“Road to Prosperity and Progress”
We have always insisted that nothing will jus
tify a lie, and that the enlargement of false is
sues to arouse the prejudice of citizens even for
political success is a dangerous thing. The pub
lic knows well that we have repeatedly accused
the Democratic organ of Juneau, “The Empire/'
of being the one paper largely responsible for
these false issues. To prove our statement we
now quote from an editorial in that paper of the
issue of November 24th, 1924, in which the read
er will find a true statement as to the basic prin
ciples of prosperity, towit: “That prosperity de
pends upon individual effort rather than legisla
tion and politics”:
‘After all is said and done prosperity depends
upon individual effort rather than legislation and
politics. The person who works persistently and
as persistently conserves his earnings and the
community where the people persistently co-op
erate to make the most of its advantages will
prosper. The most that we can hope from gov
ernment is that it shall not interfere with natur
al development and that it guaranty all a square
deal. No government that tries to stay the hand
of progress or that attempts to make water run
up-hill by refusing to allow development along
the lines of industrial or commercial evolution is
permanently helpful.”—Empire.
Seiners Maligned
A great deal of political thunder was made
out of a supposed statement by William L. Paul
at the Republican rally preceding the election.
The Ketchikan Chronicle fortifies its editorial by
claiming to have printed a verbatim report. The
statement referred to is this: “The fishermen
do not represent a high class of working men.”
The Chronicle and Mr. Heckman enlarged upon
this in trying to prove that Mr. Paul considered
himself above the fishing class, and thus to
arouse resentment on their part against that
candidate. Since the heat of battle is passed,
it is proper for us to set forth more fully what
was meant.
We are willing to make the statement again,
towit: “The fishing class of Southeastern Alaska
are not a high-class of working men,” for this
reason: In all our experience as fishermen there
have been many attempts from unions or
other combinations for the purpose of securing
fair value for our fish. In every case the at
tempt has been a failure, because of certain men
among us who were willing to sell out. And it
is because there are such men among us that
we cannot qualify as a high-class of working
men. Men like Kit Kettles, Red Irwin and Ted
Voss and others allow themselves to be paid to
work for the large trap interests and against the
fishing class. Until such betrayers are properly
exposed and made to sail under their true colors,
the average standard of the fishermen will be
very low. The second thing that hinders the
fisherman from being a high-class workman is
the fact that as a class he is not willing to save
his money. Industry is at the bottom of all
true success, but thrift is the foundation of all
prosperity. We do not wish the reader to think
that we consider ourselves above the fisherman,
for we are not, and when we point out the fail
ings of the fisherman as a class, we mean that
we are degraded by betrayers just as much as
any other fisherman, and when we say that the
fisherman as a class is not thrifty, we mean that
we have the same weakness. The purposes of
these remarks are that we fishermen as a class
shall throw out of our ranks men who persistent
ly betray our cause, and that we shall exercise
the virtue of thrift, so that we can command
the respect of the businessmen; the banks, and
other citizens. It will be easy stepping from
this position to the point where we can start
business for ourselves. The laboring men in the
states are organizing banks, co-operative stores
and other enterprises and are making a success
of it. This can be done in Alaska, but not until
we are willing to accept criticism and to correct
our well-known faults.
OLD CUSTOMS
While the Brotherhood convention
was at Hoonah the fake fortune
teller of Juneau, who is said to be
related to a very influential mer
chant there, came over to attend
the convention, hoping in that way
to reap large rewards for his deceit.
It seems that in Juneau these for
tune tellers charge from one dollar
to seventy-five dollars for a glimpse
into the future, and that the fortune
teller is getting this rake off from
Whites and Indians alike. The pub
lic officials of our capital city have
shut their eyes to this form of fraud
for reasons best known to them
selves.
No sooner, however, had these
fortune tellers made their appear
ance at Hoonah than the Brother
hood passed the following resolu
tion, entitled “Old Customs.”
Resolution:
WHEREAS, the Alaska Native
Brotherhood is opposed to the prac
tice of all old customs which are
fakes and hurt our people, and we
affirm at this time that the prac
tice of Indian Doctors, witchcraft
and fortune telling* are pure fakes;
BE IT ORDERED by this conven
tion that it shall be unlawful for
any member of the Alaska Native
Brotherhood and Sisterhood to visit
any Indian Doctor or fortune teller
even for fun or curiosity, and any
one found guilty of doing* so shall be
liable to expulsion; and,
BE IT ORDERED that the Grand
Secretary draft a by-law prohibit
ing any such member from visiting
any Indian Doctor, fortune teller
or crediting any belief in witchcraft.
RESOLUTION COMMITTEE.
W. L. PAUL, Chairman.
ANDREW HOPE,
ELI KATANOOK.
GRADUATED TAX
The validity of the Territorial
graduated salmon pack tax, enacted
by the 1923 Legislature, has been
upheld by the U. S. Circuit Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, at
San Francisco.
Approximately $140,000 is due to
the Territory by various canning
companies under the graduated tax.
In addition there are penalties and
interest charges to be assessed * if
the letter of the law is carried out.
The majority of the packers with
held payments due under the gradu
ated tax rates until the validity of
the statute could be established. For
this purpose a test case was brought
against the Pacific American Fish
eries early this year in which the
question of its constitutionality was
raised.