Published onco a week in Palmer, Alaska, for tho Mat
anuska Valley Farmers’ Co-operating Association, for
tho purposo of giving nows of the Association’s work,
problems and accomplishments.
EDITORS LIKE ALASKA
The members of the National Editorial Association who made the pil
grimage to Alaska were very well impressed with the progress that Alas
ka has made since the last visit about ten years ago. They were sur
prised to see such a large and modern city as Anchorage so far north,
and the farms of the Matanuska Valley gave them a rather complete view
of the possibilities that we have in Alaska. On the matter of state
hood they were rather confused. One editor asked the writer just what
the people of Alaska wanted; he said that he had heard so many differ
ent opinions he was confused. This is just one of the things that
makes Alaska people hard to understand. Alaskans as a v/hole are indi
vidualists of a positive type. It doesn’t make much difference to the
average Sourdough what other people think about any particular ques
tion, he has ideas of his own and freely expresses them. One of the
nicest things about the people of Alaska is that they can agree to dis
agree and still be friends. Old customs that are closely observed in
the states have no priority up here unless they fit into the mode of
living in Alaska. Usually a man is judged not by his pretensions but
his real worth. Of course he is given a little time to prove his
worth, but if he fails according to Alaskan standards he is placed in
a rather unfortunate position. He is just as much out of the favor of
his neighbors as he would be in the States and It would take a long
time to win the confidence of those he has betrayed. We also have a
lot of persons who dolight in feeding the gullible newcomers all kinds
of tall tales, an art that is well developed In our country and has
its points, but can be overdone. However, we hope it will remain, as
it makes life less monotonous to those who enjoy it.
Most of the Editors who visited Palmer were from small farming
communities—that is the towns that service the farmers in the States.
The middle west WQ3 well represented. It seems that after seeing the
country they will help to head off a lot of those scandalous and ex
aggerated stories which filter to the press in the States. It is my
impression that the average small town editor is less susceptible to
wild press reports than his counterpart in the big city, whose rule
seems to be that the truth of a story should never Interfere with its
composition if it will detract from its value as a sales project; that
is, never let the story become drab if it can be toned up by adding a
few untruths or conjectures to make it more interesting. But the av
erage small town editors cater to a different kind of readers who want
the truth because their environment Is of that naturo and the phoney
becomes plain to them when it appears*
We feel that the observations of the Editors will be of help to the
people in Alaska because they will be first hand information* If any
one comes out with a story that all of Alaska is a frozen wilderness
and that people live in igloos it will probably be laughed off with
an explanation of the true story and that will be valuable to the de
velopment of the Territory* While we must admit that press stories
from Alaska have improved in quality in the last few years, it still
is important that we have many frionds to head the bad stories off as
much as possible. We certainly need better press relations than we'
had during the early days of the Colony Project when one United States
Senator made a three hour stop at Palmer (but never left the railroad
depot platform) and then gave an interview to the effect that Alaska
and the Matanuska Valley were a frozen ice box in which farming would
be doomed to failure. The repercussions from this statement were felt
strongly later when agricultural appropriations were asked for in Con
gress. Then a reporter who never got further north than Ketchikan
wrote about the downhearted people in the colony, and had wolves run
ning up and down the streets of Palmer, bringing fear to the hearts of
the people. Judge Dimond, who was delegate to Congress, squelched this
story in the Congressional Record, but we wonder how many people read
the Record.
C.PvPv