THE ALASKA FISHERMAN
Published the 15th of each month at Ketchikan, Alaska
WILLIAM L. PAUL, ATTORNEY FOR THE
ALASKA NATIVE BROTHERHOOD
Entered as second - class matter at the Post Office at
KETCHIKAN, ALASKA
SUBSCRPTION PRICE $2.00 FOR TWELVE ISSUES
OUR PLATFORM:
ALASKA FOR ALASKANS.
FULL TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
ABOLISHMENT OF ALL TRAPS.
COMPETENT CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP.
ELECTION IS OVER
The election is over, Dan Sutherland was re
elected by three thousand majority, Paul and
his Republican colleagues were elected, Alaska
is still here, business goes serenely on, and the
only sore heads are those who failed to heed
the Juneau Empire’s righteous blah about bet
ting on elections.
THE POWER OF THE PRESS
A political campaign has just ended in which
every newspaper of the Territory, with the ex
ception of one or two small papers which have
always refrained from taking a stand on any
public question, and of two so-called Indian
Papers, were arrayed on one side, the side
which went decisively to defeat.
Just how powerful is the press? We are
frequently treated 'to high sounding editorials
in some of these same papers about the high
ethics of their duty to the public in moulding
public opinion, and their consciousness of their
responsibility to the community in holding up
ideals of righteousness and integrity.
Yet, as a result of this election, these news
papers must admit either that the press holds no
such place of power in the community as they
have been claiming, or else that the two little de
spised “Siwash” papers have more influence in
Territorial affairs than all the other papers
from Nome to Hyder put together.
The truth is that the average man judges the
value of what he reads in a newspaper by his
knowledge of the character of the man who
wrote it,
A JAPANESE IS ENTITLED TO JUSTICE
Very few Americans have pity for a Jap, hut
all should admit that a Jap is entitled to justice.
A Jap named Harry Saito owned a building
in Wrangell and had a dispute with his neigh
bor as to the ownership of the sidewalk be
tween the two. Commissioner Thomas issued
a warrant and had the Jap arrested for Criminal
Trespass. The jury found the poor Jap guilty
and Thomas sentenced him to 62 days in jail.
Thomas knows the law and the limitations of
his jurisdiction. He knows that his court has
no right to try title to property, and yet hie
does it under a law intended for an entirely
different set of facts:
iNo trespass to property is a crime at common
law UNLESS it is accompanied by or tends to
create a breach of the peace. Something more
must be done than what amounts to a mere
civil trespass, expressed by the terms ‘vi et
armis’ (38 Cyc 1175).
“The act must involve a common-law tres
pass which would not be a civil trespass.”
Section 1803 of the Compiled Laws plainly
says that a commissioner’s court cannot try title
to land and whenever the question of title is
raised, the commissioner mus(t forthwith stop the
case and send it up to the District Court.
Even a Jap has rights. Let them be respected.
The question seems to be, What was the
matter with the Marquam campaign? Perhaps
the most intelligent answer comes from a group
of “illiterate Indians” who were talking over
the campaign. One person expressed their
thought when he said, “The trouble with Mar
quam and his friends was that they spent all
their time talking about the other fellow and
never said a word about what they would do if
elected.”
At Ketchikan, Marquam spent one hour and
a half proving that Sutherland had slandered
Ketchikan. Sutherland had previously spoken
to practically the same audience and had points
ed out the rotten conditions which prevailed in
Ketchikan and further charged that the elected
and appointed officials were responsible for
those conditions. Further, hundreds of citizens
in the hall agreed with Sutherland. This was
evident when Marquam asked for a show of
hands to support his charges. The show of
hands were about twenty five the first time and
about fifty upon the second exhortation by Mar-!
quam.