The Seward gateway daily edition, and the Alaska weekly post., 1919-11-01
ALASKANS ARE TRYING TO SECURE A BETTER
 MAIL SERVICE NORTH

That Alaskans are in Washington trying to secure better mail service and some of the obstacles they run up against, is shown by the following ar ticle in a recent Seattle Times, from J. J. Underwood, Washington correi- pondent:
 Falcon Joslin, oil and coal land op- orator, and John J. Began, private secretary to Delegate George B Grigsby, both of whom lived SO long m Alaska that there has become pre- valent superstition that they invent ed the territory, are in Washington, expressing a great deal of sympathet- C feeling for the boys who bucled the Hindenburg line.
 For some, peculiar reason which is far beyond the understanding of Alas lans, the department officials send he mail to Kuskokwim points by way If Chitna, Fairbanks, Fort Gibbon and rnnoko River, which is about 1900 niles farther than the route via Was sila and the federal railroad, With much emphasis Messrs. Joslin and Re yan drew the attention of Otto Prag- IT, assistant postmaster-general 70 he difference in distance. At the end of a conference lasting two hours they were calmly met with the cryptic statement that "the longest way round s the shortest way home" MT. Prag ,r was not disturbed in the remoteSt legree. The mail, he thought, would continue to go by the route now in use.
 Returns to Attack.
 The NorthernerS made a strategic "etreat to position previously pre- pared, but returned to the attack next lay with several leather portfolios fu'l of statistics. They opened the engage nent with a heavy barrage of figures which tended to prove that the Kusko. 'lwim region is the richest section O he territory in fact the only place 1 where placer gold mining is being ca" lied on to any considerable extent.
 Mir. Prager is a placid listencr When his visitors stopped to catch | heir breath and give their throat | chance to cool off, he drew their at ,ention to the fact that because of the l condition of the trail beyond WasslH l costs S6,OOO a year less to send the | nail by the Fairbanks route.
 The Alaskans gained their second | wind while Mir Prager was talking | What's a mere $6,OOO to strong and rich and powerful government like 1 .his that is spending billions in feed ing the starving people of Europe?" .hev demanded. "WaS it humane" they asked. "to feed the Europeans and allow the good Americans in Alaska to go letter-hungry?" /" 1t was ! not. Nor was it logical.
 Cites Parallel Case
 "It would be just as logical for me 1 to return to Alaska by way of Baffin Bay and the Northwest Passage or via Cape Horn as to send mail the way | you are routing it" put in Mir. Joslin.
 Maybe so" answered the postof- l flee official with bored air, and then ! was disclosed the fact that he had con. | cealed q number of machine gun nests in the way of figures proving that it 1 takes an average of only about four days longer to deliver mail by Fair banks trail and that the deliveries are more regular. He also pointed out that because of the impassability of the Wassila trail it is frequently impos- sible to get mail over it at all. He turned to some paper on his desk which indicated that the interview was ended.