Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1932-10-27
WANTS MORE FREEDOM

Chitina, Alaska, Oct. 2, 1882.
WANTS MORE FREEDOM
Editor Askov Americana:
have been reading the Opinion of
Others" and also listened to radio
talks and hearing SO much of our
free country of America.
Will say. have been and lived in
it when it was free country as
understand the word free, but today,
if any one calls it a free country
don't know the meaning of this little
word free.
Now If there is any reader that can
explain the meaning so l can UNDER
stand it would be very much obliged
to you. l must admit l am somewhat
dumb. But when you pay for Ii
cense every time you want to do any,
thing, where does the free part come
in? We pay license for trapping,
if you want to go out and shoot a
squirrel or bird you pay license, If
you want to kill bigger game you pay
license, if you want to go out and
catch a fish with hook and line you
pay license, if you want to spear a
fish you can't catch with hook you
pay license. if you want to take load
of vegetables to town and sell them
around you got to pay license. And
that is not all, there is few that
will tell you just when you can take
any of these things and how long a
time you can have to get them in,
and that is not all, they tell you just
how long you can have to dispose of
it by eating it up. Now suppose an
old bachelor or single man and his
wife kill deer or if they both have
licenses they are entitled to two deer,
and the doctor has given one or both
orders not to eat only a certain
amount a day, we'll they can't keep it
fresh and they can't eat it up in the
given time, they can't sell it, can't
give it away and if they salt it down
or can it, so as to keep it for their
own use for the following summer, a
game warden comes along. they in
vite him in for a meal. Oh, yes they
give him the best they got then he
turns around and arrests them for
having venison in possession out Of
season. He takes what meat they
have on hand and they get $50 or 500
fine on top of that yet. Now maybe
some of you will say he should have
got a permit Well he paved for a
license to get that meat and then has
he got to pay for a permit to eat it
and then they call this free country.
fail to see where the free part comes
in. The first thing we will know the
state will tell us when we can kill
a pig or calf and just how long you
can have to eat it up in and just what
time you can have to do it in and you
will either pay license before you
do it or pay a fine, and believe me it
won't be long now if things don't take
a change.
To my way of thinking this free
country of ours has got too many
laws or lawmakers. My idea is and
| believe that the Ten Commandments
are all the laws we need if they were
| lived up to or inforced.
l notice that the synopsis of the
law l got when l took out my small
game license is that big game in
cludes only deer and bear and that
small game includes all protected
wild quadrupeds not listed under big
game so then moose, elk, caribou and
beaver come under small game. Now
l can hear some one say there is no
open season on them. Then if there
is no open season on those animals
they are protected and small game
includes all protected wild quadrupeds
not listed under big game.
What is the big dea for the
change? Times have changed al
right. Now days if fellow has a
sweetheart he has to pay license to
go and see her and on top of that a
gas tax and if he sticks to her he
has to pay another license before he
| is done in this wonderful free coun-
| try. Now | said before, | have seen
this country when you could call it
free country. A young fellow could
have sweetheart and go with her
as long as he wanted to and if they
didn't get married he didn't have to
have any license at all nor pay any
gas tax either, and then if fellow
wanted to go out in his field or his
neighbor's and kill some game he
could do it without paying three OF
four licenses or paying any fines
Then you could call it a free country
You often hear the remark, start
when you are at the top where dc
you start to work down. 1t looks tC
me that our tax believers think that
the way is start at the bottom again