SSSS,
The Seward Polaris &
A Special meeting of the
Board of Directors of the Cham
ber of Commerce as called Mon
day. April 26th. This meeting was
called for the purpose of giving
Colonel J. P. Johnson informa
tion that he requested in the fol
lowing telegram:
From J. P. Johnson, General Man
ager. Alaska Railroad Anchorage,
Alaska
To Ross Mann. Chamber of Com
merce. Seward, Alaska
On account of meeting in Jun
eau May 1st with Washington
officials for discussion of Terri
torial problems, request your
chamber furnish me by earliest
possible mail in care of Anchor
age. your official opinions and
recommendations on the follow
ing subjects, 1. Desirability of de
partmental transportation author- I
ity to coordinate and regulate all
transportation required to serve
Alaska, such as steamship, rail,
air, highway, pipe line. 2. Urgent
need for Federal Housing immed
iately to hold newcomers and al
leviate present sub-standard liv
ing conditions. Furnish statistics
on needs, etc. 3. Need for stabi- i
nzauon oi economy now inna
tionary, due in part to cost plus 1
wages, requiring employers to
bid against Government jobs. 4. !
Any comment you care to make
on advisability of cheaper money i
to encourage development not ;
possible under present interest ;
rates. 5. Comment on need for j
more year round ports on Kenai I
Peninsula with special treatment I
of feasibility of building new line
from Seward north and west to
connect with present line in vi- j
cinity of Potter Creek. This is
both an economic and strategic i
project. Rush reply to Anchorage, i
* * *
The following is the reply to
Colonel Johnson's telegram dis- j
patched by Chamber of Com- j
merce:
April 26th. 1948
Colonel J. P. Johnson.
Anchorage, Alaska.
Dear Colonel Johnson:
The Seward Chamber of Com
merce begs to submit the follow
ing recommendations for consid
eration by yourself and your
Committee Members.
No. 1—We recommend that all
methods of transportation that
serves the Territory or may devel
op into serving the Territoy of
Alaska, such as Steamship Lines,
Motor Truck Lines over High
ways, Railroad Lines, Air Lines
and Pipelines, be placed under j
the control of some existing Fed- j
eral Agency or a newly setup |
Agency for coordination and reg- |
ulation of Traffic, both freight
and Passenger, to and within
the Territory of Alaska. This rec
ommendation is made with the j
thought of eliminating labor dis- j
putes and strikes thereby cur
tailing movement of freight and
passengers to and from the Ter
ritory of Alaska.
co- z—we recommend that the '
Federal Government take the ne- j
cessary steps to inaugurate and
complete a plan of long range
financing Homes for the citizens '
and the future citizens of the '
Territory. The development of the
Territory of Alaska is being' re
tarded because there is not suf- :
ficient Homes for the citizens
and people will not and can not
come to make their Homes in
the Territory if they cannot find
homes to move into.
We propose that the Government
begin immediately to erect suit
able cold weather insulated hous
es at cost to be resold to the cit
izens on a sales contract basis
over a period of twenty to thirty
years duration at a low rate of
interest. This cannot be financed
through the local banks, if it is,T
LOOK— 5th Column THIS page'1
¥
Three Seward Citizens Called
f :J
>r:
R. C. INGRAM
R. C. Ingram, known to his
many friends as “Ral” passed a
way in his sleep the night ol'
April 29-30, 1948 while he was on
business in Cordova.
In Seward, his district, he was
head of the Public Works Admin
istration which he had ably cap
tained since 1927 when he came
here.
He was born in Oregon in 1889
and came to Alaska, later taking
charge of road work in Seward.
Miss Ingram is attending school
at Pullman College in Pullman.
Washington.
She is expected to fly home
in time to attend the rites which
will be held from the Masonic
Lodge Sunday afternoon.
His extensive knowledge of the
Kenai Peninsula was an asset
to the Territory and his many
surveys of different areas were
accurate.
Associates and friends will sad
ly miss him as he always had a
kntwledge of many areas to
draw upon.
His last major udertaking was
the suvrey, last summer, up
Quartz Creek from the Arm
which lays out the proposed High
way from Seward to Anchorage.
He is survived by his wife and
daughter Phyllis, relatives in
Oregon and Washington and a
host of friends in Seward and a
bout the Territory.
Chris Weiier of Juneau from
the PAV.A. office there flew to
Cordova to Meet Gentry Shuster
and Charles Atkins who flew
from Seward to bring the remains
back to this city. He will con
tinue on into Seward with them.
