The Nenana daily news., 1919-06-10
TRAVELLING MAN SAYS ALASKA E
 BEST ON EARTH

resentative of Folgers and the Im-
 perial Candy company, more fa-
 miliarly known among his many Alaskan friends as Joe" Meherin,
 who is on a business visit to Ne
 mana, predicts that Alaska will be
 greatly benefited by a very sub stantial increase in its population.
 At the time he left Seattle for the
 North, all the northbound ocean
 boats had sold out their accommo- dations up to the sailing on July 18th.
 1 Joe Meherin enlisted in Seattle
 last August for overseas service,
 and was attached to the tank corps
 at Fort Lawton for training. From
 there he was transferred to Camp
 Colt, near Gettysburg. Pa. and from there to Camp Dix, which is only about two hours ride from Hoboken, N. J. His unit having reached that stage of perfection in i its military training deemed sui fcient to fit it to go into action, ] all overseas equipment was issued ito the men and they were ordered 1 to embark on November 11th, when, much to their disappointment, the news of the signing Of the armis- tice was received and the embarka- ton orders were cancelled.
 The tank corps would appear to have been the first military unit to be demobilized, and on December 4th Joe received his discharge, along with great many others.
 As soon as he was free, Joe did considerable travelling, visiting. among other cities, New York, Phil adelphia, Boston, Washington, New Orleans, and San Francisco, and he says that Frisco is the best of them all; in fact, the best in the world He is in accord with all the other Alaskans who have recently come in :---7 visit to the States, and is quite positive that Alaskans are better of in every way than those living anywhere in the States. Un- rest and dissatisfaction, coupled with the high cost of living, is very noticeable everywhere, he says. and every one of the great many
 Alaskans he met in the States iS eager to return to the North.
 1 One argument that ought to g l a long way toward convincing Alas kans of how much better of they are here than in the States is con-
 tained in the statement he made re- garding the actual living costs. He
 stated that meal which cost him
 Sl in Nenana could not De dupli-
 cated Outside for SIPS. Rents, he
 says, are scandalously high, and the
 amusements and other incidenta!s
 which the average dweller in the States feels called upon to indulge i in, keep the ordinary worker broke all the time. Many Alaskans, he said, have found themselves in this
 state, and the majority of them are
 making it their life's purpose, as il were, to earn the necessary pass
 age money to enable them 70 return
 to the North.
 Joe Meherin has visited and trav- leled in Alaska for the past nine years, and knows Alaska and her people very thoroughly, and he says
 that wherever he has been in Alas
 ka this season he has found a feel ing of greater contentment among the people, contentment to remain in the Northland and help in the lcountry's development. This feel t ing, he says, was not present be- fore, as almost everybody wished
 to visit the States, some on a visit only, and others for all time.
 i The Alaska boys who had been
 in the service, he says, have been the best advertising medium Alaska
 has ever had, and in the course of
 his travels in the various parts of jthe States, countless thousands of