The Cordova daily times., 1923-04-10
TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1923
THE ROOT OF THE MATTER

Whatever grievances the Territory has aoainst the salmon canneries-and they are manv-and however much Alaska needs cheap or freiobt rates-and the need IS vltal-the nronosa] of Attorney General Rustgard to tax inc canneries to create ship subsidy fund for cheap freight vessels, is as absurd as It IS naive Penalizing one industry to malntalh ah- other totally unrelated to it is neither bus iness-like nor an equitable preceding ana It is not likely that the Territorial Legislature will waste any of it's valuable tune debating such ouixotic suggestion. The subject IS meh- tioned by The Times only for the reason that if gives one more instance of the klnd or req sonine that characterzes all too much of at tempted legislation for the relief of conditions under which Alaska suffers
 That the salmon canneries operating Tn AL askan waters bring far less return to the Ter rtorv than is just and due, is unquestlonable. Owned and operated by Outside capital, ln- nortine Outside labor and supplies, buying practically nothing in the Territory, taking their product to Outside markets and even naving off their employees through Outside hanks at the end of the season, the flsheres of Alaska have been of comparatively l'ttle benefit to the Territory from winch they ara" their revenues. Natural conditions are partly to blame for this Small Alaskan banks are un- eoua] to the financing of the big packing com- nanies. For their seasons operations packers mnst borrow in Outside banks, where one or the conditions of the loans is that they keep their finds on deposit there and check out throuoh those banks Alaska cannot supply sufficient labor for the canneries Much ot It must be imported Supplies can be bought more cheaply Outside by buying in large quantities from headquarters, and can be shipped north at less cost for freight on the canners, own vessels, which otherwise would come up empty. All these are conditions of plain business expediency. That Alaska su11ers from them is bitterly true. That the cannerles should be taxed sufficiently to make up m good measure for the discrepancy IS indls- putabe. But to tax the salmon industry to sup port fleet of unprofitable ships to provide cheaper freight rates is the helght of absurd ity.
 The transportation problem is equally as vital to the Territory as IS that of the flsl- cries. Whatever is the truth as to eXtortlonate freight rates no one seems to know. That Alas kans are paying enormous rates IS truth at tested by the crimp in the pocketbook of every person that lives here. There is nothing com plcated about that fact, however complicated are the questions of tariffs and hauls and pre- ferentials and weight and -measurment system and all the rest of it, which the ordinary ln- dividual knows nothing about. But charges of gouging and conspiracy and excessive div idends, such as have been made by Attorney General Rustgard, based on figures which he now admits were inaccurate and incorrect, do more to entrench any possible injustices and discriminations than anything that can be said or done. Such errors simply react against the one that makes them in favor of the one