• -
LANDING OF
HALIBUT
Canadian fishing vessels en
gaged in the North Pacific hali
but fishery would be permitted to
land their catches of halibut and
sable fish at Alaska ports of en
try until January 1, 1950, through
provisions of a bill introduced in
Congress this week.
Such permission would be gran
ted to the Canadians only if sim
ilar privileges are granted to the
United States fishing vessels in
British Columbia ports.
itf
THOMAS FRANCIS GORDON
Thomas Francis Gordon, aged
68. passed away at the Ocean
View Friday, April 29. at 11 a.m.
He was born in Carbondale, Pa.,
in 1830 and came to the Territory
in 1906 during the latter part of
the gold rush days.
He mined al Nome. Livengood
and Idatarod and several of the
other famous camps.
He lived in Seward for the past
12 or 15 years and was very well
known.
The Funeral will be held at 10
A.M. Monday from the Catholic
Church by Father Chaput.
Efforts to contact a brother
supposed to reside in Carbtndale
have been unavailing.
• _ -
BUILD CHURCH
FOR DEAF
NEW YORK (UP)- Sign lan
guage was used at the laying of
a cornerstone at the site of a
$100,000 church for th<- deaf.
More than 1.000 deaf persons at
u tided the ceremony at St. Mat
thew's Lutheran Church for the
Deaf.
•
The first railroad in the United
States had wooden rails capped
wit li thin iron strips.
•..
Hi-Way News
Courtesy of Mrs. Harold Maxwell
On Tuesday, election day. ap
| proximatcly one-fourth of Mile
! 3M>, Precinct 1, voters turned out.
i There would have been quite a
fe\v more, but they had not been
here quite long enough.The vot
! ing poll was at Opal Bryan’s
; place at Mile 6V2, with Mr. Kerns.
Opal and I as the board. Opal
; served the board a nice lunch
; and a delicious chicken dinner,
1 with lemon chiffon and berry
1 pies as dessert. Until that day,
1 I didn't realize that Harold, the
| children and 1 were almost old
i timers out here—there are so
: many highway families that are
newer than we.
Continued on page 3
NAYLOR OF BARGE CO.
OPENS OFFICE IN SEWARD
R. M. Naylor of the barge com-1
pany has opened offices in Sew
ard in the building formerly oc
cupied by the army and recently
moved in for use by the railroad.
* * *
Appointment of R. Naylor
as Seward agent for the Alaska1
Freight Express Corporation was
announced today by T. A. Thron
son. traffic manager of the barge
line.
Naylor lias arrived in Anchor
age and will proceed to Seward
to take over his new duties. Mrs.
Naylor and their son, Ronald, 11,
will come to Alaska in May to
make their home.
Prior to joining. Alaska Freight
Express, Naylor was traffic man- i
ger for theWest Construction Co. i
in oeaiue ana Aiasna, in cnarge
of supplies and shipmets for pro
jects at Seward. Whitter. Shemya
Adak and Attu. From 1942. to
1945. he was traffic manager of
the Utah Construction Co . as
signed to Prince Rupert and
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
Naylor was traffic manager of
Marsman. Inc., leading Far East
export and import concern with
headquarters at Manila from 190!
until 1928. Returning to the Sta
tes at that time, he became as
sistant traffic manager for the
General Trucking Comp; ny of
Fresno. California.
Born in Rocky Ford, Colo. Nay
lor was graduated from high sch
ool at Pueblo and studied busi
ness administration a* Colorado
College in Colorado Springs.
<■%
JAMES ROBERTSON
James “Jimmy” Robertson died
in the hospital here at the age
of 90 or 98 due to shock and age
when tie fell and broke his hip.
Sometime Thursday last, Mr.
Robertson was standing on a box
attempting to join two parts of
; n extension cord and fell from
the box. He laid on the floor all
night and succeeded in pulling
a quilt from the bed which was
all he had for a cover with a
block of wood he could reach for
a pillow.
A neighbor heard his cries for
help and he was immediately
rushed to the hospital but age
was against him.
He has no known relatives.
The funeral will be held from
the Masonic Hall at the same
time as that of his lodge broth
er. “Ral" Ingram and they both
will be laid to rest in the Seward
Cemeiary.
“ONCE AN ALASKAN
ALWAYS AN ALASK AN'f
1C
“Once an Alaskan, always an
■ Alaskan" is as true of profession
al men as it is of sourdoughs.
Proof of that is contained in the
career of Robert U. Schiller, ac
count executive and production
manager of the Ad-Craft Adver
tising Service. Seattle, Washing
ton. From 1936 through 1938.
