The Daily Alaska empire., 1938-07-18
DOWACER QUEEN FARLEY POINTS MARIE IS DEAD. TODEvELOpMENT SUMMER HOME OF TERRITORY
PostmasterG General Pictures Advances in Ketchikan
 Dedication Address

KETCHIKAN, Alaska, July l8.- Postmaster General James A. Far ley on his first visit to Alaska made his first Alaska stop here this morning when the Aleutian docked and he dedicated the new Post office Building.
 Accompanied from Seattle by U. s. Marshal William T. Mahoney, the Postmaster Geenral and Demo- cratic National Committeeman, was met here by Delegate Anthony J. Dimond, Collector of Customs James J. Connors of Juneau, Postmaster Albert Vile of Juneau, Postmistress Reinert of Ketchikan. Mayor A H. Ziegler, Territorial Senator Nor man R. Walker and several other local and visiting dignitaries.
 Following the dedication cere- monies, the Cabinet officer and his party, accompanied by the officials from Juneau and Delegate Dimond, sailed for Juneau shortly after noon.
 The Postmaster General pointed to the advances already made in the development of mail facilities in the Territory and saw bright prospects for the future.
 In his dedicatory address, Post master General Farley said:
 q am delighted to have this op- portunity of meeting with the peo- pie of Ketchikan on this, my first visit to Alaska, and I want you to know how much I appreciate the invitation to participate in these ceremonies.
 Postal service in Alaska is all most as old as the Territory it. self. Cor aita was on July 23, 1867, shortly after the purchase of AL aska by the United States, that the first post office was established at what is now Sitka. On July 31 of the same year the postmaster at San Francisco was authorized to arrange for a special steamer mail service to Alaska on schedule not to exceed once week.
 q cite this instance of the early mail service to Alaska merely to show that from the days of it's pioneer development there has per haps been no other instrumentality of our national government that has played such a vital role in the early progress and later expansion of Alaska than has the Post Office Department.
 20. Dept. Alert
 This fine new Federal building which we are dedicating here to- day offers visible evidence of the fact that the Post Office Depart ment is ever alert to meet the needs of it's patrons in Alaska, and it Is my sincere wish that in making use of its facilities you will find it center of utility and convenience.
 "It is in keeping with the Post Office Departments policy of pro- viding up to date and modern quar- ters for the housing of it's post or fices that one million, nine hun dred and one thousand dollars has been allocated for new buildings of this type in Alaska during the past four years. The new building at Sitka, like the one we are dedicat- ing here in Ketchikan today, has already been occupied, while the building at Nome is now nearing completion. The fourth new strlc- ture under this post office building program was allotted to Anchorage, and will be erected just as soon as the drawings are completed by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department n Washington. In addition, modern post office buildings comparable to those in large and prosperous cities in the continental United States were erected several years ago in Juneau, Seward, and Fairbanks.
 $458.687 Project
 "As for this new Ketchikan Fed eral building, a total of $458,687 was appropriated in the Congress of the United States for the carrying through of this project. In addition to housing the Ketchikan post of flee, space is also provided for the United States Court, and field of- fices of the War Department, Jus tice Department Commerce Depart ment, Labor Department, Agricul- ture Department, Bureau of Gus toms and the United States Public Health Service.
 "As Postmaster General, I have constantly been aware of the nec- essity of improved and enlarged mail services in the Territory and I am happy to state that we have made tremendous strides in this di-