THE IIATAMISKA JJLLEY PIONEER
%
O Published every
JI Thursday by ARRC
cL at Palmer, Alaska
Jack Allman
--000O000
Editor
Subscription rate $2.50 per
year. Single copies 5 cents
locally, 10 cents by mail.
Advertislng rates on request.
THE WAY m LOOK AT IT
The last mail brought us a pair
of eloquent word pictures of the
Matanuska Valley and the coloniza
tion project; a syndicated newspa
per article by Rex Beach, and Ed
ward Doherty's story in "Liberty."
Beach, of course, is well-known
for his fiction with an Alaskan
background, but we feel that this
lasu is by far his best effort in
this field. He didn't fool us by
setting it up as a fact article.
We knew he was trying to kid us.
In fiction the heroes must al
ways be pure white, and the vil
lians deep-dyed black, so it nec
essarily follows that the viewpoint
of either on a given subject must
also be all right, or all wrong.
How religiously Beach adheres to
this fundamental rule of fiction
writing!
Realizing that it was written
solely for entertaining -- as is
all fiction — and having been
with him here and understanding
what a short time he has spent out
in the valley, we have no hesitancy
in declaring it a splendid piece of
work. Beach spent ten hours here.
We are not altogether surprised
that Mr. Beach didn't at least hint
at the possibility of there being
something behind this project other
than the rehabilitation of a few
farmer families. Very probably he
saw only that which is on the sur
face, We doubt if he is a trained
observer.
Ed Doherty is, though. This we
know, for we worked for the same
newspaper outfit in Paris when he
was getting the dope on the diamond
smuggling racket through the French
capital.
But good reporter or not, one
must remember that he was on as
signment while up here and it is
the big boss, who goes into confer
ences with the circulation managers
and takes politicians to lunch, who
dictates the trend an article
shall take and the thought con
trol it shall possess.
It is well-known that the sen
sational angle of a news subject
is what the man on the street en
joys reading, and no one has yet
accused the MacFadden organiza
tion of muffing anything that will
bring in circulation.
We canTt help but believe that
Doherty sensed what we feel is the
real set-up here, and the answer
to oft repeated questions. If he
didn't, he certainly lacks the
vision of a majority of the colo
nists .
Wo have no argument with his
craftsmanship* He built a tre
mendous amount of pathos into his
yarn over the sad but unavoidable
death of a child, and he person
alized the mountains till one felt
they were monstrous enemies about
to creep down and smother him. As
a matter of fact those towering
mountains, from a climatic stand
point, are sheltering friends of
the valley.
Doherty saw muddy roads, and he
saw tired-faced and impatient pio
neers, but he says nothing of the
light of determination in the eyes
of those tired faces.
He saw families living in tents
and noted the temporary shortage
of tools, but he made a bum guess
when he said: "...it is almost a
miracle that even one house has
been made ready in time.”
Had he stayed a little more
than the five days he spent here
he would have seen more homes go
up, and the menace of the much
publicized Alaskan mosquito would
have--had no place in his story for
he would have seen women -- not
one but many -- running around
wearing sockettes.
The greatest trouble with Mr.
Doherty’s article is that it
should have been published on
August 12th instead of October
12th, But again, perhaps Mac
Hadden can make more money out of
such stories by keeping the people
thinking this project is a failure
instead of an assured success.
7JHEREf S EDWARD HOKANSON?
Edward Hokanson, who was in
Alaska some years ago, is being
searched for by W.C.Cox & Co., of
Chicago, who are holding for him
an estate valued at the rather
sizable sum of $40,000.00