Altogether Now
By Theodore Hungerford
Another election c-« . Dong.* nil
:u*t for another period of hopeful
watching on the part jf t!ie people
ot Alaska.
We listened to a couple of po
litical speeches Just before election.
Can't say that we were much im
pressed, per naps except as to the
Honesty and ability of the candidates
c u -the ticket headed by Mr. Suth
erland.
A whole lot of growling about
this and that Tho Fisheries Bureau
ami the canneries came iu for a lot
o: criticism as usual. But honestly
we can’t see a great Val that our
Delegate to Oongre' our Juneau
lawmakers can do it. They
haven’t any teeth, about all they
can do is growl.
We will uay this for them tho.
'I V y are a pre.tty fair set of growl
ers and we don’t think that there
will be any dirty work at the cross
roads wh«re they have the power to
prevent it .
This criticism of the Uurcau o£
Fisheries and the cunnerymeu is
deep seated The people of Alaska
l.avo been compelled for years and
i-.ioro particularly in recent years,
since the introduction of the fish
trap as a ma.iiis of catching salmon,
to look upon the exploitation of one
of our most i.rolilic natural resources
l.v non-residents, with little if any
material benefit to the country or
irs> people.
AVe see e-.cli spring an influx of
foreign labor, supplies and energy.
’Ve see each fall those same people,
•vith tiieir summer earnings, in most
rases intart in their pockets or as is
most often ♦he case, to their credit
on the books of the cannery com
panies in Seattle or San Francisco,
leave for th** south; we see the mil
lions of rases of salmon loaded
aboard the id earners.
"When we take stock la the fall, v'e
find that we are ho better off, in
fact wo are poorer by several million
cubes of salmon, than wo were in tho
spring.
.\ii t a rally the cannery man and tho
Hurcnu of Fisheries came in for
seine lively roasting. Every lino
end every word of which is most
thoroughly justified and doserved.
1; i r these outsiders, how residents
with no interest in the Territory or
j’.s future, who would not come near
us if it were not for the fat salaries
ihey draw or to reap their profits,
lii'vu succeed by means of fishing re
gulations and gentlemen’s agree
ments In practically eliminating the
independent and local fisherman and
creating, what is practically a mo
nopoly of tlie salmon fisheries of
Alaska.
Perhaps this Is good business from
the cannrryr»*ans standpoint, but wo
v.iui live here know that it is hard
”i! the poor devil who likes the
country wel' enough to want to live
here and raise his family hero.
Hut enough of that . The matter
< f fish and fisheries is well before
the eyes of the public, at least hero
in Alaska, and rights of the people
of the Territory are being fought
lor by all the legal means at our
disposal.
What we most urgently need is
mom people, more population, that
v.n may attain statehood. Then our
legislators could make laws with
teeth in them. Then our representa
tivs could go to Washington and de
mand our rights a3 American citi
zens.
With statehood, we could have
ml maintain the machinery for en
forcing these rights. Then and then
oa’v could we hope to shake off at
Insist a psirt of tiie political parasites
vvho are feeding off the lifeblood of
th9 territory and have a little to
as to the destinies of our coun
try.
How are we going to get those
I eople?
What inducements have we to of
fer any man or woman as a reward
for coming here and enduring tho
hardships and vicissitudes of a pio
neer life, oven though it be hero in
Southeastern Alaska, one of the
most interesting and beautiful coun
tries on the face of the earth.
The fisheries aro being exploited
nearly to their capacity at present.
Vo be sure with time and wise legis
lation, when we have power to make
such legislation, they can bo made
to support a much greater lo
cal population than at present. Pro
vided of course that the fishing
grounds aru not exhausted before
that time.
Population ami revenue from our
*1111163, altlii we have some wowlcr
lully rich and oxtenslve deposits of
minerals, is uncertain ur. 1 unless
some unknown new field of exception*
■il richness Is opened up and tempo
rarily swells the number of our citi
zens can not be depended on for
much of an increase.
Fur. always listed among Alas
ka’s resources is coming into its own
a.id will eventually ho one of our
most thriving industries but the in
crease of population from this one
industry will sf course he slow.
Why is it that this vast country
cannot offer to people, enough in
ducement, to cause them to want to
lettle here.
The answer, at least lu re in
Southeastern Alaska, is LAND. We
have no land. It might be well at
tr.is point to state that from hore on
l write of conditions in Southeastern
Alaska.
Don’t get the idea from the above
statement about land, or rather, the
lack of hind, that we all live on boats