he jrows successfully. By all
tLe rules of reason this nan
should ’oo encouraged. His offers
to to;.oh other farmers the tricks
of truck-faming should meet with
a reception. His record in
beconing 30If-sustaining in a
sin_lo year should oo a feather
in the cap of tlio ‘-at nr.ua lea pro
pagandists. His thrift and 3n
duscry 3liould tu hold, up as an
example t o the shiftless ones
who have made no effort to become
self-sufficient* Hut that is not
the w: y of the Hew Deal, and it
is not the way of the hatanuska
commissars. Pipplc is _ unfor
tunately, a Rugbod Individualist,
and hence his lone success is
distinctly embarrassing to the
Conra•:*cs; Tharthor. ore, Pinple
does not have to depend on the
Corporation's bounty; after one
costly experiment, he has refused
tc I t the Corporation-dominated.
Co-op market his produce,
Bec.uro of those thinpst because
ho is holdingt o the original
promise mode bin when he reluct
antly enoarked for Alaska, be
cause he won’t sign away .forever
bis ri0hts to the land he pur
chase c*., because he v/on’t lance
upon, the air at orders from, the
com lisaana , they arc doinp their
damnedest to evict him. do far
they haven't been successful.
The tactics that ran other col
onists out of Alaska, and. made
most of the remainder sign to the
Corporation’s tune, haven’t work
ed, Pipplo has that quaint old
American habit'of standing up
for his rights.
Meanwhile, the experiment in col
ic ctivisns continues. Its his
tory— so far unreported accurate
ly to the taxpayers who arc foot
in0 the hill-- is more extraord
inary than that of any other
rattle-brain experiment tried out
by the New Dealers cn those most
docile oi all guinea pigs, the
American Paorie.
11
Settlement in the Matanuska Valley
began about twenty-five years ago
when a f&w old sourdoughs, tired
of chasing all over Alaska in
search of elusive bonanzas, built
log cabins and settled dorm to
hunt, trap, prospect a little, and
raise some vegetables. A few of
them did fairly well, and found
the relatively mild climate a
welcome relief from the rigorous
winters and blistering summers of
the Interior. In the Valley,
after the dense jungle of brush
and scrubby timber has been re
moved, is sandy land capable of
pro dueinj most root vegetables,
legumes, and if the season i3 very
favorable, small grain.
Colonel Otto R.Ohlson, general
manager of the Alaska Railroad
(owned by the Department of the
Interior) conceived the idea of
attracting independent settlers to
Latcinuska seme ten years ago.
Had Lis ideas prevailed when the
present colonization scheme was
horn, the affair might, conceiv
ably have had sene success. But
its fate was sealed on the day '
the Lew Deal brainstormers embrac
ed the Idea and proceeded to give
it the benefit of the gigantic
intellects that conceived the
Fassnmaquoddy and Flordia Ship
Canal Projects. •
Ohlson did his best to keep the
project down to earth. First,
he wanted a year to (jet land
cleared so the settlors would
have a chance to start faming .
yi0ht at the start. Second, he
knew that his railroad served
only a few thousand consumers,
and he did not want to bring in
so many farmers that crops would
rot on the ground. Third, he
wanted bach family to have enough
land so there would be a good
chance to earn a living, finally,
ho insisted that all the newcom
ers be bona fide farmers.
But the New Deal social workers
horned right in, and all hell
began to pop. There was no tine
allowed for clearing land--appar
ently the Comrades thought Alaska
was something like our Middle
Western States, where removal of
a few straggling sa£e plants is
all that is needed to prepare the
soil. They did not know the
Valley was covered with dense,