The Kusko times., 1937-06-25
WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER
BY J. ]. ECkLES Secretary to the Delegate

secretary to Il. R. 662s, the bill which would authorize the Post Office Department to increase the mileage of the exist ing alr-msil system by 5000 miles, passed the House June ?. When the bill was under consideration on the floor of the House, Delegate Dimcnd entered the debate on the measure to t.once more call the attention Of the Members Of the House to the need for a real extension Of air-mal service In the Territory Of Alaska
 Showing the need for additional Rlrplane delivery Of mall in the Ter Titory because Of distance. and geo graphical conditions encountered n many areas, which. together with the lack of other economical means of transportation, make the use of air planes in some sections the only prac- tical sportation that may be used the Delegate then pointed out the benefits derived by the Territory through existing deliveries af mail by air now made in Alaska-vhich, In thz case of Fairbanks 10 Nome ser vice now only takes three and one half hours where t was formerly 9 days.
 Tn acknowledging the additional aIr-mal service authorized for this year. he urged further extension of the service 1T the following words.
 he Committee on Appropri- ations has approved. and Con gress has passed the bin which gives Us for the first time true
 air mall in the Territory Of A. aska. It Is labeled as the Foreign Service, because it passes through the Dominion of Canada. The
 route lies from Juneau, Alaska, on the south, to White Horse m the Yukon Territory, Canada, thence northwesterly to Fair banks, Alaska. Here Is a service which without air rnall can aanly De covered in the space of about six days, whereas by the use of air mall, 1t takes approximately six hours. The service should be infinitely expanded in the Terri 1ory of Alaska to take in all l parts Of the country. to azlcIude Nome, which lies on the shores Of the Bering Sea; McGrath, on the upper KuskokwiTn; Flat, near the IGitarod River; Bethel, 0n the
 
 Bay, on the Bering Sea Coast, where recently a valuable platl- nun strike was made.
 s'The service should also. be ex- tended to the cities Of the south ern coast Of Alaska, Cordova, Valdez, Seward, and Anchorage, and to Bristol Bay"
 In the debate a this time, the Delegate placed additional ground work for his plan to have air-mal service insBgurated from the Uni ted States to Juneau, via hetchiksn, WrangeI, and Petersburg, and then connecting with the Juneau-Fair- banks rcute already authorized. Sup porting this plan he showed that on the basis of business done by the UH- tied States IT Alaska, the Territory justifes the establishment Of such a route as much as the business done in South America and in Fhe Orient justify the services provided to these countries served by these routes. Del egate Dimond emphasized. that his request was not sectional n charac- ter when he said in closing:
 What l am now urging Is not based upon any more or less sel- fish concern for the people Of the
 Territory, whom I have the hon. or to represent here, but upon at least equal concern for the wel-
 fare or the many millions of
 people who reside IT. the main
 body Of the United States, and for whom the prompt and ade- quate development Of the resourc-
 es Of Alaska offer an opportunity not 70 De fouzd elsewhere in the world Following the reading of the Pres idert's plan for a properly developed scheme of planned use Of national resources, sent to Congress on June 3. bills were introduced in the Sen ate by Senator Narris of Nebraska, and in the House .uy Representative Mansfield of Texas. The program ad- vocated by the President and which woRld De put into operation through