np BILL
At last the issue of the fish trap
will be brought squarely before
Congress.
The bill to abolish or to prohibit
fi9h traps has been introduced by
our Delegate in Congress, the Hon
orable Dan Sutherland. This is the
most important measure ever
brought before Congress so far
as it effects Alaska. It is even
more important than self-govern
ment.
The fish trap is the direct cause
of the depletion of our fisheries.
It is also the greatest non-resident
agency to catch fish. This device
eatJfehes about 75 per cent of all
the salmon caught each year. In
round numbers, the fish trap catches
over forty million salmon each
year. Practically no part of the
market price of the fish so caught
stays in Alaska. It does not help the
resident fisherman or the resident
merchant. It all goes to fill the
pockets of the Seattle and other
owners of fish traps. We have es
timated that the loss to Alaska
by this manner of catching fish
is over $500,000 in the Juneau
district and perhaps $1,000,000 in
the Ketchikan district. If the fol
lowing bill becomes a law, Alaskans
can figure that about $2,000,000
will be paid to resident fishermen
who will spend the money with
resident merchants, machine shops,
boat shops and other supply houses.
The bill (HRR. 5380) reads as
as follows:
A bill prohibiting the me of
stationary fishing appliances in the
tidal waters of the Territory of
Alaska, and providing a penalty.
Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Con
gress assembled, Every person who
shall set, use, or continue, or who
shall assist in setting, using, or
continuing any pound, weir, set
net, trap, or any fixed or permanent
contrivance for catching fish i.n any
tidal waters of Alaska, over which
the United States has jurisdiction,
is guilty of a misdemeanor, and
every person convicted of a viola
tion of the provisions of this Act
shall be punished by a fine of not
more than $500, and for a second
violation of the provisions of this
Act, a fine of not less than $500
and not less than three month® nor
more than one year’s Imprisonment
in the Federal jail.
PROMINENT JUNEAU ATTOR
NEY NOW NATURALIZED
Attorney Herbert Lional Faulk
ner, prominent attorney of Juneau,
Alaska, was granted his final certi
ficate of citizenship on December 1,
1925. Mr. Faulkner is now a full
fledged citizen of the United
States.
Mr. Faulkner has been one of
the most active politicians in Alaska.
In the last campaign, he went up
and down the country speaking for
the Democratic ticket and against
what he called the “Paul” ticket,
pointing the danger of letting na
tive born Indian citizens run Alaska.
He was also the United States
Marshal of the First Division, being
the tool of the conspirators headed
by Shackleford when by intrigue
these men got Dan Suther
land deposed from the marshalship.
He then served as marshal for seven
years.
During these years when he was
not a citizen he has voted at
precincts outside of Juneau where
his questionable status as a citizen
was unknown; for example, he is
known to have voted at Petersburg.
We wonder if District Attorney
Shoup will place this matter before
the grand jury, remembering that
Mr. Shoup was instrumental in
prosecuting Charlie Jones, a na
tive born Indian citizen, for voting,
charging him with “voting when
he had no right to vote.”
It is quite interesting to note
that Mr. Faulkner has been the
loudest in asking the Legislature
to pass a literacy test for voters.
He can read, and knew the fraud
which he was practising. There
are things worse than being unable
to read the Constitution.
> '* ..—... . . .. —
The Seattle Alaska Weekly de
nounces the bill which the Hon.
Dan Sutherland introduced in Con
gress making it unlawful to build
or operate a fish trap. It ques
tions whether Sutherland’s motive
is “Business or Politics” and con
cludes that it must be Politics.
The Seattle Weekly goes on and
says, “This bill is plain polities
and could not have been inspired
by any other consideration. Poor
politics, we are inclined to think,
for considerable Alaskan capital
is invested in traps, but none the
less politics.”
Wc will pass over the fact that
the editor of the Weekly is a land
lubber who knows nothing about
fish, except perhaps what he can
buy in a pretty can. But just the
same, that fact permits us to dis
regard his comparison of the fish
trap and the “floating gear” as
sources of the depletion of the
salmon.
It was thought that the passage
of the White Fish Bill would be
sufficient to stabilize the fishing
industry. This was on the theory
that the Bureau of Fisheries would
do what was Meedful. It is plain
to the most casual but impartial
observer however that the Bureau
of Fisheries is largely controlled by
the big Packers or else lacks the
courage to apply the ax to the
fish trap at once. It rather puts
oT the evil day.
On this account, Dan Sutherland
has brought the subject before Con
gress. This bill will compel the con
sideration of the fish trap and its
relation to the fishing industry.
The Bureau of Fisheries would
evade the subject. The question
must be settled. Nor do we have
any fear about the ultimate de
cision for we know what we have
J'N
J.
FUNERAL
Ketchikan
—
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