WHAT SUTHERLAND SAID.
Dan’s Reply to Mr. Treadway.
Albert Treadway, Congress
man from Massachusets, who
made a forty-eight hour visit to
Alaska last summer, recently
made an attack on Alaska. Dan
Sutherland, our Delegate to
Congress, replied, but only that
part of his speech which refer
red to Herbert Hoover was
printed in the public press and
in such a way that it seemed
unjustified, and for “political
effect” as one editor has put it.
We therefore will narrate the
events.
Mr. I readway made his at
tack from three angles. He
paid us the usual compliments
on our scenery, but said Al
aska cannot live on the tourist
trade alone. In regard to the
commercial activities he alleg
ed the day of the prospector
is over; that the fisheries are
successful, but since the em
ployees are brought from the
states for the active season,
there is no possibility for in
crease of population through
the fishing industry; trappers
and traders are doing well in
the fur business; that to con
sider Alaska as a possible agri
cultural region is ridiculous,
and that there are no other
lines of activity open at pres
ent. Therefore as his third
point Mr. Treadway advocated
drastic cuts in Federal expend
itures, especially in regard to
the Alaska railroad, which he
called “a stupendous mistake.”
Upon being asked, whether,
in view of his gloomy picture,
he considered the purchase of
Alaska a mistake, Mr. Tread
way said that Alaska was valu
able from a strategic point of
View.
He asserted that the Govern
ment is spending $11,000,000
annually upon a white popula
tion of 20,000, evidently con
sidering that the native popula
tion is worthy of no considera
tion so far as the government
is concerned. It was brought
out in the debate that $40,000,
000 is being derived annually
from the fisheries and other
large sums from the mining in
dustry, but that since this
money goes into the pockets
of private companies, the gov
ernment is in effect subsidizing
these private companies.
It was suggested by Mr.
Rankin of Ohio that if the
fisheries were administered in
a different manner, as is done
in British Columbia, for in
stance, this 20,000 white popu
lation would be materially in
creased; but Mr. Treadway
tried to sidestep this question
but admitted in reply to Mr.
Sutherland that he had not
sufficient information to dis
cuss this fundamental question.
Mr. I readway turther asserted
that if you go into a group of
20 men in Alaska, 19 of them
are on the government payroll,
although he later admitted that
he had exaggerated a little in
that respect. He took a special
rap at the item for education
which is $480,000. Doubtless
he considers that this sum is
spent on the 20,000 white popu
lation, whereas it is spent on
the education and medical care
of 27,000 natives. Furthermore,
he asked the connection between
reindeer and education, which
resulted in an interesting bit
of debate that brought out that
the herding of reindeer was a
means of teaching the Eskimos
self support and cost the gov
ernment nothing for feed; and
for an expenditure of $15,000
a year we have a herd of a
quarter of a million reindeer.
In fact there is the same con
nection between reindeer and
education in Alaska as there is
between Agricultural colleges
and courses in stock raising in
the States. Mr. Treadway
finally backed out by saying he
had been unfortunate in his re
ference to reindeer.
He closed his speech by ad
vocating a reformation of Al
aska’s government.
There followed considerable
debate on other subjects by a
numbe1’ 0f congressmen partic
ularly on the question of rub
ber in which Mr. Hoover was
accused of being the repres
entative of trusts and mergers
and monopolies and yet accus
ing Great Britain of creating
a rubber trust.
It was afte1' all this that Mr.
Sutherland rose to make reply
to Mr. Treadway and naturally
made use of the very material
fresh in the minds of Congress
men and brought forward by
others. Sutherland merely
showed how the Fish Trust,
which is so strongly supported
by Hoover has retarded Alaska
by comparing Alaska with Bri
tish Columbia. The facts which
he brought forward are well
worth emphasizing.
He showed that Alaska with
a pack of over 5 million cases
of salmon employes less than
6000 independent resident fish
ermen whe'eas British Columbia
with an annual pack of only
one-fourth, namely 1,125,000
cases, employs over 7000 inde
pendent resident fishermen.
At this point, Representative
Schafer interrupted, “If the
matter were brought to the at
tention of Mr. Hoover, who ap •
parently, is after the rubber
monopoly, could he not remedy
conditions?” This is the ques
tion which caused Dan Suther
land to mention Herbert Hoov
er, and includes these words;
“The high priest of American
monopoly (Mr. Hoover), twist
ing the India rubber tail of
the British lion is really a
spectacle for people to behold,
and a sight to make angels
weep.”
Sutherland thus puts mon
opoly of fishing as the first
cause of Alaska’s decreasing
population, and when Mr. Rank
in mentioned the enormous
fish traps in Alaska, Sutherland
answered him by saying that
without th fish trap in Alaska
our fishing population would
undoubtedly be 18,000 corres
ponding to the Canadian
figures.