The Nome nugget., 1932-10-15
TEXT OF DInh0ND'S VIGOROUS SPEECH

 the attorneys. for the Kennecott Copper Corporation and the AL aska Seamship Company and var ious other corporate interests. and that therefore am not to be ltruste dto represent you as your Delegate in Congress. It is true that for some years past the firm of which I am a member has re- presented. in legal matters only. the kennecott Copper Corporation and the Alaska Steamship Com pany and several other corpora tions. We have also represented several hundred persons who have no corporate connection whatsoev- CT, and the service we have ren- dered in each case has been of precisely the same character; it has been legal service. And when the service is concluded in each case, We are in exactly the same position,-the client does not owe us anything. and we do not owe him anything. And if I am elect ed as your Delegate To Congress | shall have but one client, and that is the people of Alaska. be cause shall, upon my election imme diately sever all connections with he practice of law in Alaska, for I know that if | am hired to represent the people of Alaska. won't have time 10 do anything else. The Delegate from Alaska will hay" his hands full without attempting to take care of law practice. If you will inquire among the clients that I have had, think they will unanimously say that in every case I have represented them faithfully and to the best of my ability and I suggest to you that a lawyer who represents his private clients faithfully is likely, and in deed certain, to represent in equal good faith the people of his coun- try if they are his clients.
 A moment ago I spoke of the rendering of legal services. There is the widest distinction in the world between the rendition of legal services and the selling of political influence. My political in huence, whatever It may be. has never been for sale and has nev- CT been sold. The corporations that have represented know full well that 1 am their attorney to aid them in their legal affairs only. and that I am always free and have always been free. to fol- low my own judgment and con- science in political matters. And fsince Judge Wickersham has brot into this campaign the question of political fitness arising from the representation of corporation9, I feel justified in saying here that my record in this respect is intin- itely superior to his, because I know of one case where he did sell, not his legal services, but his political influence, to certain fishing corporations
 Fish Question
 In order to prove to you fully I shall be obliged to discuss for a few minutes question which may not be very interesting to you, and that is the situation in the First and Third Divisions of Alaska in the salmon fishing in Idustry with respect to fish traps. Many of us. including myself, have thought for d great many years that there are far too many fish traps in Alaska, and that. in fact
 the Territory would probably have been better off if no fish traps had ever been permitted in Alaska be cause, from it's very nature, tn" operation of traps has a tendency to foster monopoly in the taking of fish and lessens the opportunit! of employment of the local inhab- itants. Of course. the Territory o' Alaska has no control whatever over the fishing industry. It can tax the industry and the product of it, and the property used in the industry but that is all The en- tire control of the fisheries is in Congress and it is exercised under the law through the bureau ol fisheries; Alaskans have not q thing to say about it. My own feelings on the subject were so strong that after consulting with the fishermen at and around Val deg, I introduced i'll the Territor- ial senate in 1929 a memorial not to permit the establishment of any new traps and to eliminate all company owned traps until no fish ing company should have more than one for each line of machinery operated. There are few priv ately owned traps, and the mem orial was not aimed at them, be- cause they were not numerous enough to materially upset the in- dustry. If this memorial had pass ed and its principles had been adopted by the bureau of fisher ies, at least one-half of the fish tra ps then in operation in Alaska , would have heen eliminated But