The Nome daily nugget., 1936-01-30

abolished Fish traps are a priv Ilege and a species of monopoly.
 It is certainly an unfair privi- l9ge for one person to be permit ted to have traps when no oppor- tunity is given to other equally deserving persons to have them. After all, the fish in the ocean are a natural resource that ought not to be preemp'ad in this manner by any Cae individual q" corpora tion group of individuals or corporations. Traps are Q mono poly because they permanently occupy certain part of the wat CTS of Alaska to the exclusion of citizen who wish to fish in those waters. Ii is within the power of the Department under p,escnt conditions. to make Or break any packing company by simply op- ening or closing the surrounding waters to trap fishing, and the same is true with respect to ev- cry individual fisherman. This is a power which ought not to be possessed by any administrative officer no matter how honorable or how upright he may be.
 Two bills have been introduced calling for the abolition of all sal mon traps in Alaska, one by Re presentative Sirovich of New York, who is much interested in matters affecting the Territory, and the other by me. The only material difference between these two bills is that the one which I introduced will limit seine fishing to residents of Alaska only.
 The Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the House has fixed the time for hearing on these bills for January 18th, 1886 before the Committee, at Wash lngton. The fishermen, and par ticularly the Seiners of Alaska, should send to Washington for this hearing representative of their own choosing who will be able to tell the Committee just what the situation is and how the abolition of traps will be bene- ficial. You may be sure that the packers who have traps will be here. and well represented not only by members of their own or ganization but by skillful coun- sel. The people of Alaska who are interested in this matter should send some of their best men who arc widely acquainted with fishing conditions in various parts of the Territory to testify at the hearing.
 Legislature Should Control
 1 am still of the opinion that the proper solution of this ques- tiOn is 10 turn full control of the fsheries over to the people of AL as<a, 10 be handl-d by the Ter ritOrial Legislature, and I still have pending in Congress a bill to accomplish this. However, many people in Alaska and some of our friends in Congress think thst we have a better chance to pas the bill to abolish fish traps than we have to pass the bill which would give the people of Alaska control of the fisheries, and for that reason we are mak- ing a special effort to secure the passage of the bill to do away with fish traps.
 Another bill introduced by me which ought to be passed is the one designed 10 ultimately pro- hibit the conversion of herring in- to oil, meal or fertilizer and thus preserve the salmon trolling in- dusty in Alaska as well as the industry of packing herring for food.
 Reindeer Supervision
 The situation in northwestern Alaska with respect to the Eski- mos and their ownership and use of Reindeer is a very unhappy one. The troubles are of long standing and call for prompt re- lief. The Department of the h. terior worked out a comprehen- SiVe plan to remedy the present bad conditions but it now ap- pears that the Departments pro- gram cannot be carried out for lack of funds. In order to correct existing evils without delay have presented to the Depart ment and am urging:
 First, that under the leasing ln1Ir thn ,,ntiIra- la criIrar, nlI H. d