The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1919-07-08
Bat, U. S. Guards. >

ernor wrote the commanding officer
at Camp Grant as follows:
81 am advised that there are a
number of Alaskans now at Camp
Grant who are extremely DESTROYS
of procuring a discharge from the
army. Once more l beg to draw
to your attention the peculiar con-
ditions affecting the territory, par
ticularly the fact that the occupa-
1 tons which most of the Alaskans
engage in are only seasonal. 1t is
practically only during the summer
months that an Alaskan has to do
all his work, which will enable him
to 60 into the winter prepared to
meet the climatic conditions I'm
less a man in Alaska can go to
work early in the season, it may be
that he will suffer great hardship all
through the winter on account of
the lack of an outfit so necessary
to his well-being.
at would be a matter of great
relief to me if you could see fit
to discharge Alaskans from the SER
vice as speedily as possible, as l
; beg to assure you that similar con-
dition do not exist anywhere in
any of the States
which letter was answered as fol-
lows on April "a:
Simultaneous with the date of
your letter, April 10, regarding the
discharge of Alaskans at this sta
ton, steps were being taken to-
wards its completion, and on the
18th and 18th all the remaining
men who were eligible for discharge
were transferred to Fort Lawton,
Wash, for that purpose.
by men eligible for discharge is
meant all men who did not enlist
prior to April /, 1917, and who
desire discharge. believe that there
are now no Alaskans at this camp
who should have been so trans
ferred. If any such cases are
known to exist by you, l will expe-
dite their proper disposition"
The above letters and kilograms
are merely a few samples In ad-
dition there were several hundred
letters and kilograms received and
sent urging the release of men
from the service. There was no.
"a single application for discharge
made by men in the service who
requested aid from this Office that
an effort was not made to procure
the release of the applicant or in
structions given as TO the proper
mode of procedure. In fact, one
commanding officer threatened to
prefer charges against the governor
on account of his insistent demands
that Alaskans be released from the
service.
Regarding the statement made by
one of your correspondents tina:
copies Of kilograms requesting dis
charge were sent to Delegate Sulzer
and Governor Riggs, there is abso-
lutely nothing in our files TO show
that these copies were ever sent.
Neither the governor nor l have
any recollection of seeing any such
copies, excepting one telegram,
which was answered as follows:
Juneau, Dec. 81, 1919.
"a. c. Slippern, Camp Dodge: -.
Governor Riggs now in Wash
ington. Has been trying get imme-
date release of all Alaskans, but
his efforts so far have been unavail-
ing with exception of Camp Lewis
! (Signed) "CRAMER, Sec'y"
! From the above, l trust you will
agree with me that this Office did
everything in its power to assist
men to secure their release from
the service, and the saying that
"Alaskans fought to get into the
army, fought while in the army, and
as soon as the armistice was signed
they started fighting to get out, I"
was helped along by the governors
activity in wiring and writing to