THE ALASKA FISHERMAN
Published the 15th of each month at Petersburg.
Alaska, by A. N. B. Publishing Co.
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Louis F. Paul - Editor
C. O. Parks - Business Manager
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office
at Petersburg, Alaska.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $2.00 FOR ONE YEAR
OUR PLATFORM
ALASKA FOR ALASKANS.
FULL TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT
COMPETENT CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP.
ABOLISHMENT OF ALL TRAPS.
LAWS ARE MADE TO BE OBEYED
Congress does not write its specific laws upon
the statute books just to make work for the
printers; to waste its time spouting bombastic
oratory. The laws against larceny, against as
sault are not preferential laws; nor is any section
Ci the fishery laws of 1924 just a lot of foolish -
ment.
Section 5 of the White Fisheries Law of 1924
says:
Sec. 5. Section 5 of said Act of Congress ap
proved June 26, 1906 is amended to read as fol
lows :
“Sec. 5. That it shall be unlawful to fish for,
take or kill any salmon of any species in any
manner or by any means except by means of hand
rod, spear o* gaff for personal use and not for
trade or barter, in any of the waters of Alaska ov
er which the United States has jurisdiction from
six o’clock postmeridian of Saturday of each
week until six o’clock antemeridian of the Mon
day following, or during such further closed time
as may be declared by authority now or hereafter
conferred, but such authority shall not be exercis
ed to prohibit the taking of fish for local food re
quirements or for use as dog feed.”
Any person taking fish from any trap in any
of the waters of Alaska, is violating the law, if the
operation takes place between six o’clock Satui
day evening and six o’clock Monday morning. For
in the lifting or brailing of any trap, or seine,
the fish are “fished for, taken or killed.’4 The only
exception made in this law is that any person
may “fish for, take or kill” by any means, salmon
for personal use and not for trade or barter.
We point out that virtually every trap oper
ator has been and is constantly violating this law
without exception ever since passage of the Act
of 1924.
We point out that every official connected
with the United States Bureau of Fisheries is per
fectly aware of the inhibitions of this act and
that on various occasions they have invoked its
force, not upon the trap operator, but upon resi
dent fishermen, seiners and trollers.
We ask then, what act of Congress has given
this bureau the right to void any law that h is
the sanction of Congress and the seal of approval
of the President of the United States.
We would ask any fair-minded citizen to ask
if it is more proper to enforce the 18th Amend
ment than Section 5 of the Act of 1924—violation
of both laws being duly recognized as bootlegging.
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WHAT WILL THEY TURN TO?
In most of the fishing districts of Southeast
Alaska, the seasons are closed. As much salmon as
usual, for the late years, were put up. In the
main, the runs were spotty—traps doing fairly
well; a few fishermen getting up to forty thou
sand, but most of the men not making their ex
penses.
The sawmills are closed down for lack of market
for their products; work in the mines is limited
as there arc but few mines operating in the dis
trict; the trapping season is limited to one mcnih
and in most of the districts, there has been so
much depletion that the trapper will not be able
to make a decent living, and further, the economic
depression has hit the fur market as hard if not
harder than ofcier lines for furs are recognized as
being a luxury.
With their pitifully small summer’s earnings
used up in meeting a part of last winter’s credits,
what will the next winter be faced with? The big
reason why there has been no “bread line” in
Alaska is not that the depression was slow get
ting here, but because the business men carried
credits and thereby prevented such a condition.
But such philanthropy cannot continue. The
wholesale houses in the States are getting “more
hard boiled” and demanding business either on
short credits or cash basis. With no working pro
ducers bringing in their earnings to spend, just
how is the business man to continue in his busi
ness with any degree of profit?
The sooner the business men, politicians and
office holders appreciate the fact that the fish
ing industry is-the one and only industry which
gives full employment to resident Alaskans; as
soon as every Alaskan appreciates and recognizes