Valley FRONTIERSMAN
Published each Wednesday and Saturday
Palmer, Alaska
Viola Daniels .Editor
Marilyn Rhodes.advertising manager Anchorage area.
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may be re
produced except by permission of the editor.
Subscription rates .75c month
Delivered by carrier in Palmer. Mailed to all points in
Alaska and the United States.
Printed in Anchorage plant of Anchorage Daily Times
Daniels—In the Lion’s Den
“That meeting was a waste of time. They didn’t get anything
done. There weren’t two people there who agreed with any other
two on what ought to be done, or even on how to go about getting
smething done.”
Did you hear a remark like that at any time last week? You
very well might have. There was, last week, a meeting of the
Community Fund committee and the Homemakers Council on Mon
day*, a meeting of the Library Association on Tuesday, a meeting
of two church Aid groups and the Chamber of Commerce on Wed
nesday, a meeting of the American Legion and Auxiliary and a
joint meeting of Chamber committee and hospital board on Thurs
iay and a fire drill for members of the Valley Volunteer Fireman’s
Association on Sunday.
Some of those organizations and committees may have con
:luded their business at hand with promptness and unanimity, but
hose who did were in the minority. In all too many of them
here was wrangling and prolonged discussion over matters of
iolicy, most of it stemming from the fear that your neighbor
nay gain advantage or prestige if positive action is taken on any
uestion.
We quibble, shrug off responsibility and delegate action to
omebody else, once we do arrive at the conclusion that action is
imperative. We decline to accept duty when it is asked of us,
ut we happily backbite and take verbal potshots at the foolish
allow who agrees to do the job we refused.
We criticize our business men, our school teachers, our minis
irs, obr doctor and hospital staff and our newspaper editors with
leerful impartiality. We offer no constructive suggestions on
hat must be done to solve any of the pressing problems of fire
rotection, community charity, hospital needs, school needs or
lild welfare. We merely wait to start a local fifth column going to
idermine the idea which our neighbor advances.
In this, the Valley hour of need, when co-operative action is
isolutely essential if we are to get the hospital facilities and fire
otection we so urgently need, we still slumber in the dark ages
the Alaskan era, when the man who solved a problem alone and
dependent of his fellows was the man of the hour.
Wake up, Palmer. The day of the rugged individual is gone.
>day*"we survive and go forward only as we march shoulder to
oulder in closed ranks. In the life of a town, even as in the life
a child, we grow in teamwork as we grow older.
A six-months-old child is an excellent example of rugged in
udualism. But that child grows, in years and in wisdom, he
ms to live in harmony with his fellows. The child who fails
learn to be a member of a group soon finds himself alone, while
playmates march off together to plan their group activities.
Unless we turn our face from the infant years of our past to a
re adult understanding of our problems and how we may work
m out together, Palmer, too, may be left sulking in a corner
ile neighboring cities and towns enjoy the fruits of co-operative
Lon.
Do your bit today to help fit into the pattern of teamwork
dedrby the hospital board and fire association in the months
ad. Go to a board member of either unit and ask their greatest
d. When you are given a job, do it. Do it without a sly glance
r your shoulder to check on your neighbor’s task.
When you go to a meeting, listen to the chairman’s outline of
ined procedure and do your best to help your organization
k out that plan. If the fellow next door, with whom you had
argument five years ago last May, advances a good idea, be
first to endorse it. You may have a project some day, that
need his backing.
Above all remember that it’s the plan that counts and not the
)le behind it. The fact that you don’t like the way a member of
hospital board parts his hair doesn’t alter the fact that a hospital
primary need in the Matanuska Valley. There won’t be time
>ersonalities if we’re all busy shoving on the same wheel. It’s
the amount of push we give that counts then.
Too probably have relatives, friends or neighbors <mv>pg
the millions of Maytag owners (over 4% million Maytags
sold—far more than any other washer). Or ask us for «n«nt
of some nearby owners.
Engebreth-Maytag Appliance Co.
<29 51b Ave. Anchorage
Alaskan Aid
Is Asked
For Food Ship -
Alaskans have been asked to
share in the provisioning of a
Christmas ship now being out
fitted by the Pacific states of
Washington, Oregon, Idaho and
Montana. The plan is to send a
shipload of food, leaving Seattle
on Christmas day, to the hun
gry in Europe.
Since the territory’s food
stocks are somewhat limited,
Alaskans have been asked to
contribute money to the fund,
according to information re
ceived from the office of the
governor. Aid has been request
ed fro mevery Alaskan city.
This matter of help for the
purchase of supplies for the ship
was brought before the Chamber
of Commerce last Wednesday.
The group took no action.
Wertanen't Tanker ;
Service ! 1
METERED DELIVERY i
J Gasoline, Diesel and Stove Oil 1
\ Ph. 6-23Y-ll Eino Wertanen !
Coffey Insures Everything—
Remember? Adv.
Call 8 to get meeting notices
rinted in the Frontiersman.
See TuckeT ft Peterson, Anchor
age, for Used Cars and Trucks.
Coffey Insures Everything—
Remember? —Adv.
January Thaws in December Make
for Doubly Hazardous Driving
Are you insured to meet every driving emergency?
Take care of it TODAY
See
JACK NAZE
MATANUSKA VALLEY BANK
Would YOU Carry a Ton of
Freight a Mile for 1^ Cents?
ISjo, we don’t carry the freight on our shoulders! But we do carry
the freight and the responsibilities that go with it at a charge for general
merchandise which averages out for all Alaska ports at 1 /z cents per
ton per mile, and is less than 2 cents per ton per mile from Seattle to
any specific Alaska port.
The rates for "general merchandise” cover all items "not otherwise
specified” in our tariffs and are actually higher than the charges for most
other items. Yet these charges must meet the payrolls, aboard ship and
ashore, cover maintenance and repairs, purchase supplies, and satisfy
the other operating costs—all this from 1 l/z cents per ton mile.
Nobody in Alaska is looking forward with more enthusiasm than we
are to the day when circumstances will make it possible to lower freight
rates. But—with conditions what they are today—would you carry a
ton of freight a mile for less than 1 l/z cents?
Sincerely,
ALASKA STEAMSHIP COMPANY
Serving All Alaska ☆ ☆ ☆ * *
■A ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