The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-10
THEORY VS. ACTUAL PRACTICE

on the ground that under them existing can nery owners are g iven a monopoly, is at least theoretically correct. There is no question but that the regulations adopted by the De partment of Commerce and which have the formal approval of Secretary Herbert Hoover are monopostc. They leave 1t within the discretion of the Department to forbid the establishment of new canneries at any point in the reserves so created. It must be ad- mitted that the Department, during the sea son recently closed, refused to license any canneries in the Alaska Peninsula Fisheries Reserve which had not operated there before that time. In theory any monopoly whether Government supervised or not IS against the best interests of the public.
 The Delegates attitude in the present in stance is based on purely theoretical reasoning without taking into consideration the practical |side of the question as affected by the pc culiar circumstances surrounding the fishing industry. The demand both in and outside of Alaska is strong for the preservation -ot our salmon canning industry. That can be effected only by some manner of protection of the salmon themselves. It is the conviction of Mr. Sutherland that efficient protection can be given the salmon by the abolition ot the fish trap There is little reason for cX- pecting that the trap will be abolished and IF lit should where demand exists for fish to can or cure that demand will be supplied by fish caught in some other manner. Thus the abo- 1ition of any particular class of gear will not absolutely insure the lessening of the number of fish taken each year ,and that IS the end aimed at It is not how the fish are taken so much as how many are taken that IS involved in perpetuating the salmon industry. It would seem wise, therefore, to adopt system or |pack limitation, not on V as whole but by the several districts or by the stream If It proves to be necessary
 1 Lacking legislation to enable It to establish such limitation, the Department of Commerce has taken the only means apparently available to if to accomplish the desired end. 1t asked and secured an executive order, winch Mr. Sutherland for all of his proclaimed ale%- lance ana loyalty to President Hardng's Ad- ministration, attacks sharply, accusing the President of approving something of winch i he knew nothing, that enables 1t to limit the fishing in streams the pack of fish m any dls- Itrict and the transportation of fish from one district to another That order does not pro | hibit the establishment of new cannerles but leaves it open to the decision of the Depart ment of Commerce. which, if 1t determines It can be done without injury to the supply of salmon. can license additional canneries. .4p this manner, even if no additional Legislation is enacted, it will be possible to control the fisheries situation and to give adequate pro Itection to the salmon runs ln order that 1u- ture supplies arc assured. The system evolved by the Department of Commerce entails first the establishment of a general reserve; next it's division into smaller districts; the Ilcen- sine fo canneries in these districts and~a llml- taton of their packs; the requirement that canneres may fish in and obtain fish only ! from waters within the boundaries of the dls- tricts iii which they are located and that fish may not be transported from one district to another n the reservation or outside of the reservation to other canneries. ii the agents of the Department find that the cscapement of fish is not sufficient under the pack limits established in any year to maintain standard pack, it is within the power 1t possesses to further limit the pack or to refuse to hcensc any or all canneries until runs become large enough tc again justify fishing. If the escape ment on the other hand is found to be Tn eN- cess of the size required to maintain the sup ply, pac, limits may be increased or addition al canneries licensed.
 It is true that such a system IS paternallstc.
 But so is the bureau system of administration
 While we have bureaucratic government 1t