LETTERS TO CONGRESS
Ketchikan, Alaska,
April 19, 1924.
Senator James Couzens,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir:
The White Fish Bill has been re
ferred to your committee on Com
merce. I am a native of Alaska, and
my home is in Kasaan where about
100 of us live, but there are over
5,000 of us in southeastern Alaska.
We make our entire living purse
seining in narrow bays and chan
nels because that is the only place
we can fish. This country is not
like Puget Sound so do not let the
cannerymen fool you by telling you
about that country. I have heard
how they fish down there, but it
cannot be done here.
I have fished here over 20 years
and I know that depletion of our
fisheries did not commence until
the trap came in, therefore I say, if
you want to save the fish, abolish
the trap.
The cannerymen will say, “Leave
the control to the Bureau of Fish
eries”, but we know in Alaska that
the Bureau officials are either ap
pointed by the recommendations of
the Fish Trust or they are scared
of them. Anyhow we get the worst
of it.
Last summer the Booth Fisheries
bad a trap illegally placed at Stan
ev’s Creek, and the Bureau officials
knew it because they have a watch
man at that creek and the head
warden visited it several times. The
Indians complained about it, but the
trap fished there two months and
caught over 150,000 salmon, mostly
reds and worth about $20,000. Be
cause we Indians complained about
it so much, the Bureau had to bring
charges against them. They entered
a plea of “guilty” and the Judge
fined them $400. But the cannery
kept the fish.
Cnogress has given Alaska the
right to elect a Delegate. He is our
representative. Please help him be
cause he knows the situation. If
you do not do something about the
trap, you will soon have to put us
ori rations like the Indians of the
States. Up to date, we have lived
by our own struggles, but the White
Fish Bill would tie our hands and
feet, because the Chicago-San Fran
cisco packers have political influence.
Please help our Delegate.
Yours respectfully,
ROBT. P. YOUNG.
Ketchikan, Alaska,
April 19, 1924
Hon. Tom D. McKeawn,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir.
I am a native of Alaska. I am a
purse seiner.
It is easy to see how you got led
astray on traps and purse seines. I
don’t know if you are a lawyer or
not, but anyhow, when you sit on a
committee you have to listen like a
judge. The first point when you
consider a witness is if he has first
hand information or is it hearsay.
The two so-called practical fish
ermen who testified that the purs?
seine was just as bad as the trap
and that the purse seine was a rich
man’s game, but both Hylen and
Furuseth testified that they were not
seiners, Furuseth had never been, and
Hylen had not been except a short
time on Puget Sound. They both
based their experience on Puget
Sound fishing. There is no com
parison between Puget Sound and
Alaska. It is a big mistake for you
to ask about Puget Sound fishing
and trying to draw conclusions about
Alaska unless your witnesses could
show that the facts of Puget Sound
fit the facts of Alaska. This can
not be done.
There is no waste in southeastern
Alaska due to purse seines. There
was no depletion of our streams un
til the traps came up here. I am
talking from 30 years’ experience
fishing in this district.
I have seen hundreds of thousands
of iish in traps. They catch every
thing that swim. A purse seine
only gets the fish IF THE FISH
JUMPS and they may swim many
miles without giving us a chance to
catch them.
My boat cost me $4,000 and seine
costs about $350.00. My boat is 16
fee'; long, equipped with ?0 lnrse
power engine and travels ab^ut 7
miles ar. hour My boat is an av
e age boat. 11 n;y boat is full I
• an cany 6,000 humpies. Yo \ ^an
«ee y Hi have the wrong ide i about
what you call ‘ High power boats.”
If you take out the traps from the
narrow bays, it will be a big help
to my people, about 300, who live
at Hydaburg. We don’t make enough
money to send our children to school.
I could tell you more about why
I know that traps are the cause
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