Iditarod pioneer., 1917-06-30
BIG CONSIGNMENT OF JUNK UNDER NAME OF MAIL
 IS FINE OBJECT LESSON

If there should have happened to have been any inspectors of the postal depart ment, or any officials of that useful branch of our government wandering around Tn Alaska at this season of the year. they could have gained an insight into the work lngs of the service with relation to this section of Alaska that would have been valuable object lesson had they happened to drop into 1ditarod during the past week.
 More than 250 sacks of mail matter, weighing some seven or eight tons, was dumped into the local postoffice on Friday night, June P. A very large proportion of this was second-class, consisting of news papers, periodicals and the like, with a con siderable amount of parcel post matter, In this collection were literally tons of stuff that could be chased as nothing else but junk newspapers and magazines dating from last September, advertising matter of Thanksgiving and Christmas speclaltes for 1916, and sack after sack of material that, had 1t been dumped into the bay at Sew ard, where it had peacefully reposed all win ter would have saved expense to Uncle Sam in transporting 1t, and time and trouble
  For it was of no earthly use to anyone. Complete files of newspapers addressed to The Pioneer from all parts of the United States could be gathered from the bunch of worthless "maip' consigned to this office, dating from September until the present time The files would be complete as not one of them managed to find it's way through the mail blockade during the long winter months Magazines whose very ex- istenco had been almost forgotten made their appearance for the first time since last sum mer, and the price lists catalogues and other advertising matter were so out of date, in view of the rapid changes in quotations, that orders based upon them would now seem like voices from the dim and misty pest.
 The Pity of It
 Many citizens, as they lugged homeward armload after armload of this belated mail matter, thought rcgretfully of the dollars wasted iE the endeavor to provide literary provender for themselves and families dur ing the winter, and were inclined to be somewhat resentful of the apparent lack of interest on the part of the department in
  deplorable condition.
 Whatever the cause, it Is and has beer apparent for some time that certain maga- zines and periodicals find their way to In terior Alaska oftener than others; indeed, some of them can be expected to be delv- cred with fair degree of regularity. This Is becoming known to the inhabitants and naturally it works to the benefit of some publications and the detrment of others. It Is conceivable that the outcome of this condition will be that this will become the exclusive field of a certain class of pub lications It is rather dangerous and un- just condition too for if it is worked to its logical conclusion the men responsible for making up the mail consignments could tlmost determine the class of literature that should pass through the mail. and to a cer tain extent direct the thought of the com munity. Nobody professes to believe that this has been attempted; but the opportu- nity Is nevertheless there.
 Remedy Would Not Be Costly
 The winter mail service between Seward and Iditarod should be increased to such proportions as would allow of the delivery of all classes of mail with the possible eX ception of parcel post. Reading matter as has so often been pointed out, is almost es- essential as food in country where the winters are long and the days are extremely short Remonstrances have always been met with recitals of the extreme cost of the mail service in Alaska; but Alaska is net the only section of the United States where mail delivery Is costly. The rural free delivery service throughout the States consumes much more money than Is spent in the transportation of Alaska mails. And no one pretends that the rural free delivery service Is self-sustaining.
 The remedy lies in increasing the weight limit of the weekly consignments so that the Iditarod district consisting of lditerod, Flat and Discovery, with the country imme- diately adjacent, would be provided with at least 400 or 500 pounds of mail weekly. It is believed that this could be done without greatly adding to the cost of the present service With this object in view The Pio- neer has dispatched to Charles Sulzer, dele gate in congress from Alaska, the following letter
 Letter to SuIzer
 " t Have Just ltEciftu tiC us Et1l-ii5 mail which consisted of practically all and magazines mailed to us since last September. Of course they are useless now, and it seems like fearful waste of energy, money and material in dumping this stuff here at this time You, as an Alaskan, can no doubt appreciate what boon the receipt of all this reading matter would have been to us during the long win ter months
 "You might be able to do an nestimable service to the people of the Idltarod district by having the weight limit on the Seward Iditarod mail route increased. The contract expires next spring, and it is understood that the new contract is to be let during the coming summer. The present contract calls for 400 pounds of mail weekly between Su- sitna and Iditarod The great territory served by this route, including the Innoko, Iditarod and Kuskokwim valleys, cuts the amount received by Flat and Iditarod to from 15O to 25O pounds; this amount is further lessened by the fact that residents of outlying precincts which are served by other routes receive large portion of their mail here and have it forwarded. The re suit is that we get little more than first class mail and local (Alaska) second-class. n,,,;,ox IL Tho Diopaor raceIyad not