The Wrangell sentinel., 1937-07-09
SALMON IS KING!

Out across the bay are strung a line of bobbing corks. Soon there will be more and more of them until our waters will resemble a flotilla of wood bobbing here and there for eyer like wooden soldiers in a toy parade. And indeed they are like wooden soldiers for they lay in wait for the Wily salmon.
 Somehow the salmon run is aI- ways romantic. It begins with the life history of the fish itself which always returns to the land of its birth after a life cycle of from two to five years. How the salmon can pick out its own particular river or creek after a life spent in the bTiny deep is a mystery to man. Why it does come back is also a mystery yet the fish will fight until they are battered to death to reach their spawning grounds.
 Romance surrounds mans efforts to capture the salmon. The season Is short but fast and man must be ready. In the early days the hisCor- ic old Berlin used to sail out of Portland for Alaska and the land Of king salmon. She was a tive-masIed barkentine, but she left to the tune of fond farewells, soft-shed tears and wild cheering. Her holds were full of struggling humanity, mixed up with food, tn cans, tools and the thousand other necessary things needed in a fish cannery.
 She would return in the fall, her ample holds crammed with canned fish and her fisherfolk tanned and well-heeled with money. The Berlin sank years ago, but the North King still sails north every year with the same romance. Fortunes ebb and flow with the run of the fish ana towns rise and fall with the com ing and going of the cannery crews. Yes, romance surrounds King Sal mon and a heartache too, for those who fail to hit the run.
 We have often heard 1t said that gold built Alaska. Maybe 1t did, but l will always believe the gold was in the silvery scales of good old King Salmon. Few people realize what the fish pack means to Alaska. First, 1t furnishes a living for thousands ot men, women and children. It is true that not all the fishermen are Al askans, but the Outsiders leave part of their earnings here.
 Second, the obliging salmon furn- ishes freight two ways for count less boats. The trip north brings tinplate,. machinery and food; the trip south takes the finny tribe to the States in their shiny jackets of tin. .. .aslsia
 But, best of all, Old Man Salmon furnishes a food product FIT FOR A KING. Nowhere is there food product so delectable, so tasty, or so inyigorating as our friend the sal mon. And mankind certainly knows it, for Alaska canned salmon travels around the world to grace the tables of epicures the country over.
 But before the king of fishes leaves Alaska it performs sing ular duty to the youth of the Terri tory. It provides them almost an en- tire education for thru the medium of the case tax and the can tax al most 80 percent of the schooling costs are paid. Who would think that mere fish could be so thought full?
 No wonder we speak of 'the poor fish,, for by the time he gets to that jolly old fellow, the ultimate con- sumer, he is pretty heavily taxed. most cannerymen do not object to the present taxes. They go to wor- thy cause. BUT THEY DO OBJECT TO ANY MORE TAXES ON FISH It behooves us to be careful in two ways. First, to be sure of a normal escapement to provide constant sup ply; and second, do not tax the fish business to death.
 Why not let Salmon Be King? And he will be king forever if we just take care. Salmon is Alaska s bread and butter and it is the duty of every Alaskan to help protect this royal fish in every way.
 Let's all be fish minded and re- solve:
 l. No more taxes on fish.
 2. Better protection.
 8. Firm support of Delegate A. J. Dimond to exterminate foreign fish, ermen In Alaska's waters
 Valdez Miner.