discussed the questions with all kinds
of citizens.
The question of “Moonshine ’ came
up, and to the credit of the dele
gates, they voted unanimously to
stamp out this evil, to report ail
violations of the 18th amendment,
and to co-operate with the prohibi
tion officers. As a direct result of
this resolution, the Juneau Camp has
^convicted three Indians. It is report
ed, howuvMfg^hat Commissioner V.
A. Paine is dismissing complaints
coming from the Indians with nom
inal fines and rather poking fun at
their efforts to clean up their vil
lage.
Another question that came up was
marriage of Native girls with Fili
pinos. The Hoonah Camp brought
in a resolution, as did the Angoon
Camp, and after slight changes the
resolution was adopted. It warns
fathers and mothers to oppose such
marriages because, they said, the
canneries are not bringing up the
good class of Filipinos to work the
cannery, but mostly the worst sort.
The resolution would have been
sweeping but for the fact that some
of the speakers testified that there
were a few marriages of this sort
that were all right.
The Convention pledged itself to
carry on the fight for better schools,
for better attendance, for better cit
izenship, for the abolition of all fish
traps, and for the extension of the
entire organization.
The officers elected to have charge
of this work for the ensuing year are
Peter Simpson, of Sitka, President;
Haines De Witt, of Kake, vice-presi
dent; Louis F. Paul, of Petersburg,
secretary; Ralph Young, of Sitka,
treasurer; William L. Paul, of Ket
chikan, as Attorney and actively in
charge of extension work through
*-heir newspaper and by visiting the
different Camps.
The Convention will meet in Hoo
nah in 1924.
Shquindy,
Reporter.
LAWFUL MARRIAGE IN
ALASKA
Formerly, a license to marry could
only be secured from a United States
Commissioner. This often meant a
trip during any season of the year
of two hundred miles. Th's was
very hard on the Natives of Alaska,
who have been “marrying and giving
in marriage” for several hundred
years before U. S. Commissioners
were invented. But law and order
must prevail. When J. C. Murphy
was attorney general, he advised
“that ministers of the gospel who
would be called on to perform mar
riages in out of the way places, far
from Commissioners, would have
some way of getting around the law
without having to wait for a license
and which would be issued by the
Commissioner after having examin
ed both applicants.”
We have not learned if “ministers
have gotten around the law” yet or
not, but the last legislature now pro
vides that a notary public may be
authorized by the District Court to
issue marriage licenses where there
is no commissioner within fifty miles.
What is fifty miles when lovers are
about to tie up “till death us do
part?”
As many inquiries have come tor
this law, we print it herewith:
Section 1.—No person shall be
joined in marriage in this Terri
tory until a license shall have been
obtained for that purpose from a
duly appointed and qualified United
States Commissioner; provided that
there is no United States Commis
sioner within fifty miles, a notary
public may be authorized by the
District Court to administer the
oaths, issue the marriage license,
collect the specified fees in lieu of
the United States Commissioner;
Provided further that the District
Court shall require said notary pub
lic to make immediate return of li
cense issued and fees collected to the
nearest United States Commissioner
by personal delivery or by United
States registered mail. Be it fur
ther provided that the penalty for
failure of said notary public to make
the returns as above specified and
the manner of recovery of said pen
alty shall be the same as set forth
in sections ten and eleven of this
Act.
Chapter 57, Session Laws of 1923,
Approved April 28, 1923.
Credit Rev. David Waggoner for
proposing the amendment, William
L. Paul, secretary of the Alaska
Native Brotherhood at that time,
for drawing it up, and the Hon.
Thomas Price for introducing it in
the House and of giving it his sup
port.
Is Senator J. R. Heckman preen
ing himself to run for Senator again ?
That is hard to say. The ex-Sena
tor is such a fine man to meet, so
genial and ready to help that we
cannot say whether his appearances
in these parts and elsewhere in Al
aska is due to politics or not. J. R.
likes to be doing something. Of
course, his doings are all for the
big fellow, but just the same, he
does them because he likes to be
doing something and he believes that
the cannery and trap system is all
right for Alaska.
He made a great hit with the
Salvation Army Congress when they
convened here last month. His words
of promised help to the Indian dele
gates sounded sweet to them and he
was greatly cheered. But fisher
men must not forget that the same
J. R. Heckman is the owner of the
Heckman Floating Trap patent which
has done more to deplete the salmon
streams of our country than any
other deadly device. Until J. R.
tells us that he is against the traps,
and until he helps us to abolish them
we’ll say, he is kidding you about
being your friend.
No, we don’t really believe that
the genial J. R. is just doing “poli
tics.” He says not.
Why will the American people
send men who drink to the legisla
ture to make their laws. Senator
Chamberlain, the Hon. Joseph Mur
ray, H. R. Shepard, Frank Foster,
and some others. Perhaps Frank
will deny that he drinks; then let
him answer where he got his black
eye during the last term of the legis
lature; or ask him if he was not a
lucky bird when that road house
was raided just about a half hour
after he, with certain others of the
“Solid Third ’ had departed. Didn’t
Frank say the next morning “Gee,
but I was lucky?’
-- »» ■
We interviewed William L. Paul
and he told us in confidence that he
was going to file for the legislature
this time. He said that he was go
ing to use the platform Polly used
the time he got elected, to-wit: “I
stand for the present administration
of co-ordination and progress.” Of
course, Polly never explained what
that phrase meant. Naturally all
the Indian illiterates voted for him
and that is why he got mad and
declared they were “corrupt” and
said that for that reason a literacy
test should be adopted.
But Paul is going to file and he
will run on a platform of Home
Rule, Abolishment of Fish Traps by
Taxation, a decent workman’s com
pensation law, and worthy support
of the Alaska College at Fairbanks.