THE ALASKA FISHERMAN_
Published the 15 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.
"BOLSHEVIK?” or “RADICAL?”
“We are free today substantially, but the day
will come when our Republic will be an impos
sibility. It will be an impossibility because
wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a
few. A republic can not stand upon bayonets,
and when the day comes, when the wealth of
the nation will be in the hands of a few, then
we must rely upon the wisdom of the best ele
ments in the country to readjust the laws of
the nation to the change|d conditions.”
—JAMES MADISON.
FISH TRAPS or HAND GEAR
We will tell a true story.
Along about 1904 we were fishing at Eagle
Creek on Prince of Wales Island, and counted
about 15 seine crews averaging five men each.
A little later, we went to Lake Bay and there
we saw 8 seineboats. Later on we went to
Salmon Bay and there saw about 20 seineboats.
The total for that district was all of over 40
seineboats, each averaging 5 men, who were
supporting families so that these 40 boats with
their 200 men were supporting at least 600 resi
dent fishermen and families. This had continued
for many years.
Then the fish trap came into existence.
Today there is not a single seine crew that
supports itself at any one of these creeks and
the fish trap only employs about ten men, nearly
all of whom are single and are brought from
Seattle by the Seattle and Portland owners of
the trap.
Take your choice, Mr. Alaska Business Man,
which was the better condition for Alaska, the
200 fishermen who with their families spent all
they earned here, or the ten trap
men and watchers who come from Seattle, buy
nothing here, and leave just as soon as the
fishing season closes?
The Paramount Issue in Alaska.
We have talked to many people on the subject
of politics and usually ask them this question.
“What is the real and vital issue in Alaskan
politics today?” None have answered correctly.
The real and paramount issue in Alaskan
politics is MORALITY. This comes before
fish, mining or anything else. All the indignat
ion which has been expressed in many telegrams
to Washington and all the denounciations of ,
Dan Sutherland have been for the single pur
pose of HIDING the lawlessness that prevails
in certain well known spots in Alaska.
IN JUNEAU— I
What does anybody see the first thing when
he gets off the steamer in Juneau at the City
Dock? Why a long row of bawdy houses. This
in the capital city of Alaska which is the home
of the Governor, the Secretary of the Territory,
the Treasurer, the United States Judge, the
United States Attorney, the United States Mar
shal, his deputies, the Commissioner of Educat
ion, three Protestant ministers, the Roman
Catholic Priest, a full set of city officials and
what not, the many representatives of the many
Federal Bureaus. Every one of these must pass
these bawdy houses to get in and out of Juneau.
There is no way around them.
And yet the City Council of Juneau, the
Commercial Club of Juneau and most of the
men occupying positions as above named have
wired to Washington saying that Sutherland
is a liar and that rottenness does not exist in
Juneau.
It is positively disgusting that the descent
citizens of Juneau have allowed themselves to
shut their eyes to this condition that exists in
their very front yard by men that they elect to
office.
i
IN KETCHIKAN
Our residence is within 200 feet of that fine
new school building of which the city of Ket
chikan is so proud. There the very finest child
ren in the world gather each day to learn their
studies, about civic government, civic virtue and
the glorious history of our country.
And yet fully one half of these children must
pass within 200 feet of the bawdy house of
Ketchikan, a district protected by the Mayor
of the town, his city council, the city police,
the United States Marshal, and the “leading”
business men of the town who say that this is
“necessary for business in order to keep the
fishermen in town.”
There is not a single man in Ketchikan that
does not know that this rotten, filthy, debauched