The Alaska citizen., 1917-05-07
OUR CONTINGENT.

After weeks oi guess work and suspense we seem at last to be in d fair position to ar rive at at least an approximate estimate oI the number Of men who are to be called OI by the government 10 enter the military ser vice of the United States In yesterday: news dispatches from the States to the News Miner it is stated that the different quotas o the various commonWcaIths have been mad, public by the war department.
 According to this dispatch, the number oi men to be conscriptcd from New York fo1 the first contingent will average one mar from every 225 inhabitants Washington, ou1 nearest ncighbor, will be required to furnis1 one man from every 2S5 inhabitants Tax
 ing these figures as a basis for an cstimat, on the number of local men to be drafted
 it will easily be seen that if ten are drawn
 Fairbanks will have furnished her full share
 While the dispatch quoted states "tht quota of men expected from each state," ab sOIuteIy no fh.res are given for Alaska Q course, Alaska wants to send her share O. men and bear her share of the burdens o the war. But 1t IS a reasonable surmise, af ter reading the dispatch referred to, that tho government is convinced that Alaskans cal be of more service to the country by being kept at home and utilized in hastcning the work on the various government projects d present under way here than by being mus tered into the army The government is cv dentIy keeping in close touch with Alaskan affairs, and realizes that under the best o conditions we will be up against a serious la Dor shortage this season, and probably fol several years to come, on account of the vas number of men it will require to carry tho war on manyaof whom would otherwise have been able to Eome to Alaska for work. 0 course, we cannot be certain of this until the |conscription plans are made public in their entirety.
 The plans of the war department only call for four contingents, or 100000, but taking it for granted that Alaska will bt called on to furnish her proportion in ac cord with the figures already made public Fairbanks would be only liable for approxi mately 50 men for the entire army, and they will be drawn in a period covering two years or from ten to twelve at time.
 But, says the News Miner: "Thc tOWr need not be surprised to see an army officer l from Fort Gibbon drop into town any day and call to the colors every young man il Fairbanks, aNel when so called every maj MUST g0." We agree with the statemen that "WEIIlN so called they must go" I such an occurrence should happen, the whol, town can expect to be surprised, and not onl, the town but the entire nation Such al action, if followed out all over the nation would strip the industries and various enter prises of the United States bare and leave the country in a worse condition than if sht failed to call for single soldier It may be, however, that the News Miner thinks tha the government has a grudge against Fair banks and intends to do this to this com munity only.
 Continuing its sob sister" line of "bu1l, the NcWs-Aliner pictures the departure ot our boys" for the FRONT, that same de partllre hastcned all because Fairbanks hac not provided a drill hall in which to trail it's contingent. See them all herded together and marched aboard boat, off for some where in France.' But there is a slip-u1 somewhere, and instead of arriving righ away at a battlefield, they are taken off thc transport at Fort Gibbon for training.
 It appears that the News Miner, in look ing at the matter for a moment, saw that ever the most preiudiCcd government in the world would hardly take all the men away from any town, so it proceeds to cut its estimates tc lOO and declares with all the aplomb of '; qualified soothsayer that the Fairbanks con tingent may easily reach that number Shades of Euclid where does it get its system o1 calculation? In it's course in Real Estate it apparently skipped mathematics and devot ed it's entire attention to advertising,
 Then, having determined on the number hot Tto; I, to lose $500 day or S3,OO0 month"; by not having the foresight to acquire dril hall. It is a shame to take the money A simple little problem in first grade multipliCa-