open strictly forbade such statements.
The discussion continued until about nine
o’clock, when William L. Paul entered the room
merely as a newspaper man to report the pro
ceedings exactly as the Ketchikan Chronicle
reporter was already doing. About the only dif
ference between the experience of these two
men was that the Chronicle man was there when
the words I. W. W. was mentioned while Wm.
L. Paul was not present, and did not know about
the incident until the next day.
1 he Urgamzation
When Mr. Paul entered the room, he was in
vited to address the meeting. He immediately
stressed the need of organization, pointing to
the effectiveness of other bodies of men who
organize to advance their views or protect their
interests, using for illustration the Ketchikan
Commercial Club, and other such organizations.
He then invited the trollers to use the organi
zation of the Fishermen’s Protective Associa
tion organized by the seiners two years ago.
Some objection was made by trollers who had
recently come from the Columbia River where
there is always a fight between seiners and trol
lers. Other old time trollers however stated
that there is no such conflict in Alaska, that
seiners catch fish that are not caught by trollers
and vice versa. The result of the meeting was
that they voted to join the Alaska Trollers’
Association. Twenty men joining that night.
The meeting then adjourned to meet in the
Deep Sea Hall at eight o’clock Saturday night
on May 1st.
The Plan
The plan at present is to actively solicit mem
bers for the fishermen’s union, establishing tem
porary headquarters at all the fishing grounds,
and having permanent locals in the different
towns, adopting a common constitution and by
laws, the organization to extend to Cordova and
westward. Within a short time, officers for the
Ketchikan Union will be elected. At the pres
ent time, Mr. Paul is the recording and finan
cial secretary.
Our Advice
Our advice on organization is that but one
Union of fishermen be had first because of the
difficulty of getting well qualified men to serve
as officers. Second because in Alaska practical
ly all seiners are trollers and a great many gill
netters are trollers and seiners at times. Third,
because the interests of fishermen in Alaska
ar the same.
The Market
The first problem is the market. If you can
not sell your fish why catch them. Or if you
cannot get a fair price for your fish, why catch
them.
Prince Rupert
Every fishermen knows that we owe good
prices to the competitive market at Prince Ru
pert and that if we were to lose this market, we
would at once go back to the conditions of
twenty years ago when halibut sold for about
four cents a pound. The first thing then for
fishermen to do is to keep Prince Rupert open.
Capital
The second constructive plank for fishermen
is the matter of credit. The backbone of every
organization is money. It is the only language
that business understands. It swings business
men from one side to the other. It is the life
blood of commerce. The situation in Ketchi
kan is particularly bad because the money of
the cannerymen and their supporters is much
more vaulable to the bank than the money of
fishermen. The answer to this situation is for
the Union to acquire a big bank account, large
enough so that the bank that now uses its in
fluence against fishermen will see that it is
worth while to have the friendship of fishermen
as well as cannerymen and trapmen.
Newspaper And Advertisers
The Third constructive plank for fishermen
is to support the newspaper that supports them.
Every fishermen knows that the Ketchikan
Chronicle fights the interests and the friends of
fishermen all the time. This paper aided by
the political bank practically controls the ad
vertising which makes a newspaper possible.
Fishermen can strengthen their cause simply
by taking note of the advertisers who support
the newspaper that is friendly and show the
business men of this town that the friendship
of the fishermen is worth while.
The fishermen cannot make people under
stand their side of the question unless they
have a newspaper.
The Real Fight
The real fight is to make the people of Alaska
understand that the backbone of our prosperity
is the fishermen. The campaign is simply one
of education. Many a merchant is sleeping
peacefully, lulled to slumber by the sweet songs
of cannery lawyers and superintendents, sing
ing the song of “lower taxation.” This man
must be made to realize that lower taxation for
the non-resident cannery man means higher taxa
tion for the resident merchant and businessman.
“Can We Win”
“The fight can be won. We have the numbers.