ee 
FISHERY INDUSTRIES. £7 
If the Territorial license tax is a fixed sum, the amount thereof must 
accompany the application for license. If it is not a fixed sum, the 
applicant for a license must agree to pay the license tax on or before 
the 15th day of the next ensuing January. All Territorial license 
taxes, except those where the tax is a fixed one, are due and payable 
on December 31 of each year and must be paid on or before January 
15 following. Thus the license fees on traps are payable in advance 
with the application, but the fees under the other fishery schedules 
in the act of 1915 are not due until December 31 and are not delin- 
quent until after January 15. The penalty for failure to comply with 
the provisions of the act is a fine of the amount of the tax with 10 
per cent added. Each month or fraction of a month in which busi- 
ness is carried on in violation of the act is deemed a separate offense. 
The contention regarding the validity of the Territorial license acts 
mentioned finally led to an agreement between the fishery interests 
and counsel for the Territory to institute a test case with a view to 
having the matter settled definitely by the courts. The agreement 
was to the effect that no attempt would be made by the Territory to 
collect the fishery taxes until decision in court of last resort was 
reached, and in the event the decision was favorable to the Territory 
the license taxes in dispute were to be paid with interest at the rate 
of 8 per cent from date due to date paid in lieu of the heavier penalty 
provided by law. At Juneau in December, 1915, Judge Jennings of 
the district court rendered a decision in favor of the Territory. The 
case was taken to the circuit court of appeals for the ninth circuit 
at San Francisco, and on September 5, 1916, that court affirmed the 
decision of the lower court. Thematter isnow pending in the Supreme 
Court of the United States, where it was taken by writ of error, 
writ of certiorari having been denied. The case is set for hearing 
in the Supreme Court in October, 1917. 
According to information furnished by W. G. Smith, Territorial 
treasurer of Alaska, the amounts of fishery license taxes claimed by 
the Territory for the years 1913 to 1916, inclusive, were as follows: 
For 1913, $10,144.22; for 1914, $102,005.89; for 1915, $130,698. 26; 
and for 1916, $157,627.94; total, $400,476.31.¢ The comparatively 
smal] amount claimed for the year 1913 is accounted for by the fact 
that the act imposing the taxes did not become effective until July 
30, 1913. 
@ Under date of April 4, 1917, Mr. Smith advised that J. H. Cobb, who was counsel for the Territory of 
Alaska when the agreement was reached regarding disputed fishery license taxes, was succeeded by George 
Grigsby, who was elected attorney general of Alaska in the fall of 1916. Early in 1917, Mr. Grigsby claimed 
that the test case had reached the court of last resort and demanded the payment of the taxes with interest, 
threatening suit against each individual or company with all penalties provided by Territorial law unless 
the taxes were settled. It is understood that March 31, 1917, was the limit of the time given for settlement. 
Mr. Smith advises that settlements under protest began about March 21, and that to the date of his com- 
munication on April 4 practically a full collection’had been made for the years 1913, 1914, 1915, and 1916. 
