The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-04-10
ARMY OFFICER ASKS RECALL LEGISLATURE
General Lee, Speaking Be- fore Chamber, Reopens
 Armory Question

Suggesting that the people of the Territory ask the Governor to re- call the Legislature into special ses- sicn to appropriate money for maintenance and training for Ma tional Guard units in Alaska, Brig adler General John c. H. Lee, Com mander of Ports of Embarkation for the Pacific Coast, spoke before approximately 60 members of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce at their regular noon luncheon this afternoon, re-opening one of the most discussed and bitterly fought questions of the 1941 Legislature. gr Preluding his suggestion with ob- servations on the improvement of Juneau in the last three years, General Lee bluntly came to the point of his short talk by point ing out the need for Guardsmen in the Territory and their useful ness as a nucleus for untrained militia in case of any emergency.
 He said original plans were for the Alaska National Guard to be kept in the Territory for special training in the kind of defense needed for Alaska, and that the Guard should not, like other units in the States, be called out of the Territory. But in the case they do not receive the essentials for such training, the Territory would prob ably lose" them
 Military Weakness
 The high ranking Army officer stressed the former weakness of Alaska from a military standpoint and said that the formation of Na- tional Guard units is part of the program to defend the Territory from possible invasion and war, which he said might happen at any time.
 General Lee, returning to his headquarters at Fort Mason, Cal, after an inspection of dock and transportation facilities at Seward and Anchorage, was one of three quests introduced at the Chamber luncheon
 Other Guests
 Other guests were J. G. Rivers, member of the Board of Public Welfare from Fairbanks, and R. 0. Ingram, resident engineer for the Public Roads administration at Seward. Rivers said that Fairbanks had enjoyed very prosperous winter as a result of 500 Army construction men and 25O enlist ed men stationed there ~
 The Chamber voted unanimously in favor of resolution favoring the establishment of reading and writing room for transient men The resolution passed put the Chamber on record as going to ask the City Council to pay the rent for such quarters. Plans, pro- posed by Adjutant Stanley Jack son of the Salvation Army, are to rent quarters in the Pond Build ing on South Franklin Street and to appropriate monthly rents by funds from the City and from pri- vate philanthropic citizens.
 Radio Interference
 Charles Beale started discus sion proposed to take steps to eliminate radio interference in Ju- neau that has been keeping Ju- neau virtually isolated from Out side radio reception. Suggesting that a leakage in the A-J power lines might be the cause, Beale proposed that the Chamber start a fund for investigation to find the pos sible leak. He, himself, pledged SIC for the fund.
 Discussion from other members revealed that the Al has been testing their power lines for the last two weeks to discover the cause of the interference. The pro- posal was referred to a commit tee for action.
 The Rev. John A. Glasse reported that progress was being made on a new tennis court proposal. but