V ALLEY SETTLER
Published every Friday at Palmer.
Ales Ira, ly tie liar anus tra Valxey
Farmers Cooperating Association for
the purpose of giving new3 of the
Association's work ■ problems, ac
complish1” cats , and news of local
and genera] interest.
, By— C,R Rasmussen.
Subscription rates:
Local
By Mail
Single copy
Yearly.
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THE PRICE OF LIBERTY IS STILL
" LTERNA L V101 LEE CE".
A littl over three years ago, a
small gr up of our local citizens,
acting rr representatives of the
members f the Mat anus lea Valley
Cooperating Association, assumed
the ir.an'Y *. ment. of the association
and, in 'ne time, contracts were
entered 1nto with the A.R,R»C. and
the Farm security Administration,
that transferee the ownership of
the assoc’ation to the members.
Next v :fk, the third Annual meet
ing of t - 3toc..'holders of tho
Association, will bo held and the
results the year’s business act
ivities -/ill be presented, to the
members
Luring ^hese past three years,
there has boon a continual battle
to preserve the as3ccts that were
purchase 1 "or our m:rhens and many
new pc'! tcios havo been adopted, and
business facilities have been es
tablished that were noco. sary in
order to , remote the growth of cur
association, so that ic c\n assume
the plac that it was ’*o take in
the development of the Matanuska
Valley.
Wo dcubt if any Hoard of Direct
ors of any Cooperative ever faced
es many "..verse problems as this
Board di* during this time. One of
the great -st problems ns to justly
fy the principles of the Coopera
tive mev lent to many of our mem
bers who were neither educated to ’
the benefits of the Cooperative
idea and eny who were positively
antagonistic to the organization
and some '/no still are. There is
an old saying that “ycu can lead a
horse to water but you can:t make
him drink’* . and that is just what
the Board was called upon to do,
and the fact that it was mandatory
that any'^e who wished to remain
in the Project, must be a member of
the Cooperative, has been resented
by a cons 1derablo-number of members
who might, and wc believe would
have, joined ns voluntary members.
However, in connection with enforce
ment of the regimentation of the
members of the association,(and wo
have the view of the Court that
this is regimentation in one of the
eviction cases last year), the
Board of Tiroctors have never used
any coercive means to force any
member to comply with the Marketing
Contract, because there has been
considerable doubt about desirabil
ity of such a course.
All Cooperative educators look
with horror apon any forced member
ship, and it is doubtful if we will
ever be reasonably successful in
membership relations and the har
monizing of activities as long e.s
this condition existSc
In spite of the obstacles encount
cred during this time, the Board
has managed to put the Association
on a paying basis, although at
times, it seemed us if a small
group of members who v;ero working
for some selfish interest mi^ht be
able to wreck the whole structure.
The Editor wishes to congratulate
the Foard members who have stood
steadfastly against any such move
ments, and who have truly learned
that liberty is only preserved by
constantly watching the enemies cf '
the useful members.
To those Board members, who have
resisted all efforts to coerce them
into adopting policies cr making
decisions on management that would
work unequitably, the Editor feels
that a treat vote of thanks is due.
Th3 member of the Association
also deserves a lot of praise be
cause they always backed the Board
at any time it was necessary and
when they were able to determine
uhe facts connected with any im
pertant question, and we wish to
affirm that we really believe that
the members of our Association arc
fully capable of selecting a com
petent Board of Directors, and that
they are also willing and able to
make a success of this organiza
tion. Despite fears on the part cf
some of our members that we are not
ireally capable oi nandeling our own
affairs, we feel that the men who
are elected to direct the policies
of the Association will be fully
capable and that they will be fair
minded and intelligent enough to
protect ana continue the building
<t a permanent and successful
Cooperative.