The Cordova daily times., 1923-02-03
SATJR JRDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1923
MIR. SUTHERLAND AGAIN

Mr. Sutherand's inordinae attack upon t1c Bureau of Fisheries yesterday before the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the bill to regulate the sale of sealsIins taken from the Pribilof Islands, is perhaps the most Ceplorable of the several deplorable utter ances of which the Delegate from Alaska has lately been guilty. In charging the Bureau of Fisheries with being "rotten from top to bottom,'' MT. Sutherland commits a fragrant breach not on y of good taste, but of authority. As the Delegate from Alaska Mr. Sutherland purports to speak at Washington for the public of this Territory. When, therefore, he decIaims, as hc has recently i'll immodcratc language against the measures taken by the Department of Commerce in behalf of the fisheries of Alaska, Mr. Sutherland gives the impression that he is voicing the sentiment of the majority of Alaskans.
 As a matter of fact, in this instance Mr.. Sutherland does nothing of the kind. Mr. Sutherland's recent poemics against the pol icies of the Fisheries Bureau with respect to reservations, and now to the conduct of the seal industry, do not represent the con census of intelligent opinion in the Territory.
 To what extent the effort to break the al
 
 as expressed in the Johnson bill, is disinter- ested remains to be seen. Other corporations have lately been formed with the avowed ob- iect of ousting the St. Louis company from it's present part in the Priblof seal industry. Whether that action would be to the advantage of the seal rookeres is the important ques- ton. In just what the alleged monopoly of the St. Louis firm consists is another.
 The taking, skinning, curing and tanning of sealskns is a highly technical business. In order that the valuable hides so carefully guarded by the Government shall have the proper treatment in these respects the Gov ernment entered into a contract with an eN- pert fur company. Each year there are sent to the Pribilofs by the Foul1e Company six or eight experts sealers from the New Found- land coast, who, together with two experts from the Bureau of Fisheries and under strict regulations, supervise the killing, skinning and curing. The skins are then shipped to the Fouke Company at St. Louis, where they are pluc1ed, tanned and dyed, ready for mar ket For this service the Fouke Company re ceivos contract price. When the skins are ready for sale public auction IS held under Government supervision. To that auction come buyers from all parts of the word and the skins are sold to the highest bidders, the Government reserving the right to reject any unsatisfactory bid. Just where this arrange ment creates monopoly is not clear. The Fouke Company does not buy or sell the skins. It acts merely in the capacity of agent, and as such insures to the Government expert care of highly valuable commodity. What would be the effect upon the quality and prices of these skins if indiscriminate and inexpert hands had the meddling with them is easy to imagine. v
 This is no brief for the Fouke Company There may be other companies as capable as Fouke; there may be better terms to be made In the absence of reliable information we do not know. But it is safe to say that any plan which has for its object the parceling out of the seal industry to any less expert hands is one which would be costly at any price and vigorously to be condemned.
 As for Mr. Sutherland's attack on the Fish