The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1919-05-16
ALASKA BETTER
THAN THE STATES,
AYERS SOLDIER

Will SoHIpdHs d, 1ttH lIIdHtIS,
stationed at Camp Grant, Illinois,
arrived in Nenana yesterday on the
Victory, from Fairbanks. Lester
wears a sergeant's chevrons on his
military tunic, and also the insignia
showing that he belonged to the
Twilight division. He stated that he
is tickled to death to be back in
Alaska again, and that he would
sooner be broke in Alaska than be
millionaire in the States
! He was discharged from the army
at Camp Grant on March 9Th, and
! ere heading for the North, visited,
among other places, Chicago, Bos-
ton, Philadelphia and New York.
Immediately after receiving his dis
charge, he visited with his folks al
Des MONIES, Iowa, for a while, and
then started out to take in the
sights in the big cities. He is loud
in his praises of the treatment ac-
corded him by everyone wherever
he went, and states that he certain
ly had a good time The States.
he says, with all their many ad-
vantages. are not altogether salts
flying to Alaskans, and every plea
sure that was his during his stay
Outside palled after little while
and only seemed to intensity the
longing for the North.
Alaska would appear TO be more
talked about in the States after
the Alaska soldiers had gone out
there and mingled with the people
in the various towns, than at any
previous time, and a great many
ere said to be making inquiry about
the Northland. Lester delive.e ed
several lectures on Alaska in some
CT the towns he visited among
others, he spoke to large crowd
at Swift's plant in Chicago, ard
again at the Rotary club in Rocl.-
ford, Illinois.
4 He says he met great many
A!askans during his travels in the
States, and that, without a single
exc ton, they all expressed a wish
to be back North. He says that ali
who can possibly do so are surely
coming North, and that about 100
Alaskans We're waiting at Seattle
to get reservations on the north
bound boats. Seattle, he said,
seemed to be full of Alaskans.
He attended the Alaska reunion
held at Seattle recently to cele-
brate the breakup, and describes il
as the best function he attended
while in the States, for the reason
that all present were Alaskans and
they enjoyed themselves in the good
old Alaskan way.
Out in the States, he says, thing:
seem to be in very unsettled
state, everything is in a turmoil,
and a feeling of unrest and dis
satisfaction is ever present. and
people do not seem to know quite
where they are at.
Among the Alaskans met with in
the States was Jack Nelson, former
ly engineer for the A. E. c. here.
He. was in Chicago, but was not
doing anything. Bob Bresnahan
was married recently in Chicago.
where he has a good position. Scot
ty Dalton is also married and has
settled down in Des Moines Ed
Willette, who also has become a
benedict, is in San Francisco. Alex
Carey and Ray Erchinger are in
the brass foundry business in Sc
attic and are said to be doing we'll
Lester Robertson and Fred Holm
berg are in the garage business in
Seattle and also are doing very we'll
Monk Murphy was working at one
of the shipyards in Seattle when
Lester left. His mother and sister
are also living in Seattle Monk
is said to be the champion dancer
of the Pacific coast; he takes in the
dances nearly all the time Tommy
King is also married and has set
tied down in Seattle
At Juneau, Lester met Joe Raatz
and his wife and Miss Jane Ander-
son, and he says they seemed TO
like it pretty well there.
At Cordova, which he says is
booming, he met Ben Sherman,
George Walker, Gus Utberg, Mr.
and Mrs. Jack Heath, Billy Keffer,
and Pete Lorenzen, and they all