The Cordova daily times., 1920-10-19
Whats the Matter
 with AlaSka9

: knows just what is necessary to pre- serve the animal industry generally The same wise laws that might ap- ply to the Berkshire pigs, the Perch eron horses. the Alderney COWS or the South Down sheep might with equal success be directed, although to somewhat different form. to the preservation of this most valuable of food fishes. Had Clifford Pinchot eX- pended some of his energy upon the wise conservation of the salmon of Alaska. rather than the wholly un- necessary preservation of the trees, he might have accOmplised some thing good for the territory In truth, owing to the immense wealth of the Cannery men, their lobby with in the territory, at Seattle. San Fran cisco and Washington, they have sue Gessfully blocked every attempt at sane regulation Rather than forego for a few years the immense annual income derived from the industry. they have been ruthlessly disregard ing the laws of nature and the un- written law of the sportsman and mon to a point where they now can look forward to possible extinction and backward upon their long years of error
 There is nothing visionary in the suggestion. If proof were needed to show the urgent demand for the most stringent law, that proof is at hand. for the salmon canning in dustry. once most flourishing, on Puget Sound is now almost ended. For several years past the pack OH Puget Sound has been next to nOth- ing. when at one time it represented our most important commercial as set. Too late are those interested looking back with deep regret upon the time when the Puget Sound fish cries represented so much in the an nual bank clearings. Every attempt to regulate the Puget Sound fisher ies met with successful opposition by the lobby at Olympia, and de- spite the splendid effect made by the state fish and game warden. the local industry has been ruined. Now. with the recent reports show ing a still greater decrease and the official figures showing the actual decrease in Alaska, who can success fully contradict the assertion that there is something radically wrong in the management or control of the fisheries of the Northwest?
 The reader should not understand that this is a suggestion to apply to the fisheries of Alaska. rules or regulations calling for the absolute closing down of the industry. Such procedure would be more harmful than the other extreme. It is a fact. however. that the bureaus of those in authority could plan regulations or secure congressional laws where by some humane and practical con- servation of the fish could be ap- piled. For example, it is a we'll known fact that the salmon market is overstocked. This shows that there are too many engaged in the salmon canning industry. As we must market this years pack in addi- ton to millions of pounds of the 1919 pack why continue the unrestricted packing of the fish to the detriment of the future industry?
 The writer does not claim to have any practical knowledge of the sal mon industry but it stands to req son that nature ordained that the king of food fishes would run in cer- tain localities and at certain times of the year along the Alaska coast. When traps and canneries and trolling boats and nets intercept the move ment of the fish at practically every known cannery site or trap site along the. coast, how long will it be before the number of fish that escape those