Troller’s Strike Ends in Compromise
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The battle between trollers
and fish buyers ended in some
what of a draw about the 18th
of July. The strikers receded
from their demand for 12-6-3
per pound and the buyers step
ped their prices up to 10-4-2
cents per pound.
The Indian trollers at Port
Alexander, without funds to
continue the strike in sympathy
with the demands of the Alas
ka Trollers’ Association, posted
notice on the bulletin board at
the Cape that they would hold
v meeting to decide on what
would be the most advisable
thing to do. At the meeting it
was decided that they would go
fishing at the 10-4-2 price and
that the Union would be so no
tinea.
A meeting had been desired
by the union members for some
time but the leaders refused to
mil such a meeting. However,
following the action of the In
dian trollers, the leaders called
a meeting of the union and it
was decided by a vote of 150 to
50 that trolling operations be
gin at the prices 10-4-2 offered
by the buyers.
Thus ended the longest strike
in the history of Alaska’s fisher
ies.
The strike has demonstrate.!
the fact that the fishermen can
secure a solidarity—if they will
make earnest effort so to do.
That with a little preparation,
through proper organization,
and membership, the union can
give assistance to the less for
tunate ones and thereby keep
them from destroying the mor
ale of the organization.
The buyers, in this instance,
had the assistance of an eco
nomic distress in the states
which makes it hard to borrow
money for operations and also
directs consumers to the lower
priced foods of equal value.
It further brought out the
fact that there is a wide discrep
ancy between the prices paid
fishermen for white kings and
the prices demanded in trie
states—two cent per pound kings
brought 35 cents per pound in
Los Angeles and 45 cents per
pound in Butte, Mont. This dis
crepancy in prices is unwarrant
ed is the assertion of fishermen
who ask that the price of white
king salmon be raised to 4 in
stead of two cents.
But, for the depression in the
states tightening up the money
market, it is generally believed
that the fishermen would have
won on their demand to earn
sufficient to give them decent
returns for their labor.
The Salmon Situation
Charles D. Garfield, former se
cretary to the Alaska Fish Com
mission and now connected witli
the Seattle Chamber of Com
merce, stated to The Alaska
Weekly:
. “The red salmon pack in
Western Alaska is above norm
al
And because of his position
his statments are accepted as
coming from an authority and
cannot be denied.
The average red salmon pack
in the Western district, from
1914-1913 inclusive, was 2,269,
350.
The average pack during the
six years up to 1930 was 1,604,
962 cases.
In 1930 the pack was only
832,626 cases and of this pack,
355,200 cases were put up from
the Western district. This, ac
cording to the Pacific Fisherman
cf September 1930, was the low
est in 32 years.
The pack for 1930, reds, in the
Western district was 832,62-3
cases; for 1931, the pack is said
to be 1,099,000 cases.
The two-year period gives an
average of 949,555 cases which
is more than a half million cas
es below that low period of a
million and a half for the six
year period up to 1930.
“Actual shortage of fish was
undoubtedly the principal fact
or,” said the Pacific Fisherman.
The salmon run in 1930 was,
by the Bureau of Fisheries and
the packers themselves, admit
tedly a failure with a pack of
3.000,000 cases. Now comes the
various spokesmen for the pack
ers declaring that “The red
salmon pack in Western Alaska
is above normal.” To be above
normal that pack should be not
less than 2,000,000 cases each
year. For a normal pack is an
average pack and with the av
erage for 1930 and 1931 less
than a million cases, it cannot
truthfully be said that the pack
is above normal—not by more
than a million cases
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TROLLER’S TAX LAW AGAIN
BEFORE THE COURT
The validity of the non-resi
c'ent trollers’ tax act oi 1929 was
again upheld and attacked be
fore Judge Justin W. Harding,
in the United States District
Court here this week in the case
cf Wood Freeman, a Seattle
troller, against Walstein G.
Smith, Treasurer of Alaska, At -
torney General John Rustgard.
appearing for the Territory, ar
gued that the Legislature had
undoubted right to impose such
iay if it were not “prohiW.vo ’
and asserted that with average
earnings of the trollers about
$3,000 per year, a $250 levy could
not be said to be prohibitive.
H L. Faulkner, representing
Freeman asserted ^that the Le
gislature no longer has any
power to enact tax measures
which discriminate between re
sident and non-residents and