The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-10-02
spUD TALK AT CHAMBER IS FEATURE
Anchorage Man Tells oi City Development Since
 Defense Program

Studs were the subject Of con- versation this noon at the lunch con meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in the Baranof Hotel Gold Room.
 The potato talk started when a local farmer sent two hills of spuds to the Baranof chef to be served to chamber members. It was found that the spud rations were short of going around.
 Then the chambers guests, Ter ritorial Unemployment Compensa- tion Commissioners Robert Bra gaw. of Anchorage, and Dr. Noble Dick. of Fairbanks, took up the spud subject.
 From the Tanana and Mata- nuska valleys, we can send plenty of potatoes to feed the chamber" :" Bragaw declared. Next time we're coming to Juneau we'll put a hill of our potatoes in the plane as a treat for you fellows"
 Like to See Analysis
 We grow mighty big potatoes around Fairbanks Dr. Dick added. Sometime I'd like to see an an- alysis made of the comparative food values in our big spuds grown in our short season, as against the food value of the potatoes from Outside which take so much longer to mature. We might find that our large potatoes are more nutritious and it would be fine talking point to push the sale of Alaska grown spuds."
 A feature of the meeting was the report of A. B. Phillips on inves- tigation of chamber committee into the advisability of starting a Juneau Community Chest campaign to raise funds for local charitable institutions. After considering the number of organizations which would have to be taken care of in separate drives it was voted to drop the matter, so far as the chamber is concerned.
 Outlining the rapid development of Anchorage since the start of national defense activities in that section, Bragaw pointed out that he has been an Anchorage resi- dent for B years, is former city clerk and Territorial Senator from that district, yet these days he walks down city streets and sees comparatively few familiar faces.
 Huge Payroll
 From a conservative estimate, the monthly payroll of Anchorage and surrounding community now amounts to some $1,250,0o0, Bragaw stated. Of this, approximately $330,O00 is paid to members of the military forces quartered there, while $95O,OOO is being paid out monthly to civilian workers on de- fense projects. The remainder of the million and quarter monthly payroll is accounted for by the AL aska Railroad, CAA and plane ac- tivitieS, he said
 The past fishing season was good in the Anchorage section, Bragaw stated, and mining developments in the Willow Creek district are mak- ing much progress. The defense program has aided greatly in de- velopment of good market for Matanuska Valley farm products but ehat some of the farmers, at tracted by high pay for defense work around Anchorage, are con- muting to the defense city and their farms are not being kept up as a result.
 Anchorage is away behind on building material deliveries, due to the demand for defense work, Bra gaw said. and people who would prefer to build good houses have been forced to put up shacks for living quarters.
 Referring to traffic, Bragaw said he recently sat on his front porch and watched a continuous stream of cars bearing workmen coming off shift from defense base work parade past for 35 minutes. and then he did not see the end of the line. He said that last week corps of uni formed traffic officers were placed on downtown Anchorage streets to prevent traffic jams and allow pedestrians chance to cross.