TIIE ALASKA FISHERMAN
Published the 15th of each month at Ketchikan, Alaska
WILLIAM L. PAUL, ATTORNEY FOR THE
ALASKA NATIVE BROTHERHOOD
Entered as second - class matter at the Post Office at
KETCHIKAN, ALASKA
SUBSCRPTION PRICE $2.00 FOR TWELVE ISSUES
OUR PLATFORM:
ALASKA FOR ALASKANS.
FULL TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
ABOLISHMENT OF ALL TRAPS.
COMPETENT CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP.
HON. JOSEPH MURRAY
We have an admiration for Joseph Murray.
It is because of his many good qualities and his
great abiliities. There is no mistaking where
he stands on public questions. As he expresses
it in his letter to Arthur Frame, he says “But
the struggle through life teaches us that we
cannot carry water upon both shoulders.”
Joseph Murray does not carry water upon
both shoulders. His good qualities to which we
refer are his rugged honesty and his powerful
intellect. But he has delivered his abilities to
the service of those who exploit Alaska. He
is the champion not of the poor but of the rich
who would become richer by shifting the bur
den of government onto the shoulders of the
weak.
“Workmen's Compensation Act”
He defended the Alaska workmen’s compensa
tion act in its worst form, opposing every change
even of its most unjust features. And with that
ruggest honesty of his, he let it be known that
he opposed the change because capital was op
posed to the change.
“The Tax on Non-resident Fishermen”
Mr. Murray opposed this bill to protect Al
aska fishermen against the unfair competition of
foreign fishermen because the canneries of Bris
tol Bay wished him to. This bill is a milder bill
than the law of Washington, Oregon and Cali
fornia; for our fishermen cannot go to those
states and fish until they have resided for twelve
months within the state. Our tax bill had only
a six month’s clause.
“Murray Organized the House”
The “Murray crowd” had a majority of mem
bers in the House of Representatives in 1925.
These were banded together not on party lines,
but by subserviency to special interests either
of capital or booze. Of this crowd, Thomas
Jensen of Nome, Ben Grier of Anchorage,
George Moody of Fairbanks and Joseph Murray
of McCarthy, call themselves Republicans. N.
O. Hardy of Juneau, William Sherman of An
chorage and Charles H. Wilcox of Valdez are
Democrats, the only three in the House. Robert
Sheldon of Fairbanks, and Harry Watson of
Fairbanks, style themselves as “Independents.”
The Lineup
Those men serving the special predatory in
terests for various motives are as follows;
Thomas Jensen of Nome finds himself in this
crowd because of his peacock vanity, holding
off till the last moment, swaying from one side
of the fence to the other, frequently boasting
that he held “the balance of power.” He sold
out the working men of Alaska for a special
bill giving the right of eminent domain to a
certain company in Nome who wished to dredge
the beaches near Nome. He made his bargain
with Joseph Murray. His first speech in public
in Juneau showed his subserviency when he
said “I will never do anything to hurt capital”
which became apparent every time the just de
mands of the working men were opposed by
“capital.”
George Moody of Fairbanks
This man, a candidate for the Senate from
Fairbanks, has no character. He is impelled by
his weaknesses which were mainly two—desire
for revenge and personal spite, and booze. He
branded the people of Juneau as “robbers” be
cause he found out that certain traders, now
being stamped out by Marshal Albert White,
were charging $120 per case whereas by making
a pool, certain legislators and employees of the
Juneau Empire, could buy a case of booze for
only $90 per case.
Ben Grier of Anchorage
Ben Grier of Anchorage is a sort of chame^
leon, changing color at pleasure. He is a man
of good motives, but with a wish bone where a
back bone ought to be. If he could get away
from the Murray influence, he would make a
fine legislator. The Republicans of the Third
Division should insist that Grier stay with his
party.
N. O. Hardy of Juneau
Nate Hardy, Democrat, is famous principally
for his booze bill. He is a teetotaler himself