The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-03-15


 numbers of traps from setting up a number of dummy owners in order to take advantage of lower tax brackets. The Commission would be in a position, he pointed out, to use it's Investigating and regulatory powers to thwart such maneuvers. However, he asserted, the Commis- sion feature is not essential to ac- complish the main purpose of the act and, if needed, could be added by future Legislatures.
 Gov. Gruening was the last wit ness to appear before the Senators yesterday during the almost day. long Committee of the Whole hear ing. Preceding him on the stand were: w. c. Arnold, canned salmon industry representative; Reps. War ren A. Taylor and Frank Pertrovich, both supporting the bill, and Frank Marshall, representing the Territor- ial Federation of Labor.
 TiaylnS nOfSc
 MT. Arnold, who was heard during the morning session, resumed his place on the stand at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the Senators returned from lunch. He concluded remarks with the declaration that it is time for the salmon industry and tl,a Tarr;tor;o1 Tarielat,,ra ta <,,,i+ playing horse" with each other. If it is the intent of the Legislature to put the canned salmon industry out of business, it is time that we knew it, he continued We can't con- tinue to operate indefinitely with ever new threats hanging over our heads He pointed out that mil lions Of dollars of added investment will be required to rehabilitate the equipment of the industry to the scale it had attained before the war. Now is good time for the industry to find out it's future prospects. Let us know now" he said, T am will ing that the die be cast"
 
 Representative Taylor, who follow ed MT. Arnold, stated that he does not advocate a sudden total elimina- tion of traps, though he does think that all can gradually be done away with without destroying the indus try and that House Bill No. 35 would tend toward that end.
 Curb Misuse Of Traps The problem now is to curb the misuse Of traps, he opined, with their attendant adverse effect on a large section of the resident of the Territory. The location of traps now with their surrounding closed areas, augmented by dummy traps, makes it very difficult for purse seine fish, ermen to earn livelihood. The higher license charges levied by the bill would likely eliminate many of the dummy" traps and open up a larger area to Seiners, he averred Big holders, such as the Pacific American Fisheries, with 60 traps might be forced to relinquish some of their sites which could be &C., quired by residents. That is main purpose of the bill, he contended- to decrease absentee ownership.
 Rep. Taylor disagreed with MT Arnold that the taxes imposed by the bill would put canneries out of business and pointed to several can- neries now meeting competition without making use of traps. He gave his opinion that the license fee now charged on traps is far too small and cited that fees have al- ready been increased by the Terri tory on other industries.
 legal Aspect
 The proposed excess fish tax" of $2 on each 1000 fish caught in traps, over 100000, when considered in the light that the salmon indus try is utilizing" a natural resource, is ''erring on the side of generos- ity," he contended. He added furth- CT that there IS no dOuDt Tn ms mlnd as to the legality of the proposed law and backed his belief with ex- cerpts from an opinion by the Soli- citor General of the Department of Interior.
 In answer to questions put by Senator o. D. Cochran, Rep. Taylor II . not be destroyed by forcing large holders to relinquish traps. The ele- ments already take care of the de- struction of the actual property, he said. Many traps have to be re- driven each year. All that would be taken away would be trap sites.
 RebuttaI Statements
 With regard to the point that hand