Seward daily gateway., 1933-07-14
BERGER REFUSED PERMISSION TIEUP
 ANCHORAGE DOCK

dSC, "11C1l SdHU. AASAAAAC O . \ master and owner of the MS. Dis coverer, docked at one of the gov ernment docks and prepared to dis charge his small cargo a m Il which was included horse.
 Captain Berger, has informed the Gateway that empty Alaska Railroad care were deliberately so spotted on the dock at Anchorage which made it impossible for him to discharge cargo and in order for his passengers to traverse the dock to terra firma they were compelled squeeze their way past cars and the warehouse. This blocking, Capt. ain Berger added, was the after math of business transaction and action directed at the skipper.
 Immediately upon tying up Cap tain Berger was handed a letter by a railroad employee the con- tents of which denied him docking privileges, landing passengers and unloading cargo because of small bill he owed the Railroad However, Berger remained tied up and his passengers went ashore but his car go and horse, perforce, remained aboard.
 Captain Berger was in a jack pot. His attorney Harry F. Nor ton, was out of town. Freight was to be discharged and loaded. What to do! What to do! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!
 If he attempted to land at other docks similar tactics would result, he was informed.
 Just beyond Emard's cannery at Anchorage is high bank. Captain Berger said nothing but at high tide he steamed around the dock, pulled up alongside the bank, showed a gangplank over and the horse, after 20 hours on deck all ongside of the wharf, lifted up his tail, gave a loud snort, and leaped ashore and was led away to a safety zone.
 In the meantime. 9 large crowd gathered; also, few railroad men. After an hour and one-half strug- gle, these men managed to move, with the aid of croW-bars, more empty cars blocking egress fro m the bank. Captain Berger said he volunteered the assistance of his crew but his offer was not accept ed. When the cars were finally in position, Captain Berger pulled the whistle cord and left for another beach to carry on.
 Wednesday he obtained a small scow and completed loading in Chester Creek
 Two or three indignation meet ings were held by business groups in protest to the Railroads action in attempting to block one of the city's commercial arteries. It was said that the MS. Discoverer takes out five times more merchandise than is brought in.. That the Dis coverer creates more tonnage for the Alaska Railroad because of it's Cook Inlet distribution of merchan- disc brought to Anchorage over the system from Seward and that prac- tically all of it's inbound freight is from points the Railroad could not enjoy in any case.
 But this is not the point involv- ed, according to the Railroad, Tues days action against Captain Berger being based entirely on non-pay- ment of a bill.
 Others view the subject matter as another move by the Railroad management to eliminate competi- ton, citing the recent inauguration of almost prohibitive tolls over the Richardson Highway, which auto matically ruined many private concerns engaged in transporting passengers and freight from the coast to Fairbanks and informed iary points.
 Captain Berger said he expected the Anchorage Chamber of Com