The Alaska daily empire., 1919-04-11
AN ELOQUENT
 PLEA IS MADE
 FOR STEAMERS
M. J. 0'Connor, Formerly of Douglas, Tells BeIIingham a Few Facts About A.
 aSkan Trade
(Bellingham Herald, March 2S)

(BelllnSndU H0Tdlu, MdfCH %oD
 A proposal that the citizens of Bel lingham and Whatcom County or ganize a steamship company at once to attract business of Alaska to this city was made today by M. J. O'Con- nor, who recently entered the groc cry business here, after spending twenty years in Alaska. MT. O'Con- nor declares that the project not only is feasible, but that it can be carried to fruition and that he is prepared to do his share in a finan- cjal way, not for any personal bene fit that might be derived, but for the citys welfare.
 MT. O'Connors suggestion is that $500000 be raised to finance com pany-5,000 shares at S100 a share and that an effort be made to induce the Pacific American Fisheries t1 handle it's business. He. declared to- day that Bellingham should be reap ing the fruit of Alaska's development. rather than Seattle, and as a pion eer of the Territory, he says that he knows the people of Alaska-thou- sands of them-would stop in Bel. iingham rfather than in Seattle, if they had the opportunity, for the req son that they are eager in coming to the States by boat, to land or the first port available
 "I have been travelling up and down the coast for twenty years,' said MT O'Connor. q have stopped in Seattle and in Vancouver innumer- able times, but not until last Fall did I ever see Bellingham. The sim pie reason was that the boats on which I travelled did not stop here. My own case is duplicated times without number, and the same line of reasoning applies to freight as to passenger traffic"
 MT. O'Connor was a resident of Douglas for twenty years and for eight terms served as the Mayor of that city. He has been active in Alaska politics and in all activities pertaining to the development of tn Territory.
 Are the citizens of Bellingham asleep?" he asked today '1f I must answer my own question 1 would say that they are. Not only are they asleep today but they seem to have been asleep soundly for years otherwise they would have grasped the opportunities that have escaped their tice-opportunities that have been gobbled by other communities with less natural advantages bui greater enterprise. Here you stand the gateway to the great golden North, that immense storehouse of wealth-more gold than California more copper than Arizona, more coal than Pennsylvania, untold wealth in fish and furs. A steady stream of gold has passed your doors for the past twenty years and you have made no effort to bring at least a portion of it into your own town.
 "The demand for steamboat ser vice is so urgent in Alaska today that LUG Ado ocut d SpcC- ial message to the Legislature re- questing that body to enact law giving the Territory power to enter into the steamboat business. There never was a more opportune time for the citizens of Bellingham to act Awake! The time is ripe Let us not squabble. Let us act. We should organize a steamship company at once. Let us make a community affair. We should get s5O0.000 over night It takes only 5000 shares at $10O a share to make half a million I have no property interests in Bel lipgham. but I have $100 to give to this cause without any strings on it. I don't care if I never see hide nor hare of it again. will gladly donate is for the good of the community in which I have located and intend to make my home.
 'We have a great corporation in our midst whose support feel we.