Published once p week, In Palmer, Alaska for the Matanuska Valley
Farmer’s Cooperating Association, for the purpose of giving news
of the Association's work, problems and accomplishments.
HI PPI lib LOflL
OfltSVILLE
If any ordinary person would ship coal from Seattle to Joncsvllle, nost people
would wonder If that person should not have his head examined. 'Veil, It seems to
us that a merchant that ships potatoes from Seattle to Palmer on a year like this
when the quality Is so goud and the price is reasonable, should have his head ex
amined too, especially when the price is so much hi-her on the Seattle shipment
than It Is here. True, a few people think they want outside potatoes, but It cer
tainly shows a lack of salesmanship on the part of any local merchant who cannot
sell good potatoes In competition with the hi :ncr priced outside potatoes.
Then again, it seems to us, that all of the stores In Palmer are greatly depend
ent on the Valley farmers for business.That coin- true, It appears t us that It Is
ungrateful not to support 1 .cal Industry as lcn.: as the producers have good pro
ducts for sale.
It shcms rather Inconsistent that the same merchant wh condemns the 1 :>cnl re
sidents for sending money to mail order houses for Items that could be bought In
Palmer, makes so much noise ?>bcut the ether fell:w when he is doing the sane thing.
For many years It has been assumed that the people of Alaska should support their
hone Industries so that we could become, at least partly Independent of outside
merchants.
'Then a farmer grows a tmo of spuds in Alaska, hs Is taking It right out of the
sell, and nearly all of the money th-’t he receives for his spuds Is spent rlaht
here In his h me town. The same Is true of milk nd other farm products. It Is
also true of forest products and minerals, provided their companies are hone owned.
This Is one of the things that is ocing considered In the fishing ln.ustry, and the
practice of hiring outside help and paying then when they have returned to the
States, has been condemned. The fact that most of the big fishing corporations do
net buy anythin locally Is a bad practice for the development of the Territory.
If the members of the local Chamber of Commerce want t: promote a helpful cam
paign to build up Alaska and help the local people wh' are paying taxes and support
ing the merchants and service organizations in this area, then we think this would
be a very useful project.
The writer was assured in a recent meeting of the Chamber of commerce, that the
Chamber is suppose-1, to represent the farmers' interests in the Valley. ’Veil, let’s
have some in ication that this Is true, rather than Just occasional blasts of hot
air.
One local merchant told the writer In a recent conversation, that he had pros
pered in palmer because the farmers had given him the financial support that was
necessary to build up a successful business. His thanks went to the U.S. Govern
ment who financed the farmer who cleared the land, produced the crops, end products
that enabled, the community to get .in It's feet.
We are grateful to the merchants that purchase Co-op. products, that are pro
cessed for the farmers. If we all work together and keep our money In this commun
ity, we can m'ke a lot faster progress than we can otherwise.
Buy Alaska Products and keep the money at heme.
C .P.R •
THE
ANNUAL KIDDIES CHRISTMAS
WILL BE HELD DEC.: 2ArP AI 2 PM.
IN 1 HE VALLEY T HE AT ER
PARTY