmon Hoppshg
everywhere, with they eyes gone and
otherwise mutilate*! from the picking
and clawing of these birds. I estim
ated that on this creek alone there
were within sight five thousand fish,
either dead or dying, that had never
spawned. In southeastern Alaska, in
Anan Lagoon, which is supplied by
Gray creek, I noted a similar condi
tion, and picked up many salmon that
*’ ’ 1 *5een unable to get farther up the
stream and were thus killed by gull
or other enemies before spawning. I
could enumerate many other instances
which would merely confirm the result
of these observations.
“There are other fish that suffer
equally as much from the gulls. On
the western coast near Sitka, and in
other regions, earlier in the season,
their prey is principally herring and
their eggs. Many millions are sacri
ficed in this way. rt is beyond com
prehension that this vast number of
birds, so injurious to a great industry
and so destructive to much valuable
food, should be protected by law.
“The terns are also very destructive,
as their food in some localities, con
sists almost solely of .salmon eggs and
young salmon. In several instances I
observed them diving for these eggs
during the spawning season, and upon
killing them their crops would be
found filled with eggs.
‘Another destructive agent to sal
I mon is the American Merganser; com
monly known as the saw-bill. I ob
served many instances where this sal
mon destroyer had dug up eggs under
, the water and had swallowed young
j salmon. * * * ”
| ThfUgh these gluttonous birds serve
, no known good purpose, at the present
time the government protects them in
the most careful manner. The Aleu
tian Islands in their entirety, the delta
of the Yukon river, Forrester Island,
and other places, have been set apart
as bird reserves, making every one a
criminal who puts foot on these sacred
precincts without leave of the offi
cials Forrester Island is a fair spec.i
ment, and the condition there prevail
ing may be used as an illustration:
The waters surrounding this island
are, in season, well supplied with king
salmon. This drew the trawlers, who
established temporary homes on the
island, where they sought shelter in
storms. In the nesting season, in or
der to vary their diet, which naturally
consisted largely of fish food, these
fishermen helped themselves to eggs
from the nests of the wild birds with
which the place swarmed. When the
weather was too stormy for fishing
they would at times take down from
the nests and make themselves pil
lows. When this was discovered the
government put a guard on the island
and ordered everybody off except
those who had written permission.
This permit is granted only on condi
tion that the permittee does not dis
turb the birds. If he does the permit
is revoked.
But it is not only on these reserves
that it is unlawful to kill any wild
birds, or to destroy their nests or eggs,
the law prohibits such acts for all
parts of Alaska, except that ducks may
be hunted in season, and the protec
tion of “eagles, ravens and cormor
ants’*'has finally been removed. The
destruction of these micreants may be
accomplished by persistent hunting
and invasion of the breeding grounds
during the breeding season. Author
ity to do so could probably be granted
by the secretary of agriculture, but it
is not likely that he will take such ac
tion, It becomes imperative that con
gress act and act without delay, and
that the proclamations creating bird
reserves be revoked. If the territory
of Alaska had been vested with au
thority over these subjects, the actions
here recommended would probably
long since have been taken. At the
present time, however, more is needed
than to confer greater power upon the
territory. The local legislature does
not convene for another fourteen
months, and meanwhile congress ought
to make an appropriation to commence
the annihilation of the useless and de
structive wild birds this spring.
If more protection Is given to the
fish) eggs and fish fry, mwb teas worry
need be indulged in over the waste of
the mature fish.
MlicH more of the earth's surface is
covered by water than hy land The
former is as productive of human food
as it the Hatter. We do not any long
er dfepend upon food that grows from
the earth wild and at random. We have
learned to cultivate the land by de
stroying the weeds and protecting and
encouraging those plants which are of
u»e: We mast learn to cultivate the
ocean in the same manner. The sea
fowls and many sea animals are not
only useless to humanity, but are ex
tremely destructive to the valuable
species of sea life. Those are the
weeds against which these must be
protected. As by this system we have
increased the yield of the earth ten
.V.W.'AVtYAWAWAM-'AKV*.*.. ..
thousand/ fiold', so wflr ve By the same
process increase the yield of the ocean
as mucht What say you to thatT
JOUtf RUSTGAftD.
-♦
BILLS ORDERED PAID
Bills paid by the common council of
CordOva- Monday, February 18, 1918:
George Larson, street labor... $ 18.00
M. L. Flsrsman, careeity prison*
er8 -. 42.00
Dr. W. W. Council, care indi
Sent8; . 155.00
Joe Phillips, street work. 18.00
CordOva Power Co., street lights 259.75
Blum-OT'Jeill Co., sundries_ 3 25
Alaska Transfer Cb». coal. 25.65
W. TIfeman, street work. 18.00
EDWAKD F. MEDLEY.
_ Town merit.
..-.vr.,..v,.,.^WTO^v,,,v.v.v.v.v,.v
| Foos Gas Engines I
$ 4 to 500 Horse Power
General Electric Motors 1
| Roebling Tramways
| b Pelton Water Wheels |
| Chicago Oil Engines and Compressors |
I Harmon Machinery Co.Inc |
| Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting
1 CORDOVA, ALASKA
i_ . —mi --- - ' _
I
—Next Steamer—
S. S. ADMIRAL EVANS
Sails from Seattle February 6 Due in Cordova, Westbound Feb. 12.
CALIFORNIA ROUTE
Special Ocean Excursions from Seattle to Sunny California. $33 to
San Francisco and return, final limit of sale February 28th. $50 to
Los Angeles and return. $54 to San Diego and return. Three sail
• Ings a week from Seattle to California points. Arrange your winter
outing through your local agent.
FOR FULL PARTICULARS APPLY
W. A. NOURSE, Agent. Empress Building.
DELIVERY OF COAL
On account of eight hour law, coal orders must be re
ceived before 1 p. m. to insure delivery same day. No
coal delivered after 5 pm.
ALASKA TRANSFER
COMPANY
Office—Northern Hotel Building. Phone 85.
| NORTHERN MEAT MARKET I
% Wholesale and Retail Dealers in %
I FRESH BEEF, PORK, VEAL, MUTTON AND PRO- I
| VISIONS |
Particular Attention and Prompt Service Given to Orders from :j:j
| Mining Camps, Roadhouses and Interior Points
| Halibut and Other Fresh Fish of All Kinds Will Be Kept %
| in Stock When Available |
| SMITH & CLASSBRENNER, Props.