VALLEY SETTLER
Publisher1 every Friday at Palm
er, Alaska, by the Matanuska Val
ley Farmers Cooperating Associa
tion for the purpose of giving
news of the Association's work,
problems , accomplishments , anr1 news
of local anr1 general interest.
By-C.R.Rasmussen.
Subscriptim rates: Yearly.
Local $1.00
Ey Mail 1.75
Single Copy .10
A HAPPY NEW YEAR
*
Once again we face the birth of a
New Year, and suppose that we stop
a moment end take an inventory of
tie accomplishments of the past
year ar'r-1 consider plans for the
coming year. When we consider the
Valley as a whole and the Cooper
ative in particular, the impression
made upon us is, that we have made
large material and educational
gains. Considering the material
side, we have for the first time in
the history of the Colony, found
market" that were very profitable
for practically everything that wo
have to sell. This is certainly a
contrast to the five lean years,
when most products were sold at
less than cost, and some could not
be sold at all. All indications
point to the largest volume of bus
iness for the different consumer
and producer units in the Coopera
tive.
All repayments on loans and In
terest were made on or before the
due date and the cash reserves are
the largest ever. Collections on
past due accounts are good, more
members are establishing good cred
it rating that will enable the Man
agement to extend further credit
for production purposes.
All in all we can look forward
to a even better year in 1943 and
hope that a larger farm production
can be gotten from the farms in the
Valley. The worst handicap that
the average farmer faces is the
immense Indebtedness on the land,
and, unless there is some indica
tion of an adjustment on this item
in the near future, we may even
lose so many farmers that product
ion will be even less instead of
more. Promises of action on this
phase of the question have been
made but so far nothing, has been
done.
It seems to us that to jeopardize
the Investment made by the Govern
ment in the Civic Center by unreas
onable charges for the farms,(re
gardless of the original cost, the
Management of the Colony must as*
sume most of the blame where too
much was spent to improve the land
and to rehabilitate the family, for
they held the purse strings and
could have said no,) would be most
unwise, and after all the farmers
acting through the Cooperative,
have asked for an investiertion and
are willing to present the:‘r side
for the consideration of th.se who
could relieve the situati.cn.
We do not ask for a blanket re
duction, some are all right now,
but there can never be any ^reat
unified effort for the improvement
of the Valley Farms, so they can
become really self-supporting, as
they must be to be successful,
until this adjustment is made.
Drivin'g farm families out of the
Valley because they cannot meet
these payments will not br wise and
will not solve the problem. Those
who follow will meet the same prob
lem and the same thing will happen
again.
Now for the educational gains.
Beginning with the Annual meeting
of the Cooperative last January,
there has been a continuous cam
paign to discredit the Board of
Directors and the Management of the
Cooperative. All the best known
methods of deception and deceit
were used to undermine the men who
were elected to control the Associa
tion. Charges were made one day,
and. denied a short time later, with
the evident purpose of getting the
members to believe that something
was radically wrong. Finally, as a
climax, a recall meeting was called
and an action started in Court to
hamper and prevent any acti n on
the part of the Board that might
meet with disfavor on the p.' rt cf
the malcontents.
However, when the recall meeting
was held and each side had a chance
to state it's case, the membership
stood by the Beard and voted again
st the recall by a vote of 43 for
the recall and the dissenting mem
bers mustered 55 votes to defeat it
The will of the membership indi
cates that they will back the Board
in their effort to run the Coopera
tive on a business basis and for
the best interests of the members
as a whole. It did not in our opin
ion, mean that all of those who
voted against the recall were en
tirely satisfied with the. B.-ard or
the Management, and we feel that
(continued on pa0e 4)