The Alaska citizen., 1910-10-10
ABOUT THE MAIL.

During the winter months, when the interior Of Alaska is popnlarly supposed to be isolated. mail is delivered in Fairbanks on an aver age of twice a week. So well has the contract beeL handled that it Is very seldom that the mail Is late. and never that any unreasonable de lay occurs During last winter from October to June, about sixty con- signments of mail from the Outside. either first class or second class, were delivered. Since June II. when the last trail mail was received. there have been fourteen Outside mails re ceiyed by the river route. This in cludes the mail to be brought in by the koyukuk.
 This has not been the fault of the Northern Commercial company. for its contract with the government has in every case been lived up to. Be tween Eagle and Panama the com pany is supposed 10 bring one mail d week; and between Panama and Fairbanks It is called on to carry six mails every month. A refer ence to the mail receipt book al the post office will show that even more mails have been deliyerd by the com col for. But these mails are not necessarily Outside mails. and the contract is complied with if a few way" letters are brought here, It is not the com pany's fault if Outside mail is not offered. and il is always prepared to carry it when it is on hand, The fault lies with the department. which evidently has neglected tC provide for us as carefully during the sea son of open navigation as during the winter.
 It looks like bad management some where. In this progressive age it ought to follow that such an inn portant commodity as Uncle Sam's mail should make better time when the going is good than when obsta- cles have 10 be overcome The river route has been selected because, from the popular viewpoint, it is the line of least resistance But it has nrnIa5 o f1il,rra ditions and il is time 10 look around for a better system. Mail. to the mer- chants and businessmen of a com munity situated as is Fairbanks, is a very important matter and the short ening of the time of transit by even a day is well worth striving for if the better time can be made with out lessening the certainty of a req sonable regularity.
 great deal has been said and written regarding the possibilities of the Valdez trail as a summer route of travel. and it is only a few weeks ago that Major Richardson made fast trip over it with a wagon. With the Copper River X Northwestern Railroad operating trains in the summer time with reg ularity, and thus cutting out the worst part of the trail. there should be no great difficulty in bringing in the frs, class mails over the trail all summer. If the company is able to keep the road open all this winter there need be no cessation in the service, and the mail could be routed that way all the year round. Once let 1t be used as a summer mail route, and the Valdez trail will be so improved, at no very great expense, as to make of it good wagon road.
 It is not recommended that there be any change in the routing of the second class mails during the sum- mer, as this would be neither feasi- ble economically nor just to the present contractors, who are working under four-year contract signed last June. In any case a slight delay in the arrival of second class matter is seldom fraught with any serious con- sequences, and the present carriers have consistently demonstrated that they are willing to do all that lays in their power to expedite the deliv- cry
 If this transportation of the first class mail over the summer route is deemed advisable it is not a bit too soon to commence an agitation for the adoption of the plan. A petition to the department, advocating the change, should be circulated at once. If it will result in Fairbanks getting as good mail service in the sum- mer as it has enjoyed in the win ter it is surely something worth striving for.