Published once a week in Palmer, Alaska for the Mat
anuska Valley Farriers’ Co-operating Association for
the purpose of giving new3 of the Association's work,
problens and accomplishments.
PROTECT yOUR CO-OP
Most anyone will agree that the co-operative in principle is sound,
and that its' members receive many advantages unavailable under any pre
vailing system. To those people who do not want to live under a dicta
torship, or where the government controls their lives by laws that build
up bureaucracies and stifle individual action, the co-op offers a way
out. In a Co-op you can choose the people you want to work with; you
can decide just what you want to do and make your own rules. This alore
is a great priviledge. And, to a .greater extent than v/ould be possible
if you were to try to operate on your own, you can control unfair com
petition by the weirht of numbers and influence. There is no doubt that
the 'dog eat dog' competitive system causes much waste of human effort.
When a big group of people bind themselves together to perform.a job,and
no one expects to receive any more than he is willing to contribute to
the job, that job becomes much easier. This is the essence of co-operation.
Now the co-operative-minded persons wonder why anyone can disagree
with this system. It seems so foolproof and easy that anyone should see
its benefits. But, much to their surprise, they find a lot of people
who disagree with them and have no use for the co-operative system at
all. Yes, this is surely true. And why? hell, the reasons are many
fold. Sometimes it is ignorance, other times greediness and jealousy.
The greatest danger to the Co-op is the greedy operator, who likes the
competitive system because lie ! eels .tree to operate any way nt
he doesn't want any controls at all. He feels that he is a better fox
than the average co-operator, and that he can use his talents to a raeater
advantage than his neighbor. Ke doesn't hesitate to use any unscrupulous
• jthod he can yet by with usually, not caring whether the person who has
worked just as hard as he has for some yoal yets v/hat he deserves.
I.ie competitive system, or in modern words the free enterprize system,
ia the American way; and to change or modify it would briny disaster to
everyone. We challenge this idea, because our forefathers didn't estab
lish any such system at all in the early days of our history. In fact
j .at the opposite is true, since in pioneer days every one helped one
urother. When a family needed a new house, all the neighbors pitched in
--a biy loy rolliny was held, and often the house was built in one day.
It v/ould have taken months for any family to accomplish this feat by
themselves. This was co-opcration. When emigrants moved across the
plains, a larye number formed a wa"*on train to protect themselves from
hostile Indians. Leaders were chosen to direct and control the opera
tions of the train, and the emigrants we re •''•lad to have this leadership;
otherwise it is doubtful if even a small trickle v/ould ever have surviv
ed. True, these organizations weren't incorporated, but they were co
operatives ju31 the same. And this v/as the way our country was develop
ed from the wilderness.
Nov/, when did the co-operative system become .outmoded and discarded.The
answer is v/hon. the. people became settled and prosperous. As usual, the
foxes became prosperous and yreedy with the accumulation of wealth. They
no lonyer wanted to share with their neighbor. So they set up a biy cry
that everyone v/as yettiny a fair deal and those who couldn't compete with
them v/ere just lazy and ill deserviny. A lot of the oppressed people be
ileved It, because it was stated so oiten. men came depressions ana ootn
city workers and farmers found themselves loosing out. The bulk of the
nations' v/ealth was going into the hands of a few wealthy people.
When the depressions came, people found themselves in much the same
condition the original pioneers did; that is,-without sufficient means to
make a comfortable living. Farmers had to sell their products at such
low prices they were unable to operate at a profit; many lost their farms
and had to go out on the common labor market and got a-job. This market
v/as already over-stocked so everyone had less, and the situation seemed
hopeless. City workers had so little money they were unable to buv + ho
farmers' food. Finally government stepped in, making jobs so peopb could Jive.
Then came the boom in the co-operative movement. The country got back
on its feet again. Prosperity came during the war-boon years. The Co-ops
didn't loose any great number of members this timo1, so they continued to
prosper. But that very fact was ^nc of the most dangerous to their ex
istance. The Dig money men couldn't get as big a slice of the farmers'
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