The Wrangell sentinel., 1938-09-02

lCont1n0ed rom Page One1 Union that they could make appli- cation for membership on payment of s15 each but that they would have to take their chances by get ting in line before a job could be given them. They tUOR look at the line mentioned, about half a block long and composed of FilipinOs, Japs, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans ana riff-raff, and decided that the chance was not worth $15. These boys were born in Ketchikan.
 Two brothers from seldOvia, als- students at U. W, tried to get jobs in the Bristol Bay section. They were told also, that they must join the Union. On application they were told that the books were closed. These lads were born and raised m Alaska.
 Numbers of experienced fisher men in Southeast Alaska have been refused the right to fish for the canneries unless they join one or another of the various Unions. Some have joined one Union only to be told that they must also pay tri- bute to the rival Union or be barred from working.
 A canneryman brought a skeleton crew of Union men, foreman, mech anies and technicians, with the ex- peetation of opening up a cannery at Hoonah this spring. He had planned to depend entirely on the Hoonah Indians as fishermen and cannery help. Shortly after he ar rived at Hoonah he was visited by the agents of the cannery racke- teer's Union and was informed that he would have to pay $15 apiece as dues for his employees which he could repay to himself by holding it out of their wages.
 We have recently heard 8 lot about Jap fishing in Bristol Bay. Our Delegate has striyen valiantiy to keep the Japs out of our fisheries and we are just as anxious as any one to see that they are kept out. But outside of the revenue the ter ritory obtains from cannery oper- ations, just what difference would it make to residents of Alaska If the Japs caught all the fish and carried them off to Japan, there to be resold to the people of the United States; the canning industry is owned and operated by outsiders and the outside racketeers prevent Alaskans from fishing in their home waters. And the territorial treasury had a narrow escape this year even in the absence of the Japs, by rea- son of a row between rival outside Unions each of whom claimed the right to fill all the cannery jobs in Alaska with residents of Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.
 About a hundred and sixty years ago, some of our fore-fathers wrote & protest against an earlier syle of racketeering In the Declaration of Independence they complain of the acts of King George as follows:
 "For imposing taxes on Us with out our consent.
 You Union men who permit your selves to be gypped out of your hard-earned dollars to keep these gangsters in luxury and ease, and you Alaskans who are forbidden to fish in the perilous waters of Brls- tol Bay unless the outside Union receives Be for every fish you take, and you Indian workers who pay d large portion of the wages you toll for shining fish in the company Of arrogant Filipinos and greasy Mex jeans and Japs, don't you think it Is about time to protect yourselves against this situation?
 No sensible person should object to Unions as such. It is the right and privilege of workers to join to- gether for mutual protection and advantage. But Unions in Alaska should be organized for and by AL aBkans. If 1t is desired to join forces with outside Unions, the Alaskans should be autonomous, controlling their own affairs, not ruled by outside exploiters who use the AL askans for their own profit
 If elected to the Territorial Leg islature at the coming SeptemhP election, I will introduce and press for passage, bill to restrict fishing in Alaska to residents of this Terri