PRIVILEGE HAS GOTTEN ALASKA FISH CONTROL
PRIVILEGE HAS GOTTEN ALASKA FISH CONTROL ~i Dan Sutherland, Delegate In House, Makes Cliarges Against Government COMPARES SYSTEM TO BRITISH COLUMBIA England Recognizes That National Resources...
...What effect has the unjust methods of the Bureau of Fisheries had upon the native people of the Panhandle section of Alaska...
...AND MOST OF WHAT HE DOES IS DIRTY WORK ; Mussolini—so the news runs—has just . forbidden Ihr appearance In Italy of "All Quiet on the Western Front" "In any form...
...My reply is that the h»1-mon of British Columbia are packed just as cheaply as those of Alaska They are placed on the world market at the same price...
...In 1924...
...British Columbia employs more than three times as many j men to take three-fifths the number of fish that are taken annually in the Alaska Panhandle...
...It is an old axiom of English law laid down by the courts when ownership of property in their dominions was adjudicated that 'a country and its resources belong to its inhabitants,' and the fishery authorities of British Columbia adhere to that sound principle...
...Contrasting the fisheries policies of the United States and of British Columbia, Mr...
...Every fisherman bears a part of the conservation burden gladly...
...when Congress passed the ' fisheries law, the seines, the Indian's j fishing appliance, were taking 38 per , cent of the salmon in southeastern ! Alaska, while the traps, In exclusive privilege, were taking 57 per cent...
...In 1926 the seine catch was reduced to 24 per cent and the trap catch increased to 73 per cent...
...Conservation of fish life Is there applied to all alike...
...To produce its 2.373.-948 cases the Panhandle Alaska employs 2.793 men...
...i The difficulty, Mr...
...In other words, British Columbia packs approximately 15 cases where the Alaska Panhandle packs 24 cases...
...this year, 1929, there were 459 trap permits issued...
...You will ask me why this great dis- i parity in the number of fisherman : employed in the two countries...
...By regulations in 1925 the seine catch was reduced to 32 per cent and that trap catch increased 64 per cent...
...In Alaska the burden of conservation is placed upon that portion of the people least able to bear It...
...D. Grimes...
...In 1928, figures quoted by Mr...
...The sharp reduction In the portion of the catch secured by the Indian method of fishing has, Mr...
...Today they are In destitution and want...
...1 There was no decrease in the number ' of fishermen employed in that country j for the season of 1928...
...It is Identical with the law of British Columbia which I am discussing...
...Ii, is interesting to read in Bancroft's History that when the Russians occupied the Territory, all unjust and violent treatment that the natives received from them was the result of lust...
...In all the history of the while race I question if any people have been treated as unjustly, with the consent of the government, as have these aboriginal people...
...I enclose herewith $1 subscription to The Progressive six months...
...Pittsburgh, Pa., Dec...
...Now, let me quote the figures as to men employed...
...My answer is that in British Columbia the fisheries are administered for the benefit of all the people, and in such a manner that every citizen may participate, on an equality with any other | citizen...
...Virtually every nation on earth, and I think every state in the Union, delegates certain powers to its administrative bureaus, and it is presumed that they will follow the law and the statutes, and also the court decisions of the past with regard to the fishery law...
...PRIVILEGE HAS GOTTEN ALASKA FISH CONTROL ~i Dan Sutherland, Delegate In House, Makes Cliarges Against Government COMPARES SYSTEM TO BRITISH COLUMBIA England Recognizes That National Resources Belong to The People (Special to The Progressive) WASHINGTON...
...Today the native of Alaska is the victim of selfishness and greed and the United States Government, through its agency, the Bureau of Fisheries, is deliberately carrying out the plan to despoiling them of all they have In heritage by turning the natural right* of the Indians over to | a privileged class of white citizens...
...Sutherland asserts, is not to be found in the Alaskan fisheries law passed by Congress in 1924...
...The fisheries of Alaska are administered for the benefit of a privileged few...
...The trouble 13- in the administration of the law and nothing else...
...In 1927 the seine catch was reduced to 16 per cent and the trap catch was 70 per cent, a reduction of 3 per cent from 1926...
...There is one thing about Mussolini—whether In the end he Is going to add most to the gaiety or the tragedy of nations—he Is thorough and he does his own dirty work—The Weekly People...
...Your patform is o. k. Certainly public ownership Is the ; prime Issue for th» progressive thinker i In this country,—W...
...Sutherland stated, "brought these people to extreme poverty,"—a situation shared with the Indians by many of the poorer white Inhabitants of the territory...
...Are the British Columbians profligate with their salmon supply by their method of fishing...
...Sutherland says: "Southeastern Alaska, for the past 10 years, has produced a yearly average of 2.373.484...
...This is the charge made here by the Alaskan delegate in the House, Dan A. Sutherland...
...My reply is that their annual pack of salmon Is much more uniform from year to year than Is the Alaska pack...
...Sutherland showed, the percentage of selne-eniiRht fish Increased again to 25 per cent, but at the expense of the constantly declining percentage caught with net* and lines, for in the name year fish caught in traps used by the large operators Increased to 71 per cent...
...i Why The Disparity...
...They are very careful to preserve their general supply by proper escapement...
...These are the fig- ; ures of the Bureau of Fisheries and ; those contained in the report of the Canadian Minister of Fisheries...
...In other words...
...The Panhandle native Is today an outcast in the land of his forefathers...
...He said: "It is the fault of the department...
...The privileged few select to strengthen the privileges upon which the Alaska fisheries are now based...
...while British Columbia employs 9,322 men to take 1,470.-102 cases, or 93 men to our 28 men...
...The natives fought in defense Of their women...
...for Congress voiced definite opposition to the granting of any ex- j elusive fishing franchises, and contended that every citizen should be permit-' ted to fish wherever fishing was permitted...
...It la no fault of the law...
...Is there any financial economy resulting from the monopolistic methods maintained by the Bureau of Fisheries in Alaska...
...The American figures are for 1928 when the number of men employed in fish- 1 ing was greater by 175 than In 1927...
...cases of canned Salmon...
...Alaskan natives have been deprived of their means of livelihood as the result of favortism on the part of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries toward the large salmon packing companies operating in Alaska...
...The law can be applied...
...British Columbia in the same period has produced an annual average of 1.475.102 cases...
...In 1923, the year before Congress gave the Secretary of Commerce full power to conserve the salmon supply of Alaska there were 326 traps operated In southeastern Alaska...
...An Increase of over 25 per cent In the interest of conservation...
...1 The figures for British Columbia are for the year 1927, the latest available...
...Were the just and fair method of administering fishery law as practiced in British Columbia applied to Alaska I believe I am safe in saying that at least 10.000 people would be added to the panhandle section of Alaska...
Vol. 1 • January 1930 • No. 8
