“MISINFORMATION OR
POLITICS”
The injustice with which our fish
ery problems are being handled by
Herbert Hoover, but wherein the
primary responsibility should be
placed at the door of Commissioner
Henry O’Malley, is made clear by
the Chilcat closing- order. The Edi
tor of the Alaska Weekly pictures
the situation in the main accurate
ly. Out of polite deference to the
authorities he choses to presume that
Commissioner O’Malley is mis-in
formed. We are not so polite, for
we know Mr. O’Malley much better.
Commissioner O’Malley was appoint
ed to his present office by what is
known as the Fish Trust, by that
we mean the large cannery inter
ests that act in concert and through
their various associations. To secure
his appointment the various agents
of the trust sent literally scores of
telegrams to various Congressmen.
Since his appointment his entire
policy has been utter subserviance
to the real interests of these large
corporations. In the matter of the
controversy relating to the abolish
ment of the fish trap he takes the
position that he will not enter into
the discussion of their relative mer
its, or on the matter of any gear.
On the face of things this looks like
a correct position, and he thus gains
the support of the unknowing. As
a matter of fact the question of gear
is at the root of the entire question.
It is very obvious that the trap,
which is one hundred per cent ef
ficient in its operation must be
abolished if the specie is to live.
And to side-step a discussion that
goes to the root of the question is
to render the greatest service to
these over-lords of Alaska maters.
We re-print the editorial in full:
Misinformation or Politics?
Last week we commented editor
ially on the plight of the Haines
Packing Company and the much sad
der plight of the three hundred and
sixty-five natives who have so sud
denly and unceremoniously been de
prived of the only means of liveli
hood with which they are familiar.
We are not worrying so much
about Tim Vogel, nor his brother
George. For some twenty-seven
years they have made their home in
Alaska and given the best there was
in them to the territory’s develop
ment- In that twenty-seven years
no one has ever heard either of
them welching on a bet or found it
necessary to fit up a crying room
when they lost. So if it appears
that the catching of the ten or
twelve thousand cases of salmon they
pack annually constitutes a serious
menace to Alaska’s fisheries and
bids fair to deplete the supply, they
will doubtless consent to having their
hundred thousand dollar investment
rendered valueless and start again
where they started twenty-seven
years ago.
But with the natives it is a dif
ferent matter—they have nothing to
start with and nowhere to go—and
then again, by no conceivable stretch
of the imagination can the particular
ruling effecting this cannery be con
sidered at all essential to the con
servation program. Anyone wh >
knows gill net fishing, knows that
if the native fishermen stretched
their gill nets across the entire
channel, that ninety per cent of the
fish would get by.
Either Commissioner O’Malley nas
been misinformed on the conditions
prevailing at this point, or it is de
sired to administer a political spank
ng to Delegate Dan Sutherland at
the expense of 365 natives and the
owners of one of the very few lo
cally owner and operated canneries
in Alaska.
We prefer to think that it is the
former, and that the commissioner
will, as usual, be willing to recon
sider his ruling on presentation of
the real facts in the case.
The pack of the cannery is small
gill-nets only; the least deadly of
all gear used in Alaskan waters, are
employed—the total amount of gear
in use could not possibly prevent a
large escapement—the few native
fishermen are now fishing where
formerly several traps operated, each
one capable of catching more fish
in a week than this plant packs in
a season. So much for the fish side
of the question. The Haines Pack
ing Company is controlled and al
most entirely owned by two sour
doughs—it buys all possible sup
plies in Alaska—it buys its lumber
from the mill at Juneau, cut from
Alaska timber—its own boats and
the boats of the native fishermen
are repaired in Juneau’s machine
shops—all its employees spend all
their wages in the stores of Alaskan
merchants. As for the natives, whose
chief heritage is the right to fish,
there can be no question as to the
rank injustice of depriving them of
this heritage without offering any
thing to compensate the loss. If
they are to be thus discriminated
against, the government should pro
vide means for caring for them.
The entire territory of Alaska
should, and we believe if it appears
necessary will, join in protesting this
ruling. As we said before, however,
we do not believe such action will
be needed. We are convinced that
once all the facts are laid before
Commissioner O’Malley the ruling
will be modified to make possible
the operation of this plant on a scale
sufficient to alleviate the impending
serious conditions in the villages af
fected.
--
When in Wrangell go to the
Wrangell Restaurant.
THE ALASKA FISHERIES
(Continued from Page 3)
scrap heap with an accelerated speed
each succeeding year.
Unfortunately and carelessly we
have gone on and on, from year to
year, letting one of our best re
sources slip toward the inevitable
end, taking little heed of the warn
ings from similar results in other
places. The authorities are too far
away and the local people are hood
winked and helpless- No valuable
statistics have been kept from which
to formulate proper restrictive or
reconstructive measures; compara
tively little scientific research work
has been done in all these years of
exploitation, so that today we are
facing the destruction of a business
with an invested capital of over six
ty million dollars, employing more
than twenty-five thousand people
with an output valued at over forty
five million dollars which provides
three-fourths of the revenue of the
Territory.
“The vote of the Indians of Mon
tana— their first casting of the bal
lot—was pledged to Coolidg’e and
Dawes in a dramatic declaration by
the venerable Chief Plentycoos, of
the Crow nation, at a Republican
meeting’ at Billings, Montana, ad
dressed by former Governor Frank
0. Lowden, of Illinois. Standing on
the stage of a theater, surrounded
by lesser chiefs, all in war bonnets
and other regalia of rank and peer
ing at their audience through the
tribal smoked glasses, the Indians
made their pledge through their
.aged chief. With the chief’s pledge
went an appeal for honorable, hon
est campaigning and voting, the dig
nity of which stirred the audience
to tremendous enthusiasm.”
The above was taken from the Na
tional Republican Weekly, the of
ficial organ of the Republican party
in the United States
-«
The most popular political leader
of this generation was Theodore
Roosevelt. His remarkable follow
ing proved that people generally
like a leader who has clear cut
views on public issues, and who is
not afraid to speak them out. They
can forgive a leader who reacts to
every* issue and who strikes sturdy
blows at his adversaries without
waiting to see whether that will get
him anything or not, even when he
occasionally makes a mistake. The
biggest of all errors is to be so
timid as never to make one. Mili
tant leadership commands more than
cold intellectual approval, it evokes
that devoted fealty which is a far
higher compliment.—National Re
publican.
—-e
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