Palmer,Alaska
Editor.
Advertising
Dorothy IT.Bell
Harriet 2..Bell
/
Published once a week at Palmer, Alaska, for the Latanuska Valley Farm
ers’ Cooperating association for the purpose of giving news of the
Associations work, problems and accomplishments.
SUBSCRIPTION RITE C’1.75
&1.00 for six months
10^ a copy
u THE NEW FARM BILL
City pewspcpcrs don’t like the new Farm Bill, but don’t be surprised for
tliov never like any far*,bill that actually helped the farmers. For the
first one hundred- years of the life of our Republic, farmers were a dime
a dozen. V/hen industry closed down in the city, people wont out on the
farm (that is those who didn't have a lucrative business) because they
could eat on the farm and get along without much money just like farmers
have done all the time. t Farmers wor^ so helpless that they wore identi
fied with the "poor’’, .and everyone remembers the old saying that "the
poor will be with us always."
Th_ average farmer worked such long hours and had so little education,
that ho was just a big sucker for the slick politicians. The politician
•and the capitalist stressed the independence of the farmers and noted his
complete independence. They encouraged him to believe that- he.was.unlike
other people (even bankers or politicians). His nobility lay in his in
dividuality and the fact that he never organized with his fellow farmers
to secure more of the benefits of comfortable living. The- thoughtof I aim
ers orgainzing like industrial workers was just too humili ating to be
considered. This was long aftx-r industrial workers were tolerated.
But, Boy, Oh Boy, how things have changed. About 70 years ago a bunch
of Farmers organized the Grange, Cooperatives wore established and later
the Farm Eurcau and the Farmers’ Union came along. Farmers made a lot
of mistakes, but they did learn to work together. A pretty good percent
age of the farmers joined up with at least one of those organizations.
Educational programs were promoted, and farmers gradually managed,to get
better schools and were able to present their problems in a manner that
impressed the politicians. However, the industrialists have never fully
accepted them, but they are beginning- to learn that they have been mis
taken in th^ir idea that the farmer is just a ’’hick" who can’t differen
iate between humbug propaganda and the real goods.
Than came 1948. By this time, the f:.mcr had lost his inferiority oomplox.
Whan thtwo big-. ]}61itlcal parties ccme out with their hokum, the farmers
looked th^ situation over and decided to support th- party that offered
the most. Midwestern states where the farmers had always voted for a
certain party, saw the selfsame farmers jup over the traces and elect a
President and a Congress who to them seemed to support the best plan for
the farmer.
Sure, the present Farm Bill is full of mistakes and could probably be
made a lot better by a little careful trimming, but the main thing is
th: t it guaran tees the farmer a good price for the products that he has
to sell. In the name of common sense, why shouldn’t the farmer have just
as much as he did in wartime? Can you buy anything else from steel to
diamonds that are any cheaper than they wore during the War? The old moth
oaten idea-that farm products, because they are made into food and cloth
ing, should precede other products in lowering prices, is a lot of hokum,
vie had experience with this in 1928 and 1929 and look what happened. The
cleverest idea that the farmers ever had was to furnish political support
to the party or men who can get the most for them—especially since the
other portions of the population outnumber them two to one. The balance
of power is wonderful. Contributed.
One is sometimes asked what ,a cooperative is. Reduced to the simplest
terms,, cooperatives are agencies sot up by groups of people working to
gether and pooling their resources for the purpose of marketing thoii
products, purchasing their supplies, or rendering other services. This,
of course, r^-sts upon a spiritual concept and that concept is expressed
in the Coldcn Rule. Faith in our God and faith in each other. As this
spirit grows and it. becomes a pronouncod influence in all the nations of
the world wo shall witness the greatest agency for peace, good willi
material prosperity, and security.’ Kansas Cooperative CouncilfTopeka._