The Alaska citizen., 1912-06-10
Phone 262 Phone
FIFTY DOLLARS REWARD.
THE TIME TO HELP.

The regular monthly meeting of l.e Fairbanks Commercial club will he neId this evening. a. which wil be discussed among other ma els importance 10 the .owu. plans To, 'ne formation of corporation ,o .andie the Semi-Centeruial ENrasi. ion of 1917. Il .s earnestly dssreF nat there will he a full attendance of tAe club membership, and, in al. dii thereto, many who wish ,o become members.
 At ths time a week ago. ha' Judge Wickersham mailed a copy of the bin calling for tae appropriation of $700,eoo for the Exposition He wrote 10 Mayor Driscoll and A ! Nord.lc president of tae Commercial .lub. the effect that he believed he WoulC have little difficulty in getting Inc measure through He added tha. the newspapers were full of ;h project and were giving f grea, prominence. One repor'er. he said, wao had jus had long interview win Hiu. na. going 10 write big illustrated s.or. for a syndicate of Sunday papers Walter Hall Of the Rhoads-Hall mine Who is in San Francjsc also "ro ( 10 friend here. "Hurrah for .ht big Exposition. Papers here ml ur it. From this f will be sen tl.' the advertising campaign OntS.1e j. well started The editorial CoHicu in this paper week ago from ,hc Nome Nugget indicates that people in other parts of Alaska appreciate the fact that Fairbanks has un@ag taken a commendable projerf ard aac prepared to help d. their share to- ward making the All-Alaska ExpJai tion a big success.
 This advertising campaign has 70 be maintained, and there are many details of the preparation for the EX- position that will cost money In other towns thai have held exposi- lions the practice has been to solicit the merchants and others interested in the tcwn for big subscriptions to- ward rhe defrayal of the expenses. A few weeks ago in San Francisco more than four million dollars was subscribed in two hours, the leading merchants pledging themselves for many thousands of dollars
 While the idea of collecting big subscrip'i~ns in this town is at this time practically out Of the question there is suggested a simple plan whereby considerable money can be made available without taxing any persons beyond their means. The Commercial club al present has a membership of @ and the dues collected, S3 month. are a liCle more than adequate fS pay the cur rent expenses. If this membership could be increased 10 250. which should he easily possible. 5000 a month c7uld be set aside for the Exposition preparations. And there are very few men in town. working for them selves or on salary. but can afford to pay the s3 month.
 If one steps to think of the bene- fits that will accrue to the town from the holding of the Exposition he must certainly come 10 he conclusion that he can we'll afford to spare this amount every month to help it be come an acc mplished fact. There is not business in the town bur what would be increased manyfold during the four months that the Exposition would be open. For at least a year before the opening hundreds of men would be given employment on the grounds. Even next year there must be done a considerable amour, of work, for it must be remembered that the length of the building year in Alaska is less than half of what il is Outside and it is only in the summer that exterior work can be done.
 The date of the Exposition has been set for June 20, and this means that the government exhibits. for which the sum of $7OO,0OO is asked, would have to be shipped the year previ ously and the work of installation would extend throughout the winter It is, in fact, entirely probable tha, the erection of the government build ings would be commenced as early as the spring of 1915, just three years hence. By that time, therefore. il is necessary that all of the site fcI the Exposition should be cleared and put in proper shape, so there is no time to lose in getting to work
 If the club membership is increas ed 10 250 it means that more than