VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN
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Published each Thursday
Palmer, Alaska
Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947, at the post office
at Palmer. Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rates .50c month, $5 a year
Viola Daniels ...Editor
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may be
reproduced except by permission of the editor.
Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
DANIELS — In The Lion's Den
Proclamations by the president of the United States and the
governor of Alaska this week set aside May 15 as “I Am An Ameri
can Day” within the United States. On that day, youths who have
attained their majority during the year, the newly-naturalized
citizens of the past year, and all Americans everywhere join together
in recognition of those things that are common to all of us who are
Americans.
To each of us this day means something different. To the
thinking young people who reach their right to take their position
among America’s citizens, the day will be a symbol to them of the
things they mean to do. To many of our youth, the day will bring
thoughts of change—the changes they mean to bring into effect to
make this nation a better nation in which to live.
To youth, the realization of their Americanism will be a chal
lenge—in their young selfishness, the day will bring thoughts not
of what it means to be an American, but what it will mean to be
an American in the world they wish to create.
To those of us who are older, the day will bring no thoughts
of a young surge forward into a bigger and better way of living. To
us, I Am An American Day will bring some fear and the desperate
hope that we may hold to what we have in America.
We see, as we did in our youth, the shortcomings so apparent
to those who come after us. but also we see that which we have is
lar better than that which others have. And we know fear in facing
the* future — fear that the- freedoms, the opportunities we have
known as Americans may not remain with us always. We have
learned to look with skepticism on change, and to esteem the way
of life in which we now walk.
To the foreign-born among us, this day will mean many
things. To some, it will be full bellies, to others, a sheltering roof,
the forgetful comfort and oblivion of life among the many, where
one is not set apart from another for reasons of faith, political be
lief or the accident of pigments in the skin.
To those of us in the Valley, we can reduce the day to simpler
meanings. It means our right to seek a government building for
Palmer. It means our right to argue for or against a belief in the
incorporation of our town or school. It means our right to appear
before a school board to protest a decision with which we do not
agree.
To be an American in Alaska, in the Matanuska Valley, is to
live a life made up of many little rights. To you, it gives the right
to speak as you please, to live the life you choose for yourself, so
long as you do not overstep to conflict with those self-same rights
of your neighbors.
To me. to be an American in Alaska and the Matanuska Val
ley, means my tight to think as I choose, and to put on paper those
thoughts. That is my right and so long as I speak the truth, there
is no one who can deny me that privilege. It is the right of every
American to think for himself, to speak for himself, and to put
those thoughts into print, if he so desires.
It is a right that is unknown in almost two-thirds of the world
today. Yet we take it so for granted, that we do not know we have
it. Let us, then, on May 15, take a little time to be humbly grate
ful for these privileges of ours. We abuse them often, and that,
too, is our right, but our greatest offense against the privilege of
being an American, is our failure to recognize the great privilege
that it is.
To be an American in this world of our today is to be a part
of the greatest, most generous and most sympathetic of nations. To
many the door is closed, but to those of us inside, there is no gate,
other than the measure of our own ability.
The promise of America shines as brightly in this year of 1949
as it did 100 years ago. If the promise is not kept, it is we who are
Americans who break the faith.
PLAY NETS $130.49
The three-act .comedy “Wed
ding Spells”, produced by the
senior class of Palmer High
School last Saturday evening, re
turned $130.49 net to the senior
class coffers. Gross gate receipts
totalled $256.55.
BOUWENS LAID LOW
First baseball victim of the in
fant spring season was Wayne
Bouwens. Wayne got in the way
of a bat at practice Monday af
ternoon, and is now nursing a
well-stitched scalp.
CLASSIFIED
FOR SALE
LARGE house with two cabins.
30 acres of land on Palmer
Anchorage Highway. Inquire
Mrs. S. L. Davis.
PRE-FAB house on skids; ready
to move; for information see
or call C. H. Meiers.
Used records. Your choice popu
lar numbers, polkas, Westerns.
B & C Supply.
DAVENO and chair, dark blue,
like new; $100. See Art Madi
son, Koslosky’s Meat Dept.
BABY CRIB, high chair, silex,
electric grill, hot plate, Ken
more vacuum cleaner w/at
tach., dishes, electric percola
tor, mixing bowls. Louis Un
garo at Monoghan farm.
FOR RENT
OFFICE space, Koslosky Bldg.
Chamber Hears
Colony Day Plans
For Hall
Clayton Esslinger and Clare
Stock, returning Washington
travellers, assigned still another
project to the Valley Chamber
of Commerce recently, when
commenting on the highlights
of their trip. They told of visit
ing the office of Arthur Orr, the
chairman of the House sub-com
mittee on agricultural appropri
ations, where they found the
walls decorated with mammoth
photographs of the important
agricultural areas of the United
States.
Since the Matanuska Valley
was not represented, the pair
told Mr. Orr his collection was
incomplete, and promised that
the missing prints would be sup
plied by the Valley Chamber of
Commerce. The matter was dis
cussed at the recent board meet
ing, and it was decided to ask
The Alaska Railroad to search
its files for prints of agricultural
scenes from the Valley.
NEW BRUCE HEIR,
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bruce of
Palmer became the parents of a
son on April 23. The boy was
born at the Valley Hospital.
Community
Calendar
Thursday
NORTHLAND Pioneer Grange
initiation meeting at Palmer
Gym at 8 p. m.
Friday
VETERAN’S Farm Class at Wa
silla School at 8 p. m.
COLONY DAY committee meets
in old library at Rec Hall at
8 p. m.
Saturday
DINNER at Moose Hut for
Lodge members and their in
vited guests from 6:30 to 8:30
p. m.
JUNIOR PROM at Gymnasium
from 9:00 p. m. to 1:00 a. m.
Monday
VETERAN’S Farm Class at Pal
mer School at 8 p. m.
CITIZEN’S Committee at Ma
tanuska Valley Bank at 7:30
p. m.
Tuesday
LADIES’ AID of United Protes
tant Church meets at church
at 10 a. m.
Wednesday
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE will
meet at Matanuska Hotel at
noon.
MATANUSKA VALLEY Sports
men meet at Rifle Range at
8 p. m.
LADIES’ AID of St. John’s Lu
theran Church meets at par
sonage at 8 p. m.
COFFEY INSURES EVERY
THING—REMEMBER/
r
MATANUSKA
ELECTRIC ASSN., Inc.
FOR
POWER DISTRIBUTION
M. D. SNODGRASS
Reol Estate
Dairy and Vegetable Farms
City Lots — Acreage
GREEN'S
FLYING SERVICE
STUDENT INSTRUCTION
CHARTER FLIGHTS
YOU CAN BRING KENI ADVERTISING
to
JOHNNY GORC AT TOST'S SERVICE
OR CALL 7Y3
CABINETS
BUILT TO YOUR ORDER IN OUR SHOP
MILLWORK — WINDOWS AND DOORS
GLASS
Severns Cabinet Shop