Seward seaport record., 1954-11-05
NOW THEY WANT BLOOD! CHAMBER FAYORS PROPOSAL

At the Tuesday noon meeting of the Chamber of Commerce the at tendance was unusually heavy with total of q persons present, two of them guests.
 ALASKAN CHAMBER
 OF COMMERCE 'F
 The first business of the meet ing was the appointment of a dele gate and alternate to the Alaska Chamber of Commerce Meeting to be held in Anchorage next week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was voted to name the Chamber President Win Erwin as delegate and send Sol Uric along as alter nate.
 BLOOD BANK
 A letter was received from the Seattle First Nation Bank outlin- ing a plan for blood bank for l Alaskans to be located in Seattle. According to the letter there is annual call flor over 400 pints of blood to be used by Alaskans re- ceiving medical attention in the Seattle area.
 Under the proposed set up blood would be donated by Alaskans in Seattle and when necessary blood could be drawn from the Alaskan bank to meet the needs of Alaskans needing it. This would eliminate the expensive fee for blood from professional donors. The Chamber endorsed the plan.
 PHONE SERVICE
 A copy of letter sent to the ] Alaska Railroad and Alaska Com munications system by the Sew ard Sanatorium, was read which outlined the need for telephone : at the newly esta blished Physical Therapy Center. This facility is presently handling the treatment of many Seward area polio victims and the need for phone is very great the letter pointed out. The Chamber is waiting to see what success the letter has before talk ing any action.
 VISITORS
 Bill Erwin advised that his boss, MT. s. E. Stretton of Standard Oil of California's Seattle office, would be in Seward next week sometime to inspect the Company's local installation.
 It was agreed by the Chamber that a special meeting should be held so that local Chamber of Com merce members could hear the Seattle president.
 FREIGHT RATES
 A letter was read from the Ketch- ikan Chamber of Commerce in which they outlined problem of unfair freight rates when comparing the Seattle to Ketchikan rate on | certain items against that for the same items from Seattle to An chorage. It was found that it would cost nearly forty dollars more to ship to ketchikan than to ship the item to Anchorage even though the haul was nearly a thousand miles longer and involved railroad transportation and hand ling charges. This was much the same sort of complaint which was taken up a week ago by the local Chamber.
 COAST GUARD
 Sam Romack suggested that the Chamber take up the matter of trying to get Coast Guard Boat stationed in Seward. It was Sam's report that the proposition had been turned down in the past due to the, shortage of housing. He told the Chamber that he thought this problem was now solved and renewed efforts should be made to get boat stationed here.
 It was agreed by the Chamber that such a project was desirable and Sam was appointed a com mittee of one to survey available housing so that appeal could be made on the basis of established facts and figures.
 GUESTS
 The two guests at the Tuesday meeting were Miss Cork and MT. Jack Hutchison of the Territorial office of Vocational Rehabilitation. MT. Hutchison spoke of the pro- gross being made in the field and asked local cooperation with the Seward Sanatorium's Rehabilita- tion project. He also invited any commentary and suggestions there might be from local citizens and businessmen.