32 
FISHERIES OF ALASKA IK 1909. 
authorized official of this Department; annual reports shall be made, giving 
full particulars of the number of male and female salmon stripped, the number 
of eggs treated, the number and percentage of fish hatched, and all other con- 
ditions of interest; and there shall be made a sworn yearly statement of the 
number of fry planted and the exact location where said planting was done. 
On January 24, 1902, this regulation was amended so as to require 
the planting of “red salmon fry in such numbers as shall be equal 
to at least ten times the number of salmon of all varieties taken 
from the said fisheries.” 
Although the regulation was mandatory, but few of the packers 
obeyed it, some because no suitable place was to bd found within a 
reasonable distance of their plants, others because the establishment 
and operation of such a hatchery would cost more than their returns 
from the industry justified, while still others absolutely ignored it. 
A few continued to operate the hatcheries they had established prior 
to the promulgation of the regulation in question, and even established 
new ones, so as to conform more closely to its requirements. But as 
a result the packers who obeyed the regulation were placed under a 
heavy financial handicap. They were compelled to pay all the ex- 
penses of keeping up and operating their hatcheries, and at the same 
time to pay the regular license fees or taxes on their pack of fishery 
products, while those who evaded or disobeyed the law merely paid 
the license tax. 
The injustice of this arrangement was patent on its face, and when 
in 1906 a comprehensive revision of the law was made by Congress 
provision was made for reimbursing in the future those cannery men 
who operated salmon hatcheries. The section covering this point 
reads as follows: 
Sec. 2. That the catch and pack of salmon made in Alaska by the owners of 
private salmon hatcheries operated in Alaska shall be exempt from all license 
fees and taxation of every nature at the rate of ten cases of canned salmon to 
every one thousand red or king salmon fry liberated, upon the following 
conditions : 
That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may from time to time, and on 
the application of the hatchery owner shall, within a reasonable time thereafter, 
cause such private hatcheries to be inspected for the purpose of determining 
the character of their operations, efficiency, and productiveness, and if he 
approve the same shall cause notice of such approval to be filed in the office of 
the clerk or deputy clerk of the United States district court of the division of 
the District of Alaska wherein any such hatchery is located, and shall also 
notify the owners of such hatchery of the action taken by him. The owner, 
agent, officer, or superintendent of any hatchery the effectiveness and produc- 
tiveness of which has been approved as above provided shall, between the thir- 
tieth day of June and the thirty-first day of December of each year, make 
proof of the number of salmon fry liberated during the twelve months immedi- 
ately preceding the thirtieth day of June, by a written statement under oath. 
Such proof shall be filed in the office of the clerk or deputy clerk of the United 
States district court of the division of the District of Alaska wherein such 
hatchery is located, and when so filed shall entitle the respective hatchery 
