“Heckman or Paul”
The Ketchikan Chronicle had an editorial en
titled as above just before the last election.
In that editorial, it stated the help Mr. J. R.
Heckman had given to Individual Indians and
Whites, and asked where William L. Paul was
at that time.
We will tell you, gentle reader. William L.
Paul was fishing for humpies and selling them
to Heckman’s company at the rate of three
fourths of one cent a piece. Heckman as boss
of the Alaska Packers was paying that price for
humpies, and two cents for dog salmon and
seven cents for reds. When the Indians would
ask Heckman for a better price, for one cent
for humps and 2 l-2c for dog salmon, Heck
man would say, *‘l wish I could, my friends,
(he was always strong on that friend stuff)
but if we paid you that price we wrould go
broke.”
In that way, Heckman, who came to Alaska
as a blacksmith, finally became the owner of a
big department stole, a big bank, a fair sized
cannery, traps galore, automobiles, houses, lands,
bonds, mortgages and what-not. Needless to
say, William L. Paul did not buy many houses
or start any bank or big stores from the money
he made selling humpies to Heckman’s employer
at 3-4 of a cent each.
Mr. Heckman has made himself rich and has
made a very few of his own friends rich, but
how about the many in this community?
Was he not one of those that blacklisted the
fisherman last year?
The 1924 Legislature
What are the most important laws that should
engage the attention of the coming legislature?
First, the attainment of liberty. Liberty is
the one thing that brave men of all ages have
died for. Slavery is a most disgraceful con
dition.
We are today slaves of the Federal Brigade.
To be free, we must pass a self-controller bill
creating an elective Board of Three Men who
will govern us. Let the Gentleman from New
York be the Federal Governor. But let us gov
ern ourselves.
Will the cost be too great? What price would
a slave pay for libertv?
THE SECOND LAW—FISHERIES
The second important law is the abolishment
of the fish trap. We put this second because
this is not possible without the first.
This law is important because the fish trap
spells economic slavery of the fishermen of
Alaska; it spells the sure destruction of our
fisheries. The true /fishery problem is “Con
servation of our fish AND conservation of our
resident population.” Any measure that deals
with only one part of the problem is wrong.
Here would come the tax on foreign fisher
men, which would make it profitable for all such
to become resident Alaskans.
THE THIRD LAW
The third law is the passage of the model
workmen’s compensation law, approved by the
American Federation for Labor Legislation; and
which is almost identical with the United States
Act under which the Alaska Railroad was built;
also the Panama Canal; and adopted by many
States.
The principal is that all employers shall pay
a premium based on each industry to the Ter
ritory to make adjustments with the, benefic
iaries. The present unfair law must be re
pealed.
THE FOURTH LAW
Equality of taxation. The truck driver now
pays his license, unless he is a sawmill owner
or running* jsome other large business. Either
tax all or none. The mine pays nothing to run
in this Territory unless it makes a net profit
and then it only pays about $15,000 on the first
million of net profit.
A trap that catches 500,000 salmon pays a
tax of $200.00, exactly the same as a trap that
catches one thousand.
The cost of packing* pinks in Southeastern
Alaska and reds in Western Alaska is about the
same with the red pack a little cheaper. But
pinks sell for $4.40 a case and reds for $9.00.
The profit on a case of pinks is about 50c a case
while on reds it is over $3.00. And yet the
pink pays a basis case tax of 5c and the red
only pays 10c. The red salmon should pay at
least 50c.
If the canners think this too high, let them
submit their cost sheets or income tax reports.
THE FIFTH LAW AND OTHERS
Fairbanks College, the Probate Code, election
lor our commissioner of education, abolishment
of fish hatcheries, and other laws will follow
naturally.
The Cost of Fish Per Case
The published staement, signed “The Canning
Industry of Alaska,” published January 10th,
says that the cost of raw fish per case equals
27 per cent. The packers do not say whether
this 27 per cent is of the selling price or the
cost price, and no figures are given, except later
in the statement the packers say that they take
out of Alaska $1.45 worth of fish in each case
of salmon packed. Using this figure for a basis,
the cost of a case of salmon must be $5.40.
However, the wholesale selling price of pink
salmon is $4.40 per case, and so we must con
clude that the packers in the pink salmon dis
trict figure on losing $3,000,000 every year they
do business in Alaska.
The selling price of red salmon is $9 per case
so we must conclude that the profit on red
salmon is $3.60 per case.
The truth of the matter is that the packers
are not paying $5.40 cost per case, for many
admit that their profit is at least 50c per case,
so that the cost could not exceed $3.90 per case.
As a matter of fact the cost is approximately
$3.50 per case in the pink salmon district. This
is also true in the red salmon district.