The Alaska citizen., 1912-01-15
COMMERCIAL CLUB MEETING.

On Thursday night The m.anuuaI meeting oi the Fairbanks Commer- Dial club alu he hold and thc off ,ers for tn, ensuing aallyear elect. cd It js .o he h pad that there will he a large attendance of the members. and of those who intend 10 bo.om, such. s1 that The selection ,t rh officers may he an intelligent one and calculated tn tend to fhc hest interests of The camp
 The Commercial club. |. far greater extent thaa has hitherto Lem attained by any other commer- ,ial organization 5a Alaska has achieved a standing through which i' is in a position -o accomplish much for The benefit of the com muutE. and there k every reason why ifs power -HaH1d be SO fo-tercd that if win b.eome d f8gTor whereby beneficial lsgisIaroH can be obtain ed a, inc national capital until such time a- raII measure af home gov. crumenr is accorded to rhe territory or the other hand He- inc danger that. in The hands I narfisaH- who would not hesitate to uso the ma chiuary of tHe slub fo gain selfish ends. is .tfon- mtgU lo so mjs- directed lis to hinder rather than help the camps advancement. With this in mind i- beHaoee- every mem ber. or intending #mher. of the club To be present at tn. meeting on Thursday that q thoroughly representative directorate may be elected.
 Considering sae faot that 'h. club has been in existence for less than six months irs record of ac- complishment is d good one, but its work has little more than com msnced The advertising f the district that has been done will cer- tainly bring fruitful results, and for a few months prior 10 the open ing of navigation The correspondence from The Outside Will undoubtedly be heavy. Many inquiries have al ready been received as a direct re- suit of the work dene by the club and ii is entirely reasonable to ex- pect that these will be augmented very considerably when the logical time for migration 10 this country draws near.
 Press dispatches during the week have informed us thar The appropria- ton being asked for by Colonel Richardson for he road commis- sion this year is 90 large that ii appears undoubtedly 10 b. he case that the commission coutemplates the building of the automobile road. There is no doubt that had il not been for the Fairbanks Commercial clubs initiation ot the road scheme. the appropriation asked for would have been less rather than more than that solicited last year. which amount was $10o,o0o. or. with the special appropriation for the Seward trail. $l50,000. The club can there fore, with confidence in the justice of its claim, take credit for every cent of the appropriation in excess of sl0o,ooo that is granted by the congress. And if even $G00O0O is granted to the commission for road work in Alaska the automobile road is practically assured. The bene- fits that would accrue to Fairbanks therefrom are so manifold and ap- parent as to require no explanation to the dullest individual.
 If the influence of the club is sufficient to permit of the accom- plishment of such tasks as the SC curing of an appropriation of this size from congress it should be plain to all that. if it's management is continued along business lines. it can be made great power for the alleviation cf some other of the troubles of the camp. For instance, there is the mail service Al pres ent We are getting only about one third of the allowance made to us several years ago, and unless steps are taken to prevent it, the dimin- ishing process will be automatically continued by the development of the country between Cordova and Fairbanks, and Fairbanks and Nome. One of the matters that should be at once taken up by the club is the forwarding of a petition to the post office department at Washington for an emergency service to be estab- lished at once to clean up the mail accumulation at Cordova, and for an increased apportionment of mail next year This apportionment, in- stead of 1900 pounds three times a week, during the period when the trail is good, would have to be at