ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1025 



91 



the power of the Territorial legislatures to pass laws for the protection of game 

 and fish is recognized, and also that the latest revision of the fish law by Congress 

 was passed after the present tax law had been enacted and had been upheld by 

 the district court; that it provided that nothing therein contained should curtail 

 the powers of the Territorial legislature of Alaska, and that it showed no sign of 

 dissatisfaction with the way in which those powers had been used. (Act of 

 June 6, 1924, c. 272, sec. 8, 43 Stat. 464, 467.) 



It is much pressed that the tax discriminates against large canneries in favor 

 of small ones — this especially as contravening the fifth amendment and denying 

 due process of law. Classification of taxes by the amount of the corpus taxed 

 has been sustained in various connections heretofore. By way of specific answer 

 it is pointed out by the attorney general of Alaska that the size of the run of 

 salmon can not be foreseen; that a cannery must be prepared to its full eapacity ; 

 that there always will be an irreducible minimum of expense to be borne what- 

 ever the size of the pack; that therefore a small pack may mean a loss and a 

 larger one a profit; and that on these considerations the law justly may attempt 

 to proportion the tax to the probable gains. The inequalities of the tax are 

 based upon intelligible grounds of policy and can not be said to deny the petitioner 

 its constitutional rights. 



Judgment affirmed. 



TERRITORIAL LICENSE TAX 



Fisheries license taxes were collected by the Territory under the 

 general revenue law of 1921, as amended in 1923 and 1925. A 

 statement from W. G. Smith, Territorial treasurer, under date of 

 April 7, 1926, gives the collections made to that date for the year 1925. 

 It was stated that collections were complete with the exception of 

 pack taxes due from a few of the smaller canneries and fish salteries 

 and also those on whale oil and fertilizer. 



Fishery license taxes collected by Territory for fiscal year ended December 31, 1925 



Schedule 



Salmon canneries (pack).. 



Salmon canneries (net income) 



Clam canneries 



Salteries 



Cold-storage plants 



Fresh-fish dealers 



Fish-oil works and fertilizer and fish-meal plants _. 



Fish traps 



Gill nets 



Seines 



Total. 



Division 

 No. 1 



$137, 147. 02 

 4, 932. 06 



3, 130. 72 

 1, 825. 00 

 4, 054. 74 

 18, 095. 64 

 95, 169. 46 

 638. 00 

 5, 490. 00 



270, 482. 64 



Division 

 No. 2 



6.54 



20.00 



46.54 



Division 

 No. 3 



$148, 373. 61 



10, 464. 17 



564. 13 



7, 800. 92 



375. 00 



17.52 



1, 763. 60 



31,864.21 



6, 092. 50 



1, 950. 00 



209, 265. 66 



Total 



$285, 520. 63 

 15, 396. 23 

 564.13 

 10, 958. 18 

 2, 200. 00 

 4, 072. 26 

 19, 859. 24 

 127, 033. 67 



6, 750. 50 



7, 440. 00 



479, 794. 84 



In addition to the collections shown in the table above, the treas- 

 urer stated that collections of the graduated pack tax and the tax 

 on excess salmon caught in traps, together with penalties and interest, 

 were being made for the years 1923 and 1924. The payment of 

 these taxes was withheld pending final decision in a case brought by 

 the Territory against the Pacific American Fisheries to test the 

 constitutionality of the law passed by the legislature in 1923. De- 

 cision was rendered by the United States Supreme Court on Decem- 

 ber 7, 1925,' 5 'confirmingjthe decision of the lower courts as to the 

 authority of the legislature to impose such taxes. This decision is 

 further referred to under the heading of "Territorial fishery legisla- 

 tion" in this document. In explaining these additional collections 

 Mr. Smith states: 



A few of the cannery companies held out the additional tax due on fish caught 

 in each fish trap in excess of 100,000 and hence we show several thousand dollars 



