or business men, it is time that their energy and
effort be directed in a manner whereby they will
secuhe special favor that they alone may benefit,
as do the Indians in the States.
So far, the Alaska Indians have made a fine
progress as citizens but a studied effort seems to
be made by ceitain interests in Ala^a to force the
Indians into a wardship. We do not believe that
these interests fully appreciate. what this will
mean. It is a proposition to be avoided—but, if it
cannot be avoided, it will be well to remember that
these Indian citizens were forced to accept spe
cial favor in self-defense.
.-x
AS YOU LIKE IT!
The fishermen in all directions are wonder
ing where they are going to get off at this winter.
It would seem that this should not be the worry
oi the fishermen, but that of the resident business
men.
The average catch of salmon is around twen
ty thousand salmon. The average earnings of
the fishermen is not much over one hundred dol
lars. The earnings of the Columbia river fisher
men is reported as being $1,900,000. The four
thousand fishermen, fishing on a stretch of wat
per not over three hundred miles in length, earned
more money than a lessor number of Alaska fish -
ermen with thousands of miles of coast line and
streams to work on putting up more than eleven
times the fish.
With an average of $150 per man in Alaska,
the total earnings are below a half million dcl
There is only one answer: Abolish the fish
traps.
lars. What thick headed fools resident business
men must be when they still, after years of ob
servation, are unable to understand that the fish
ermen and other laboring men are the backbone
cf the economic structure in Alaska. That tire
prosperous fishermen spends his money at home
and helps business to make more profits.
Ketchikan “The city that cans more salmon
than any other city in the world,” is a fair sample
of the shaky foundation of the economic struc
ture in Alaska. More business in Ketchikan is on
the verge of bankruptcy than any other town that
we know of: real estate values gone to the bow
wows; business in the doldrums; construction at
a standstill; hailibut market at almost pre-war
prices; trollers returning unable to meet bills.
Independent seiners made nothing. What of the
future?
There Is only one answer: Abolish the traps.
DEMOCRACY STILL IN AMERICA
-x
“Democracy is not going out of America. It
lives as strong as ever, in the country towns and
small places. It exists even in the big cities, tho
there it is being crushed more and more by the
life the city leads. In the cities there is a tenden
cy toward snobbery and brutality among the up
per classes, and the cities are growing dominant.
—G. K. Chesterton.
YES, O’MALLEY DID IT
-x
One of the press agents for the Bureau of
Fisheries has been patting O’Malley on the back
declaring him responsible for bringing the salmon
luns back to normalcy.
Some men are born fools, others are just
idiots and still others are bought and paid for.
Back in the 1900’s there were three runs of
salmon, distinct in every way from each other.
Today, the first two runs are virtually gone and
no honest canner will deny this fact. The third
run was never overfished or the spawning graunds
depleted. The operators closed down before the
last fish were taken. Adding the protection af
forded under the White Fisheries Law of 1924, this
run has begun to get back to its normal runs.
The proper thing to do now, is to close down
fishing operations in June and July to give pro
tection to those depleted runs. Open the season
on the 1st of August and run the season straight
through till the end of the season. Four years or
such protection will build up the runs to normal
cy. When O’Malley does this, he will have some
tiling to crow about. Not before.
-Y
LET'S BEGIN OVER
-x
The Speaker of the Ohio House of Representa
tives concludes that the trend toward multiplicity
of laws roes hand in hand with that toward bu
reaucracy, and a little thought will substantiate
his conclusion.
One cause lies in the specialization of inter
ests in American life. The average man has lit
tle understanding of the problems of other spe
cialists, but does understand his own; and he
and his group increasingly look to legislation as a
means of solving those problems.
He secures the introduction of a bill calling
for some new government activity helpful to his
own purposes. While doing so he encounters