VALLEY SETTLOR
Publisher' every Friday nt Pnlner,
Alaska, by the Matanuska Valley
Earner's Cooperating Association,
for the purpose f ^ivin^ news of
the Association's wrrk, problems,
accomplishments, anb news of Ircol
nnr1 general interest.
By-C.R. Rasmussen.
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By Mail 1.75
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Kirs
TH*: MONK'TY Wm?KCH7SS I
The Matenuska Valley is having a
mild be -n this sprin^, f~r the fir
st tine in more than twenty years.
Land is In demand. New settlers
are C3lnc in cnt’ nil of the f ■ rn
er idle tracts will und utterly be
in pr-incti n this year.
The nr-in things responsible for
these changes are the frvrable
showings made by the dairy industry
last year an-’ the increased ■"rices
of spuds and vegetables. The dairy
men are enj^yin0 the po-'l proceeds
with smiling faces, and the in
creased prices for milk, granted
recently, will undoubtedly enable
t -e dairymen to operate at a profit
i. iis year. However, it must be re
merrnerer that the ceirymen are stll.
-pcrntin^ unr’er difficult condition!
end thot further changes the.” have
t" be made before rccs ■nr.ble finan
cial security can be assurer5.
Vegetable ^r^wers have even less
security as the last year prved,
but, with fair luck an'-1, if no in
oortant changes are made, it should
be pr-fitable to raise vegetables
in the Valley this year.
One -f the main factors that has
produced the more favorable c •nr1i
ticn is the Cooperation ~f the Amy
Officials, in fact practically all
the credit should Lc to them and
the management of the Cooperative,
who negotiated with the Army. Trices
were raised and stabilized by the
si^nin^ of a c ntract that states
the amount that will i-e accepted by
the Army.
Prices were arrived at by investi
gating probable costs of product! n,
end the final prices were su^ocsted
by the Army Officials who certainly
know their business, and who en
av^r to be fair both to the Army
d to the Producers, Certainly no
one could claim that unfair 'r un
warranted prices could bo charged
or maintained utfdsr the arrangement
that was mode. Anyway, no one else
seemed t • be interested, sr it was
quite surprising to most of as when
the rather sensational stot nent
was read rver the Radio last Friday
re^r.rdin the probability that
prices w mid be invest i ate,'4, and
that action would probably ’.3 taken
to set celling prices on p tntoes,
by the OPA, The reference t the
slaughtering of dairy c ws 7 Alas
ka dairymen in order t enr lo the
dairymen to concentrate n t.-e j.ro
f’ucti. n of potatoes, certainly was
sensational, however, loc?1 pro
ducers immediately wired t) OLA
Officials that such statervr.ts v;ere
unwarranted, and pr tested r n j
changes without proper inv rt i, ?
ti- n.
rc>in0 a little investi_»t * n . on
our own, we cannot find any basis
f r the charge that Lairyme n t. rc.
sellin^ or slaughtering milk cows
for this reason at all, in fact
there is a very brisk demend for
c -ws that are suited le for mi lk
production, at ^.ood prices.
We can find, nly one dairyman who
has been an important pr ducer, who
has disposed rf his o^ws and whom
we understand, is c,vin_ t raise an
extensive acreage if prtat os, in
stead.. And, while this man has not
done anything to provide any help
to the average milk producer in the
Valley, ( although he had r- splen
did opportunity to d'- so,) 're was
and is willing tr use the facilities
r vice'1 i.y tne u.£>. ur-vern -cnt, tc
secure tetter financial returns for
the dairymen as s whole. It seems
unlikely that he wuld want to sec
unfavorable prices maintain'.-1 on
the sale of potatoes, be can a he
would suffer less also.
Therefore, must we conclude that
the rumpus Is caused by politically
ambitious persons, who may f ol
that they do nrt have n lar. e o
nouch part in the proceedir s?
The farmers in the Matanus :a Vall
ey the n t want to encacc in any con
troversy in regard to prices set by
the OPA, if it can he helped. Our
citizens are ’Just as whole-;. artsd
Ly in favor of any program that will
stabilize prices and head off in
flation as anyone. We d ' feel we
should have s ’me security that will
justify the production of the food
that will he asked of us. Is that
’.skln^ ton much? We understand that
;he OPA has (perhaps unofficially)
iLreed that the price on potatoes
dll not be lowered, if so t' an why
other? While we await the decision
(continued r-n pa^e 3-$