Seward seaport record., 1954-03-26
EdiforiuI
 By MEX IS THIS NEUTRALITY?

On Wednesday of this week, MT, Frank E. Kalbaugh, in ad- dressing the Seward Chamber of Commerce, made an appeal for harmony between the cities of Anchorage and Seward. You each need the other" he said, "and it is to be hoped that your feud will be dropped
 In conversation with him after the meeting, we tacitly agreed to drop the entire matter. He was referring to our editorial of March 12. If he had received the same agreement in Anchorage, he must have been deeply disap- pointed by the editorial in the Anchorage Daily News of the following day, March 25, entitled Report on Anchorage - Plans for Harbor Job Stymied." AL though the News had previously commented that Seward was sore and rightfully so," the editor now takes up the argument again. Although he religiously bypasses the Port Commission Reports now famous paragraph which shocked the whole Terri tory, his inference is plain. It is plain also, that, as he says, al though the Anchorage job is "stymied," someone still has hopes of also "stymying" the railroad rehabilitation and Sew ard dock job as well.
 Quoting from the editorial of March 25, Anchorage Daily News: Except for heavy lifts, trucking is an adequate substi- ute for the railroad service. The former account for less than one percent of the total cargo. The Department of Interior study showed that 15 truck rigs could carry container-packed cargo away as fast as one ship could unload it at Seward
 This, it must be admitted,' the News says, "equals or sur passes in efficiency the present railroad
 The paper also takes another slap at the railroad and al the military. lis editor infers at so mesort of collusion between the defense establishment in Al aska and the ARR. when he says. "It is obvious that availability of adequate docking facilities at Anchorage would have made if difficult. if not impossible. 10 justify appropriation requests for improvement of facilities at Whittier. as well as for rehabili- tation of the Seward-Portage portion of the railroad. In fact. the evidence indicates. the mili- tarY has gone out of its way to discourage development of the Anchorage port"
 No one would be quicker to admit than Anchorage news papers that the situation in Al aska, whether political, economic or climatic, is never static. It is, instead, subject to change over night, and what is true one year is obsolete the next. For this reason, figures from the 1851 1852 report, on which the entire argument is based, are not true today! Times have changed, fi- gures have changed, tariffs have changed. The entire argument, the Port Commission report and the Anchorage News reasoning is out of date and no good
 Our March 12 editorial was written for Seward. That it was taken to Anchorage was not our doing. THIS STATEMENT IS FOR ANCHORAGE CONSUM- FRS. That Anchorage readers were shocked, and that all other small towns in Alaska were shocked and angered by the Browne statements is shown by the many letters, telephone mes sages and personal visits since that publication. To those people we say, Investigate for your selves, and you will find that you are being misled."
 You will find that it makes no difference 10 the consumer whether goods shipped from Se- attle comes through Seward. Val deg. Whittier or Anchorage! The through rate is the same. wheth- CT ii is shipped by sea. irucked. railroaded. or carried over inc Alaska Highway! AS for the News statement that IS truck rigs could carry away container packed cargo as fast as one ship could unload if. This is also a laugh. One company alone oper- ates more than 200 pieces of trucking equipment out of Sew ard! Fifteen trucks are not a drop AY- |