The Alaska daily empire., 1916-10-03
MORE EXPLANATION
lKetchikan Progressive.MInerl

That habut bill that failed to pass congress re- cently is causing great deal of useless talk these days Some there are who believe the bill should have been passed Others believe that 1t would nave had iLeffect and detrimental to the pest interests of the fishermen
 In the first place. let 1t be understood for all time that as far as the local business men are con cerned, they do not wish to deprive the ishermen or their hard earned money. They know the fisherman deserves all he get for his fish They Know that his life is full of mseres caused by hardshps unaVod' able in his occupation. They understand all tnaI and the fishermen may be said to have the sympathy Bearing that in mind we can proceed to point out the fish buyers to Prince Rupert?
 In the first place. and up to the time the fisher men changed their selling headquarters rom seatI.e to Prince Rupert they had been complaining for years about what they called the Fish Trust, and blamed
 the for the cutting down of prices to the stage of starvation. Supposing there was fish trust was n that same trust that caused the fishermen to saryei Emphatlcaly no. The fish trust is buying now and the fishermen are said be satisfied, If 1t wasn't for the fish trust then we must look somewhere else
 Following this the first question that must be answered 1t: with whom did the fishermen do busi' ness with in Seattle! The loooers Anu 'nsrS 5 you ni have the key that opens the door to the abode or the scoundrels who starved the fishermen. Likewise you have the key that led to the persecution Of the
 For years and years, the fish trust has been handling eighty per cent of all the fish that lS taken in these waters and it is still Although, and npti the buyers moved to Prince Rupert from Seattle the trust hardly ever bought fish direct from the fishermen The fish shipped to jobbers who gen,
  culing the otherwise hclding the price down. Had the fishermen dealt direct with the trust they would have received what the jobbers received, thus saving the commission paid the greedy brokers whose greedness increased from day to day until the fish, ermen found themselves starving. Meanwhile the trust always paid good price to the brokers and the swines fattened at the fishermens expense The situation became unbaerable and the fishermen set up a howl that heard everywhere, blaming the trust Forgetting that the trust had nothing to do with them direct. While 1t used practically all the fish, the profit the fishermen entitled to went as a commission the brokers that the latter might ride in an automobile while the poor devils or fsher- men were getting more commission. Here entered the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Commercial Club, who without thinking what they fishermen. When the clamps were applied the fish trust, ruffled up. sproued wings and flew to Prince Rupert and the fishermen after it. Leaving the broS. and the Seattle people gaping
 The trust did not fly off trom Seattle to punish us here, nor the fishermen but simply to punish the Seattle people for having allowed the jobbers to rob What does the trust what 1t pays as long it sets the price that the fishermen must receive and the consumers must pay? We take 1t that its aim is to compete with the meat trust. The point is, so long as there is good demand for fish, just so long will the fishermen get good price for their fish, and longer. If the fishermen eliminate the obbers. who is the biggest item of expense just the same as the walking boss is to an organization they will receive the full benefit of their work.
 Now, if the trust is the buyer of the fish, and as it wants the fish, compel it come here and buy instead of at Prince Rupert 1t will come here and pay the price that it pays less the differ ence of the cost of transportation from here to the latter place, which cost the fishermen would make up fuel, loss of time, etc, and the American bus ness would hold the traffic, because the Grand Trunk Pacific is after the traffic and will have it | despite all that Seattle can do This big transpor- prevent it from coming here after it? Nothing Then why not have whatever business country creates unless by the enactment of law, by all means let us have 1t.