The Seward gateway., 1916-07-12
EDES RETURNS WITH
 BEST OF NEWS FOR US

That the money from the new appropriation IS now n the hands of the Government Engineering Commission that there IS sufficient to go on with the work Alaska Northern railroad out of Seward, that half million or six hundred thousand dollars are to be expended that road that some six hundred men will probably be employ ed as soon as the plans have been completed and that there longer any obstacle in the way of proceeding with the long waited for construction work the statement made this morning by William c. Edes, chairman of the govern ment engineering commission who arrived this morning from the outside and proceed west for visit of few days duration to look over things connected with the rail road construction work at Anchorage.
 Mr. Edes is accompanied by Mrs Edes and looks hale and hearty after his long absence in Washington where he has been carrying on strenuous fight for the big appro priaon He will be back here of the first boats and then will begin the real campaign of road building He still maintains the same cautious attitude as ever when asked questions At times he caught himself up though he thought he was promising too much and then came the same old expression of fear that by painting the prospects too roseae hue he might cause an uwaant ed stampede of men looking for work.
 In answer to one question to whether any steps will be taken towards building coal bunkes and wharyes here in Seward this year he declared that nothing will probably be done in this respect until it is first ascertaned how the coal mines will be operated. He was unable to state whether or not many applications for coal mine leases have yet been made and he believes the prospects for the coal mining itself will have to be learned before prepara iOnS made to ship the product of the mines He also said that the government will probably not mine coal itself and would prefer to buy coal from private operators for the railroad and also in the navy Indeed he seems to be that this is the plan of the government
 Mr. Edes found no special opposition to the govern ment railroad or to the appropriations at Washington T do not know what you people heard here he said but that talk of opposition seemed to to have founda ton He was told then that the Gateway least always declared such talk of opposition to be tommyrot. It may be said here in parenthess by this paper after find ing from Mr. Edes himself that there was no opposition worth talking about that the rubbish talked here about opposition to the government railroad has done Seward more injury than any other circumstance combina ton of circumstances because it undermined the faith of the public in the ultimate success of the road Let the people of Seward remember that.
 When asked if the commission will build their bigger warehouses ShOpS rOundhOuse etc, this year Mr. EdeS stated this morning that he believed the building of such convenences will come only when it is required next year. most likely, hardly this year. The dock will cost about $35 0O0 but questions like this Mr. EdeS feed to Mr. Weir who was present and whom he evident y desired to consult further before giving out much de- mite information
 He was particularly careful not to place the probable number of to be used this year at too high figure but that it will be five or six hundred may be taken for granted
 However, he will be back in a few days and as he says himself matters will evolve themselves gradually and naturally as the work is outlined and proceeded with RIVERS AND HARBoRs EPIDEMIC WILL LEAD