The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-09-08

cannot be served without depriving the peo pie of the interior of needed supplies. A few more years under the present arrangement will inevitably result in the total destruction of the fishing industry on the Yukon river and its tributaries.
 If the matter is put up to the department of commerce in the proper light, it is not yet too late to have the situation remedied. This falls under the province of the local Commer- cial club. By getting in touch with the fisher men all along the Panama river and those or the Yukon from Eagle to its mouth, figures or the catch of the present season can be secured and by comparing these with the catches ot the last three or four seasons, the department can be definitely shown how the operation ot the cannery outfit affects thousands of miles ot territory and the welfare of many people,
 Coast people are also beginning to pro. test against the unlicensed methods being usec in coast waters by packers. Greed, lack o1 foresight and wanton destruction are charged against them In a recent editorial, headed 'Rapine vs. Reason" the Ketchikan Chronicle declared
 Comes the announcement from San Fran cisco of the Alaska Packers that their boat. are returning from the wealthy waters o1 Alaska m ballast; that the salmon pack for the year IS smaller than in any previous season il the history of the organization The inference may even be drawn from the announcement that the Alaska Packers are losing money thi. season.
 Can there be any doubt as to the reason Do the Alaska Packers officials wonder wh, their boats are returning from the North ir ballast? Does any canneryman, or fisherman or merchant or resident of Alaska have tc ask the why? It is not miracle of God, anC therefore there must be a reason for it. Every. one knows the answer It is greed lack o1 foresight and wantOn destruction.
 That selfishness reaches out in man, directions It grasps the cannerymen the trol Ter, the seiner, even the merchant They want the fish, the money that the fish will bring The lure of the gold has blinded their reason
 It IS written that they shall all go dowr to destruction, financial destruction, unles. they become nstilled with the rule of reason
 The fisheries of Alaska that have pro- duced hundreds of millions of dollars, tha have fed untold thousands of persons, tha helped win the war, that helped save man kind-they are doomed Only reason anc foresight or miracle can save them. And the day of miracles has gone
 Millions of dollars in property, canneres small fishing vessels, large ships and equip ment are tied up in the fisheries They vii all be lost And far worse, the source of sup ply of food for coming generations will bt wiped out. The shame of it! And all fol greed
 Will anyone deny that the seiners are rob ping practically every stream in Alaska Will anybody deny that the canneres, knowing that those seiners are robbing the streams, art buying their fish, and glad to get them? Will anybody deny that too many traps are bull so close to mouths of streams that they are pllferlng the food of this and future genera tions? The facts are undeniable. They are common knowledge.
 And to add, to it all, no administration republican or democrat, has shown itself big enough or knowing enough to put stop to it Fisheries to the north of Ketchikan are a disappointment for 1919. Fisheries of the whole Pacific coast will be tragic disappoint ment within few years.
 Yet, 1t is not too late. This destruction can be avoided. This shortage of fish can be remedied here before it is too late, and in oth CT districts the production can be prot back to normal, will be, must be.
 The farmer who prays for his corn cro1 to be success does not reap the harvest tha his neighbor does who hoes out the weeds no, will the praying of the fishermen for a gooc run of salmon get the pack that may be obtain ed by proper measures of preservation ane propagation.
 The federal administration of the fisher. ies would be joke, if the matter was not such