'Schiller was with Libby. McNeil
& Libby Canneries in Southeast
ern Alaska and Bristol Bay. Af
ter that, he was for three years
advertising manager of the Alas
ka Sportsman magazine in Ket
chikan. From 1942 to 194a he was
in the Signal Intelligence Corps
of the U. S. Army, serving in An
chorage, Fairbanks, the Aleutian
Islahds, and other parts of the
Territory, winding up his all
Alaska army experience as a ser
geant. Now we learn that Schil
ler has been utilizing his thor
ough-going Alaska background to
help the Alaska Sportsman and
other advertisers do a better job
of (advertising in and from the
Territory.
“Interest in Alaska is zooming
like a V-2 rockc-t”. Mr. Schiller
stated. “People are so keen on
hearing and reading about the
Territorv thev make me home
sick. Some Stateside advertisers
haven’t fared so well in Alaska
because they have lacked facts
about the Alaskan market and
nave mane no ettort to present
their goods or services in a way
that would appeal to Alaskans.
Also various Alaska advertisers
have had difficulty getting the
sort of professional advertising
service thev need, want and de
serve. Endeavoring to do some
thing constructive about both sit
uations is a privilege for an ex
Alaskan, I assure you.”
/■*
V^w TN-PHRIF
ARRIVING 17TH OF MAY
Rn v TT Po mrn*a pri
or- T Tl-Oh iof tf fhp \Tof o»*on«: of
Fori^n Wnr«? TV/To-tr
for fho D opnrfmmrf of AlocVn
fV»nvp"*lnn to v*r» ip
May 19th to 23***.
then the terms are not satisfact
ory, and the interest rates aio
too high. We propose to erect!
Home Units to cost in the Ter
ritory, from $6,000.00 one and two
bedrooms to $10,000.00 two arid!
three bedrooms, double plumbing
and a home that a Citizen could
be proud to own, and one treat n
Citizen would receive full value
for his or on his investment.
The Town of Seward could fill
and sell under reasonable long
period terms such as mentioned
above 150 Homes in Seward at
this time, and when the Seward
Kenai. Homer road is completed,
we will have additional citizens
without Homes. We have, like
many other Alaska towns many
citizens living in sub-standard
Cabins, for the reason, there is
nothing better available and they
cannot finance a Home, due to
the inflated prices of supply and
demand. This condition can only
be corrected by Federal Housing
Projects, financed by the Federal
Government and sold to citizens
by a long period sales contract
with low interest iates.
No. 3—The present policy oil
Cost Plus Government Contracts
places private operation in a very
serious predicament, labor is con
suimiy demanding rugner ana
higher wages, which the Cost.
Plus Contractor ian pay due to
the nature of his contract, be
cause the more it costs the great
er his profit, and private enter
prise cannot compete wih this
practice. It is necessary that this
practice be discontinued if the
Territory is to have any stabi
lized economy. This practice is
one of the reasons why home
owners cannot afford to erect,
suitable living quarters, compet
ing with Cost. Plus Contracst is
not possible to the private citi
zen.
No. 4—We have pointed out the
necessity for Federal Financed
Housing for our citizens, which
cannot be financed through the
local banks, due to the legal in
terest rates in the Territory, no
one can afford o pay 8 per cent)
interest on a short term build
ing loan or mortgage in erecting
a Home. We cannot, have a stab
ilized economy unless building
and business loans are brought,
down to a reasonable point of in
terest. Business cannot pay the
legal interest rate and make a
profit, therefore all we are doing
at the present time is driving
our business houses in Alaska to
a higher and higher markup on
their commodities.
We recommend that legal ac
tion be initiated to decrease the
legal rate of interest in the Terri
tory, to a suggested 5 per cent.
Then the surplus Bank money
can be placed at work in Home
and business financing. There is
no business or Citizen who can
pay such interest rates and con
tinue in business unless they in
crease their commodity prices to
absorb this cost, and when they
increase their commodity prices
to the consumer, you have a de
mand from labor for increased
wages, and the circle goes on
and on. without any reasonable
or possible stabilization of our
Economy.
No. 5—The importance of Alas
ka in the World Peace effort of
(Continued nn nape *
T«ANX ! I
The people of Seward are 1
very fortunate :n havin'11 Col. ,
•T. P. Johnson oq the Oeneral
” ’ " n a tr(\- I~,r T? il>-0'’d
l TTn i'i? the rtollcy
of having his oP’oe onen •Tv- rn.
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