CONGRESSMAN A. M. FREE
The Congressman has been mak
ing a trip through a portion of
Alaska and has learned quite a bit.
Since he signed the minority report
against the White Fish Bill approved
by the Congressional Committee on
Fisheries in 1921 in which Mr. Free
said, “That the seiners were killing
off the fish by using seines over 400
feet deep and also that the power
boats were terrible things when they
would get into a school of fish, on
account of the destruction wrought
by the propellers of the seine boats/’
he has been learning something.
Now he comes out in an inter
view and says, as follows: “Medicine
men and priests are dictators among
the Indians. Only intelligent citizens
should vote in Alaska but Indians
have a voice at Washington regard
ing legislation and appointments for
the Territory. Cheap Indian lawyers
are expressing the will of Alaska
today to the President and mem
bers of Congress, who would wel
come an expression from intelligent
citizenry. I am astounded to find in
Alaska a high class of people who
would reflect credit on the large
cities of the United States.”
Mr. Free charges that 1800 In
dians who neither read nor write
decide the fate of elections in Alas
ka. This is quite an increase over
the charges heretofore made wherein
we were told that 1,000 of these
same Indians it is who can neither
read nor write and yet hold the
balance of power.
What is the crime of which the^e
illiterates have been convicted? If
it is true that these Indians con
trol elections in Alaska the record
for the last Legislature and of
Alaska’s Delegate to Congress should
speak for itself. Here it is:
First: They defeated the efforts
of the bootleggers of Alaska and
their friends to repeal the Alaska
Bone Dry Act.
Second: They tlaiHlMiMMli* at
tempt to tax non-resident fishermen
and thus give a preference to bona
fide Alaskans engaged in the fish
ing business.
Fourth: They attempted to tax the
fish traps at the rate of $3 a thou
sand, and thus equalize the burdens
of taxation so that traps would ac
tually pay a tax in accordance with
their value instead of at a flat rate
basis.
Fifth: They attempted to enact a
decent workmen’s compensation act
along the lines of the California
Act, with which Mr. Free of that
State, should be familiar, but were
defeated by Mr. Free’s friends in
Alaska.
Sixth: They attempted to abolish
the wasteful fish hatcheries, a sys
tem which has produced no results
even according to its strongest sup
porters.
Seventh: They are trying to secure
home rule on fishery matters and
are being opposed by Mr. Free who
still supports the Bureau of Fish
eries, even though the record of
that Bureau in the past 25 years
has been one of absolute failure.
The reason is very plain to us,
for we are informed that Mr. Free
was formerly the attorney for the
Alaska Packers Association and the
California Fruit Canners Association
during the one year that he was
in the private practice of law at
San Jose, California. All the rest
of his business life he has managed
to keep himself in public office.
Either the San Jose District is de
void of men of ability or else Mr.
Free is a man of wonderful personal
charm, for both in 1920 and 1922
Mr. Free was nominated by both
the Republican and Democratic par
ties. We suspect, however, that the
California Fruit Canners Association
is a very potent reason for this
man’s popularity.
SENATOR BARTLEY
HOWARD
Senator Bartley Howard was elect
ed, he says, on the following plat
form: That he would introduce no
bills. A great many people evi
dently think that is a good plat
form on which to run. And so Mr.
Howard was elected. However, he
approached one of the other Sena
tors one day and asked if he would
be good enough to introduce a bill
for him, and the party said, “why
not introduce it yourself?” Senator
Howard said, “I made my campaign
on the platform that I would intro
duce no bills, and I wish you would
help me out.” Wasn’t that just a
little piece of deception, Mr. How
ard, and would it not be more manly
if you would tell your constituents
that you had made a mistake and
found that a platform promising
that you would do nothing is after
all a poor one to run on?
When the appropriation for large
ly increased expenditures for fish
hatcheries was before the Senate
Mr. Howard said that he was op
posed to this needless waste of
money, and then voted for the ap
propriation. When he was asked
why he so voted he said “Don t
you realize that I have to pass
through Cordova and Seward on my
way to Anchorage, and if I did not
vote for the appropriations they
would roast me.”
We suppose that a poor excuse
is better than none, and so long as
Mr. Howard did not believe in fish
hatcheries the Territory could have
better afforded to have chartered a
private yacht for $10,000 and de
livered Mr. Howard by the water
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