PALMAR ALASKA
CARL RASMUSSEN, EDITOR.
Published every Friday at Palmer, Alaska, for the Katanuska Valley
Farmers Cooperating Association, for the purpose of giving news of the
Associations work, problems and accomplishments. News of interest; " u
Subscription $> 1.75 Yearly. Box •$ 1.00. _ Single Copy 10 /.
LET US BUILD FOR SECURITY FOR THE FUTURE.
In the last three months we have read several editorials and news
articles, that have made very nice reading for the people of the Valley,
and if they were really true it would be very ple-asant indeed. The
statement has been made several times that the I/Iatanuska Valley produced
a million dollar crop this year. While we do not have definatc infor
mation on this subject, we do have enough facts to indicate that it will
actually be about one half this amount and we are wondering who is res
ponsable for the million .dollar figure and what is behind it.
Can it be that we are facing the prospect of a big realestate boom,
and that this is the preface to a big advertising campaign to sell the.
holdings of some orginization that has lands to sell? It has all of the
appearances of a movement of this kind and we wonder if the people of
Matanusl'.?: Valley relize what it would probably do the Valley in the long
run/ Prrcticaly every section of the United States went through booms
of this kind and usualy it worked unessary hardships on the citizens
who participated and we think that it would be a calamity up here.
The United States Government has spent several millions of dollars in
the Matanuska Valley and funds were secured on the promise that it :ould
be used to develop the country and provide homes for citizens that ..ould
provide security on a permanent basis by planned economy. This movement
has floundered around for several years now,and a few years ago the best
thing that could be offered to familys that had tried and who became
discouraged on account of adverse conditions, including low prices for
their farm products and slow sales, was an offer to send them back to
the place that they had come from,in the States and give them g 300 cosh
for their work and improvements on the farms they had been employed
upon for many months. Yes it was a pretty dismal prospect.
In 1939 the year before the people assumed the management of the Co-op.
about SO.000 worth of products were marketed through the Co-op. and if
it. reaches '■# 500.000 or ten times that amount this year, v/e think that
this would be enough to boast about, without adding any more, and that
it clearly demonstrates that the people are fully capable of handleing
their o..n business, and dont forget that the most of the Matanuska Far
mers are being asked to pay an. indebtness extending back over a peroid
of eight years, when times were so bad that it was even difficult to
make enough to s.upport the family with the necesseties of life.
And don’t forget that when the war is over that we will have to com
pote with the outside again and that it won’t he so rosy either. Before
a boom is started these facts should all be considered so that people
will not be encouraged to buy farms in 'the Matamiska v alley at inflation
prices, and so that they will be unable to meet their indebtness when
farm prices are back to normal. Any farm that does not provide enough
profit over a peroid of years to meet the obligations of the owner is
just a mill-stone around the farmers neck and if this is encouraged,
the whole section, will be adversely affected. Let's not encourage a
real-estate boom, that will prevent the full-fillmont of the plans that
were made to nmke this * Valley of homes.- .