Published once a week in Palmer, Alaska, for the
Matanuslca Valley Farmers' Co-operating Associa
tion, for the purpose of giving news of the Asso
ciation's work, problems and accomplishments.
FARMERS' PROBLEMS ARE GROWING
Business men are finding that conditions are getting worse every day
and the farmers are in the same boat. We hear about dangers of infla
tion as if it were not an already accomplished fact. How much will
your 19S1 dollar buy in comparison to 1910, is one of the pertinent
questions of the day, and one plain fact is that it won't buy very much
now. But, is this really so important? We do not think so, as money
is just a medium of exchange in its proper sense. However, most of the
people of the world seem to believe that money is the tangible thing of
it's self. Gold is worshiped because it is such a scarce article.
Precious stones are not as much desired as gold, even though they are
more lasting than gold because they can not be converted to as many
uses. The old argument about the return to the Gold Standard being de
sirable leaves us cold. The writer hopes that the gold buried in the
vault at Fort Knox, remains there and is never used again for monetary
purposes. We consider it much more desirable to use things that we can
eat, wear or find shelter in, for exchange, and a little piece of paper
will do just as well as the gold if it has the right kind of backing.
After all, as has been stated many times before, the main things that
we need in life is food, clothing and shelter.
One thing that worries people more than anything else just now is
security from oppression, from want and the possibility that we may
lose all or part of our freedom that we have been used to. The million
aire and working man is about on an equal footing here, for the million
aire is afraid that he may lose his millions, and the working man is a
fraid that he may lose his job. Each thing means about the same to the
person concerned. The farmer is exempt from this particular worry be
cause, first, he is seldom a millionaire, and secondly, because he
never needs to worry about losing his job. In fact he usually never
finds time to complete the job that ho has to do. Perhaps this is a
blessing to the humble farmer.
However, In spito of his ( in some respects) favorable position, he
still has a lot of things to worry about. Some of them are unfavor
able climatic conditions that may cause him to lose an entire year's
work; manipulation of the prices of the things that he has to sell to
onablo him to make a living off his farm. He may also have to pay such
prices for the things that he has to buy, that he cannot make ends meet
increased taxes and other expenses may make his farming efforts unprof
itable. Strange to say, it is true, that while food and clothing are
probably the most Important needs of most individuals, these items are
mostly taken for granted. If the price of whiskey goes up, the con
sumer usually pays it willingly and feels no great resentment about it.
But,.when the price of food goes up, it causes a great commotion, and
the farmer is Immediately blamed although ho may not profit by the
raiso at all. Perhaps some middleman gets all of the benefit, but
none of the blame.
In no field of endeavor is there as much gambling as there is in food
products. One item, wheat, supports more gamblers than any other com
modity in the v/orld. Yet, the farmer who produces the wheat, receives
no direct benefit from the manipulation of this crop at all. Gamblers
make millions and never touch a sack of wheat in their entire lives.
Cotton is much the same. We have Congressional committees who spend a
lot of time investigating race track gambling, but who never spend any
time at all investigating the effect of gambling on the most important
items that arc required to sustain life.
While It is true that the position of the average farmer has improved
many-fold in the last hundred years, it Is still just a matter of com
parison. Most other people have received as much or more benefit, but
the general impression is, that the farmer must still take greater
risks in his business; that he should work longer hours and humble him
self before the banker, the lawyer and the other people who eat the
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