.Published once a week in Palmer, Alaska for t he %t
anuska Valley Farmers' Co-operation Association for
the purpose of giving news of the Association's work,
problems and accomplishments.
Finpncii PROBiims for the Fpi?mEi?
With the harvest in full bloom as it is now, the average farmer be
gins to think about the matter of finances. For those who belong to a
Co-op this becomes a double problem, because his Co-op has to provide the
money to keep the crops moving. Down in the States the matter is s ome
v/hat simpler, because the banks are older and larger and have much more
money to loan in comparison to the demand. In all new countries like A
laska the problem is usually bad. There is so much need for new develop
ment and new projects that it is difficult to get enough money to furnish
all of the borrowers that apoly, even though the plans are legitimate.
Dater when the major development phase is over, the banks have sufficient
money to make all of the legitimate loans requested.
Banka, like most other businesses, are interested in making safe and
profitable loans from which they can get the quickest returns. It appear.'
that the liquor business offers the best moans of doing this in Alaska at
the present time, so a lot more money is channeled into thi3 groove than
would appear justifiable from the standpoint of the best use of bank mon
ey to help develop the country. We don't have the figures now to prove
c r point; but we do know that 12 or 15 years ago, when we only had one
ai ip a week from Seattle to Seward and the contents and value of the cargc
we. : published, there was more liquor than groceries shipped into the Ter
ritory each week by dollar value and even sometimes tonnage.
At that time Alaska consumed more liquor per capita than any similar
political sub-division in the world. However, we hear now that Washingtcr
LcO has taken this honour from U3, though we are still a runner-up.
The development of agriculture has been retarded in Alaska sevcrly
bo;n_ se of lack of money to finance new development or maintain the ol
der 'arms. Most of the banks are reluctant to loan money to farmers on
t a advantageous to the farmer. In the first place 8 % interest is to
1 1.• The- farmer needs the money so much longer than the average borrov/
e" .bat the interest charges eat up the small profit he can make. He
b.o to borrow the money for several months before he cansell his crop.
Now, what to do? 'Thore arc several things that might be done, but
any one is either difficult or would not completely serve the purpose. A
commodity loan from the Bank of Co-operatives would be the most desirable
but so far we haven't been able to got anywhere with it, although it has
been tried. This kind of a loan would provide an advance of about 60%
on potatoes stored in approved places at 2^% interest. The money would
be available in the fall and would run until the following April, enabl
ing the farmer to pay his help, other expcnces, and have part of the mon
ey left to live on until the final payment is received. It would be nec
essary to have some ground work done on this before the Bank for Co-op
eratives would be willing to enter into the "laskan field. We believe
it could be done, but it might take some time to accomplish it.
The other thing Is to build up our local Credit Union to a point
where we could depend on it to take care of most of the demand. Our
Credit Union is growing steadily, tut would have to be much larger to do
so. So far the farmers have not gotten much use from the Credit Union
largely because they have not taken much interest in it, but it could bo
of use to them. One Credit Union in Alaska has over 1150,000 on depo- .
sit. It should not be too much troublo to build our Matanuska Valley
Credit Union up to fifty or one hundred thousand dollars. In any event
it will be necessary for the people v/ho want credit to work f or some
plan enabling them to get what, they want. In the past it has been pro
fitable for the farmers to organize and petition the U.S. Government
for the priviledge of participating in the various Government Agencies
that could be of great assistance. Why not try it now? CRR