A Fisherman’s Dream
Seward Gateway
(Continued from last month)
-x
I realized by then that I cou’cl
never fool him by claiming a
legal right to catch any of the
fish we were taking for a living,
so I said: “I can catch codfish.
The law does not prohibit me
from that.”
“No,” he said, “but you cannot
live from the codfish you catch.
The fish traps have exterminated
the silverhakes, the principal
feed of the codfish on the in
shore banks, consequently very
few codfish come there to feed,
and you are too poor to buy
large power boats to go off-shore
in deep water to fish, and even
if you could get some codfish
you could not sell them and get
enough for them to pay the
freight and salt to cure them
The Japanese are supplying the
codfish market for you.”
“But there are other specimens
in the waters a fisherman can
live from, such as star fish, cut
tle fish, sea eggs, crabs and by
darkas, and on land we have
crows, magpies & gophers; there
is no law stopping us from killing
and eating any of them that 1
know of, and you must admit
that a person can sustain life on
those animals,” I said.
“Why, yes,” he replied, ‘I sup
pose so.”
“That clears me of your accus
ation of being a fish pirate, ” 1
said.
“No, it does not,” he replied.
“You are wearing clothes and it
takes money to buy clothes, and
you ’cannot make money any
other way than by catching fish
to sell.”
“The clothing we fishermen
wear cost us nothing, but the
labor of picking them up from
the ground,” I said. “In the fall
when the canneries close down
for the season, the Chinamen
and Kanakas throw away a lot
of clothes they consider worn
out and om women pick them
lip, fumigate and wash them
and make respectable looking
garments from them.”
“That accounts for the diff
erent colored patches I see on
your pants,” he said. “If I were
to put on your coat and run
back to the school of salmon
where I belong, every female
salmon in the bunch wrould turn
tail and run av/ay from me, and
even you. with your bony joints,
would look far better without
ell those raggy clothes on your
body. When the abbreviated stylo
of flapper skirts was adopted,
you were laughing and yearning
with the rest of your kind; but
hr your heart you were tickled
almost to death whenever you
saw a well-shaped woman’s leg
exposed, and I am sure you will
admit that a woman in the nude
is one of the most perfect look
ing objects in nature; almost as
perfect looking as a female
salmon.”
I could not dispute any of that.
In my ragged clothes, I must
have looked a fright alongside of
his silvery splendor, and his
knowledge and philosophy left
me almost flabbergasted. But I
was not done with him yet; I
was to be completely humilated
before I could get away from him
“You are,” he said, “talking
and acting, and no doubt, think
tnat you amount to something,
but I am determined to take
some conceit out of you. If you
had a grain of common sense
you would leave the country or
commit suicide. The ‘handwrit
ing on the wall’ is plain to be
read even by a, fish, that the
government does not want you
Imre; they are tryiny to exter
minate you by starvation. You
fishermen must be a very unde
sirable class; you cannot find a
single parallel in the history of
the world where a handful of
pioneers in ava t empire, with
a]most unlimited re ources, were
forbidden to live on the natural
products of the country, and
non - r e *: d ° nt c a pi tali s t s w ere
given the sole right to what you
sorely need to sustain life.
“It is not alone the fish you
ore forbidden to live from,” lie
continued, “but you ore shut off
from your only meat supply. It
jcu make a trip to the mainland
in October or November for a
supply of meat for the winter,
like you used to do. it will take
you from two weeks to one
month or more to make the trip,
and what you are allowed to take
will be eaten up long before you
get home and our family will got
nothing but ca”won, which herds
are increasing by i.he thousands
every year' and which are to be
reserved for non-residents, to
be killed for spcrt end the horns
and the carcasses left on the
rround as feed for wolves and
bear. You are even fore id don to
take a seaghh ege: to eat when
you are hungry. In the social
scale, you are below wolves and
grizzly bears; they are protected
and provided for by your gov
ernment. but you are to be ex
terminated by sfarvah’ni. Sven
as a criminal, you are hardly
worth noticing. A poacher or
fish pirate is on the lowest rung
of the criminal ladder. You have
a long way to go to get up to
AI Capone’s class where you
would be feared and admired,
and the upper political circles
where you would be respected
ar.c! venerated and gat a mauso
iert built over your grave. The
trap-tunnel is to be opened soon
so I will have to leave you and