VALLEY SETTLER
Published every Friday at Palmer,
Alaska, by the Matanuska Valley
Farmers Cooperating Association for
the purpose of giving news of the
Association's work, problems, ac
complishments, and news of local
and general interest.
By-C,R. Rasmus sen.
Subscription rates: Yearly.
Local $1.00
By Mail 1.75
Single Copy, 10
CO-OP. MEMBERSHIP RELATIONS.
We quote an introduction to a
book on Co-ops. by J. W. Jones of
the Farm Credit Administrations.
'*A cooperative may have a good
balance sheet and a good record of
performance in its field of activ
ity but, until its members feel a
sense of responsibility for and
ownership in the association, it
will have a foundation unlikely to
withstand a period of adversity.
Without such a feeling of ownership
and responsibility on the part of
the members, some of them are like
ly to look on the cooperative as
just another buyer of farm products
or vendor of supplies and services”
The Editor thinks that our Co-op
should consider this phase of the
building «f our Cooperative now,
before the members drift into a
serious state of apathy or lose re
gard for their interest in the or
ganization. The records show that
many cooperatives have failed even
when the financial foundation was
quite sound and the operations in a
business sense, successful. We
remember the Annual Meeting of our
Association in 1938 when the first
Board of Directors were elected by
the Membership, there was a large
and interested number of members
present, largely because they felt
that they were going to have a say
so in the management of the Co-*p.
to which they belonged. A good
i*epresentitive Board of Directors
was elected and there was a feel
ing that now the organization would
thrive under the management of the
Board's policies. This was in
spite of the fact that the C*-op.
was now being managed under a three
year agreement, by the A.R.R.C. and
that it still had more than a year
to go. The new Board inspired the
members with renewed confidence in
their ability to handle affairs in
which all were so deeply interested
But, in a few months the fact was
ascertained that the newly elected
Board still had no authority and
that their hands were tied by the
terms of the Agency agreement with
the Corporation. Practically noth
ing was accomplished, although much
was tried and when the Annual meet
ing was held a year later in the
spring of 1939, it is doubtful if
there was a quorum present, and
while it was mentioned at the meet
ing, there was so little interest
shown that nothing was done about
it. Practically nothing of a con
structive nature was done by the
assemblage that day, but some good
came out of it later on, because
of the severe criticism leveled at
the Co-operative Management and the
Corporation. A Cooperative manager
was hired that spring and , as he
learned what was needed, the Co-op
now began to show some form and a
continuous agitation was made for
the establishment of the kind of a
Cooperative that could be consider
ed with the possibility of becoming
successful as Cooperatives gc>. In
a short time the Cooperative Man
ager recommended the acquiring of
certain departments of the Cocp*era
tive from the A.R.R*C* for our Man
agement, and during that summer
nearly all of the Marketing Depart
ments were transferee! to the Co-op
eratlve's control. These were the
departments that showed the great
est loss and were the hardest nuts
to crack and while the Cooperative
Manager was not able to put them
on a paying basis that year, the
record does show that great gains
were made by the producers in terms
of value received for products sold
and that the losses in operations
were cut down substantially.
When the U.S. Authorities asked
the A.R.R.C. to transfer all of the
business units in the Civic Center
over to the Coop, management and
ownership, there was a great reviv
al of interest in the Association
and shortly after the transfer was
made on Jan. 11, 1940 the Annual
Meeting was held and the largest
number of votes ever cast for can
didates was recorded in the voting
for the four new Directors elv.cte'd
that year. The quarterly and semi
annual meetings were well attended
during these two years and a large
interest was shown by the members.
In 1940, %ho 'Cooperative riam.^omLnt
succeeded in getting the Associa**.
tion out of the red, and much better
prices were received by the produc
ers than in previous years, but as
the Cooperative became more success
ful there was a tremendous under
(continued on page 4)