The Alaska citizen., 1912-09-16

town. The White Pass and Yukon Railway company are seeking to en- ter the territory that has hitherto been taken care of exclusively by ships of American bottom A rep resentatiye of the Alaska Citizen during the week made canvass of the merchants of the town seek ing 10 find just what stand they took in regard to the new proposal As a general rule few of the mer- chants had gone very deeply into the matter. still all harpng back to the old saying "Competition is the life of trade" seemed 10 grab eagerly at the straw offered them by the Canadian corporation. They argued that by allowing the White Pass to invade Alaskan territory Fairbanks would enjoy better mail service. They pointed out how dur ing the summer months the service rendered is decidedly poor They likewise offered the suggestion that the invasion of the territory by the Canadians would lengthen the sea son as far as shipping was concern ed They showed how if this town was to be made a sub-port Of entry the government would have 10 give employment to at least two men. and that rnpStru4tipp pF 1pupla of warehouses here would he essen tial. Then it was pointed out that goods could be shipped to this camp in bond, and that the merchants could allow them to lay in the ware houses of the government until such time as they could comfortably af. ford to remove the goods. It was further shown that the name of Fairbanks would likewise appear in the custom records of the govern ment and in that way the name of the town would be more widely cir culated. Even if the Northern Nav igation company did cease to operate it's boats to Dawson. argued the in dependent merchants. there would still be competition between the lower river and upper river routes A rate war would ensue, and the rates would drop accordingly.
 Armed with the above arguments the Citizen representative then went 10 the Northern Commercial company and interviewed MT Kelly and Mr Coleman. In the first place as re- eards the mail service it was point ed out to the representative that the contract was a four year one. and still had two or three years to run Every time a mail is received in Dawson 1t is dispatched on an N N Co.'S boat or mail launch. and the failure to get the mail away on scheduled time makes the local com pany liable 10 a heavy fine This they cannot afford to pay. as were it not for the mail contract the N. N Co. could ill-afford to run boats to the metropolis of the Yukon on any schedule whatsoever. As to the lengthening of the season it was pointed out that there are always two or three boats flying the Amer ican and the N. N. Co.'S flag that winter at Dawson. The first boat of the Canadian corporation is met there and all the freight that they bring is immediately sent on it's way to this town. On the other hand the last boats to leave Dawson leave when the ice is already run- ming in the Yukon and come down to this camp where they winter Now if the White Pass were even to equal the length of the present sea son they would be forced to con- struct ship yards and wharfs here at great expense While the ap- pearance of the name of this town as a sub-port of entry in the gov. ernment reports would be very valu- able if she. could make a showing the volume of freight shipped here this summer would look pretty weak in government report Between ten and twelve thousand tons were sent into this camp this season. F. R.
 Peoples, the Dominion Commercial company, and the Northern Com mercial company certainly shipped at least nine thousand tons for their stores and warehouses. As they use their own boats the amount of business that the Canadian corpora tion could get would hardly war rant their running more than two boats at the most. According to MT. Kelly, it must be borne in mind that the company that seeks to in- wade this field would have to clear from Dawson for this port They could not carry an ounce of freight, to any other point in Alaska Once they had passed the boundary line. twelve miles above Eagle, they could not pick up passenger under any conditions. They would have to rely absolutely on the freight that comes to Fairbanks. They would have to
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