The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-10-21
ABOUT THE SHIPPING BILL.


 During Judge Wickersham's campaign here he severely criticised Delegate Sulzer for what he termed his wilful and intended ab- sence from his place in Washington when the so-called shipping bill came up before the house for enactment This unexplained and unwarranted absence-the delegate was on a pleasure trip to California explained Mr. Wickersham, resulted in Alaska being left without the benefits of the contents of this measure.
 The bill to which reference is made author ized foreign bottoms, under certain circum- stances, to haul freight between coastwise ports of the United States for the period of the war, but containing provision that it does not apply to Alaska. This, said Mir. Wicker sham, was done at the behest of a representa- tive of a prominent shipping firm of the Pa ciflc coast who went before the committee dur ing the delegates absence.
 Upon examination 1t is found that there were and are no vessels making Alaskan ports which could have been included under the provisions of the above act. By their very charters they cannot enter the American coast wise trade. In the first place. the intent and purpose of the fact Is designated to cover in stances where the cargo carriers have no regular schedule. Those Canadian vessels, about which such fuss has been raised, have and maintain regular schedule between Alas kan ports, whereas it was not intended to au thorize foreign bottoms to operate between American coastwise ports upon regular sched ules, carrying freight and passengers since this would in effect be an appeal to foreign owners to remove vessels from already es- tablished runs to engage in almost purely American traffic. It was really more to legal ize the use of what is termed tramp freighters" than any other object that the ad- ministration passed the coastwise shipping bill
 But the main point and objection against the use of Canadian vessels lies in the fact that they are owned and operated by rail transportation companies under which they could not obtain charters under the American flag since our government has ruled against railway companies controlling such feeders, as they are termed. t
 So much for the legal aspect of the mat ter. Now, says Judge Wickersl1a1n, if these Canadian vessels had been allowed to enter the American coastwise field as it applies to Alaska, freight rates would have been lower ed and fish that are rotting on the wharves ol JuHNou eiiu OlSI NSlll1 1Co dlOIS lHS coast could have been transported to ready and needy market. The first charge is not established by the Judge, he merely makes the assertion If there are those who are inter ested enough to make an examination and will so so, they will find that up until very re- gently, freight rates aboard these same Cana dian vessels were higher than those charged on Amercan lines, and that the present rates are as high as the American rates.
 As to the charge that fish are rotting on the ways Last winter at the behest of Delegate Sulzer, representative of the feder- al shipping board, the supreme authority on maritime matters during the war, held hear ings on the shipping situation at several Alas kan ports. Before this representative people from interested sections of Alaska appeared, and it was generally stated that it was not for the best interests of Alaska to admit the Cana dian vessels to the Alaskan trade beyond car rying fresh fish, and Ed Russell, Judge Wick ersham's chief political friend and adviser in the first division, was one of those who so gave his opinion.
 In accord with this opinion, the privilege of carrying fresh fish was given to the Cana dian vessels. It is, however, a matter of ship ping records that there have only been two cargoes of fresh fish taken from Alaskan ports by foreign bottoms. The largest Cana