CABBAGES AND COMMISSARS
By Ted Leitzell
(Continued fron last week and
copied from the AMERICAN MERCURY)
From that point on, the history
of Matanuska's mismanagement
differs from that of other New
Deal projects in detail only.
Somebody ordered all the siipplies
at once, w ith the result that
windows, for instance,reached
the Valley long before tools to
builds houses. Many of the col
onists had never Before been on
a farm-- butchers,' bakers, black
smiths, carpenters, and a goodly
number of undesirable loafers
and radical agitators selected
for the trek by local Relief
officials in the States as good
riddance of bad rubbish.' Some
of the farmers were good, in
dustrious citizens--others had
been unsuccessful even during
boom times. Alaska officials
wanted to give each colonist at
least sixty acres of land; but
the Wc i s onho imers in 7/ashington
cut t'his down to forty. Finally,
the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation
Corporation was set up to run the
project, so that t he colonist
could have no voice in its man
agement.
The unfortunate colonists arrived
a thousand strong, Relief derelicts
buoyed tip by promises of rich
and.'fertile land plus working
capital of three thousand dollars
on long-term loans; Even to the
daz-ed and defeated, w ho were in
the majority, the plan offered
new hope. But when they arrived
they had to live in tents. Rain
poured down. There was sickness,
and a renewal of the dull, ap
ethetic despair they had sought
to escape. A few, a very few,
went to working preparing for the
future. A larger minority be
gan to howl for their rights and
privileges, threatening all sorts
of dire things if' they were not
given bettor food and clothing
than they had ever enjoyed before
in their lives, host of them
just sat, watching the rain leak
through their tents.
Orders crane from Washington to
satisfy the colonists at any cost,.
They were allowed virtually un
limited credit. They were helped
to radio sets, allowed to select
furniture itnsuited to their needs,
’.'/hen a saw-mill project was or
ganized to cut logs for cabins,
nobody squakcd because many settlert
quit the gang as soon as they had
enough logs to meet their own re
quirements, They were told to
order a year's supply of clothing
for their families—not on credit,
but as a gift. One man ordered
twenty-two pairs of shoes, twenty
suits of clothes, and a comparable
wardrobe for his family. Others
wont down to the Commissary, which
sells merchandise at prices con
siderably lower than those in
Anchorage, and bought far more
than they needed, charging It to
their accounts. Iluch of this
merchandise was sold at still
lower prices to miners and pros
pectors for cash, and the happy
colonists dumped their profits-, in
the beer parlors.
Radical agitators sent a delega
tion to Washington to get bigger
and better handouts. With credit
unlimited, many ran up fantastic
debt3. One man got $16,000 in the
red by the simple expedient of
squaking and writing letters to
the States if he did not get
Everything his little heart desired.
Later, when his continued presence
proved embarrassing to the Commis
sars, he left Alaska, telling
friends that, in return for his
leaving, the Corporation had can
celed the entire debt.
The more the radicals got, the
loftier became their taste. During
one salmon-run the cannery put up
hundreds of cases and distributed
them free. Loafers, who a few
years earlier had looked on canned
salmon as a luxury, now spurned
such common fare and fed it to
their cats. Credit for groceries
was too easy.
Disgruntled and disillusioned col
onists began to leave the Valley,
and chaos increases until it was
finally decided to scale down the