The Cordova daily times., 1921-07-15
GIRLS PAPER FIRST IN
 ESSAY CONTEST

The essay written by Miss Floris Marion Clark, of Skagway, on Good Roads-Highway Transportation in the II. s. Firestone university schol. the territorial committee as being the best submitted from the schools of the territory and will be forwarded to the Highway and Highway Trans port Education committee at Wash. lngton, as one of the 49 essays from which the national prize winning article will be selected, according to an announcement made today by Commissioner of Education l.. D. Henderson. Miss Clark is a member of the graduating class of 1921 of the Skagway high school.
 ONLY THREE ENTRANTS
 Owing to the lateness of the an- nouncement of Alaska's inclusion in the contest. only three schools in the territory entered. These were Ju- neau, Fairbanks and Skagway Miss Margaret Collins, daughter of Sena- tor E. B. Collins of Fairbanks, was given second place by the territorial committee, and Miss Kathleen Ward, graduating class of the Juneau high school, 1921. was third. The terri torial committee, which was named by Commissioner Henderson, is com posed of John w. Troy, R. J. Som mers and II. l.. Faulkner. The com mittee was unanimous in it's award.
 SUBSTANTIAL PRIZE OFFERED
 The big prize to be given the win ner is a four-year course in uni yorsity or college in the United States that the winner may select. All expenses are paid and the cash value of the scholarship is estimated to be approximately $5.0oo Under the rules of the contest only ou essay may be submitted from each school to a community committee. the best selected by it forwarded to the states or territorial committee. and its choice of one from each state or territory submitted to the ma tional committee, which makes the final award.
 MISS CLARK's ESSAY
 The prize winning essay by Miss Clark follows:
 During the stampede to the Klon- dike in 1898, the lack of good roads and means of transportation for sup. plies was the most serious obstacle with which the gold seekers had to contend. The graves of the hun dreds who perished on the way, overcome by the dangers and hard ships Of the trail, were mute testi- onial to this most urgent want of 't- Northland. Today the crying ed of Alaska is the same as it was 20 years ago; better roads and i'm proved means of transportation. On this factor, more than any other. de bends the. future development of the resources of the country.
 Nor is that need a problem for Alaska alone. Governmental reports show that farmers, in marketing their crops lose more than $500. .000.- 900 annually because of bad roads. A because of bad roads. A large part of this loss is sustained by owners of farms situated at some distance from railway stations. It is under these conditions that the mo tor-driven vehicle proves itself of ever increasing usefulness. not as a, rival to the railroads, but as a CO., worker, assuming to itself the func tion of the so-called short haul Tn this field, the motor truck overcomes two factors. time and distance. which formerly had a limiting effect upon production. Prior to the advent of the motor truck, larger profits could be realized from a poor farm near a railway station than from a better farm situated greater distance away. Now, whenever good high, ways have been constructed, this is changed. By the aid of the motor truck, a farmer can get his crops ou the market in better condition and with less loss of time than was formerly possible; and in many cases, can save himself serious loss by selling before an over,supply causes