clause prohibiting shipment
’.vithout consent has been tacked
on. The price of pulpwood keeps
climbing and pulp mills are get
ting closer and more numerous
all the time. So the Forest Ser
vice calls “check” to the local
operator.
When we see wliat power the
er interests wield we cannot
but be impressed. A recent ex
ample wrs the embargo on im
ports of milpwood from Russia.
We see the futility of one man
standing against them, but the
people of Alaska who have
everything to gain and nothing
to lose should get busy in the
name of Americanism.
It matters not to the string
pullers that a billion dollars
worth of timber has rotted here
in Alaska in the past twenty
five years. They have been re
iieved c-f its competition in the
market. It matters less to them
[hat settlement and development
lies been checked here. They
have been making good profits
at the expense of the develop
ment of the Territory. It mat
ters not one iota to them that
m so selfishly directing the
opposition of a policy basical
ly so sensible that they are un
dermining the foundations of the
most equitable government the
world has ever seen.
It matters not that the har
vest they are reaping in thus
destroying the people’s confi
dence in the truth, honor and
honesty of our officials and lead
ers, thereby making it increas
ingly hard for the average man
to participate in industry on
other than wage basis It matters
not that it is fast increasing the
army of Bolshiviki, atheists,
bankrobbers, gunmen and law
breakers of all kinds.
No man feels any respect for
a law or ruling which has been
imposed, or is being taken ad
vantage of, by another man or
group of men for their own per
sonal gain. No government can
long exist which allows its func
tions to be perverted to the wor
ship of the Golden Calf.
Conservation is common sense
and cn the strength ot me vi
rion l'1 economical administra
tion it holds forth has been sold
to the American people. It is
basics ly sound but unfortunate
ly we have allowed the adminis
trators of the policy to become
c\oss conscious. Alaska and the
people of Alaska have not shown
that they are of the class which
require any consideration.
Alaska Tax Case Carried to Supreme Court and Leses
By Elapsed Time for Appeal
-x
Seeking to reopen the Alaska
trolling license fee case, in
which the period for appeal had
long since elapsed, John Rust
gard, territorial attorney gener
al has filed with the United
States Supreme Court a petition
for a writ of certiorari asking
that the Supreme Court require
of the San Francisco circuit
court of appeals a transcript of
all proceedings in the case, as
sume jurisdiction, and deter
mine the case.
The brief in support of the
petition is based almost solely
on the contention that the Fish
eries Act of 1924, provided that
no citizen of the United States
shall be denied the right to fish
in Alaska applied only to the
Secretary of Commerce and not
to the powers of the Territory.
Counsel for the Trolling Ves
eel Owners’ Association, in a
brief, contesting this petition,
attacks this argument on the
grounds that congress has vested
control of the Alaska fisheries
in the Secretary of Commerce
and could not then have per
mitted the territorial legislature,
which is without jurisdiction
over the fisheries, to exclude
therefrom certain citizens of the
United States by means of a
discriminating license law.
Furthermore, the provisions of
the organic act, has forbidden
the taxation of the property of
non-residents at a higher rate
tlian that of residents of the ter
ritory, are ouoted with case cita
tions in which the courts have
held a man’s vocation or calling
to be “property” in taxation
matters.
Even if the petitioned writ is
£ianted, the supreme court will
review the case on the same
facts rs these on which the cir
cuit court decided summarily in
favor cf Wood Freeman in whose
name the Trolling Vessel Own
ers’ Association brought the ac
tion. Having attacked the ori
ginal complaint solely on de
murrer, the attorney general will
be excluded from any showing
of fact on the part of the terri
tory and will be in the position
of merely making a negative at
tack unon the troiler’s case al
ready demonstrated to be very
strong in the eyes of the court.
—Pacific Fisherman.
Supreme Court Won’t Consider
Alaska Appeal
The United States Supreme
Court declined to review the
case of Walstein G. Smith, Ter
ritorial Treasurer, challenging
the decision of the Circuit Court
of Appeals in the non-resident