THE ECONOMIC FUTURE OF THE
MATANUSKA VALLEY
By Mr,'M,D*Snodgrass
(continued from last week)
The oil can was then liberally
applied to the wheels of the
accounting office and figures
were prepared and presented to
the Co-op Board, "Pearls before
swineJ" Something must of gone
haywire with the Cooperative
Board J They were plumb dumb
founded— as who wouldn't be
with such blarney] A wonderful
business set up] A going con
cern doing a wonderfully large
business-- an annual turnover
of many thousands of dollars,
with facilities worth many
thousands of dollars, and paying
dividends, too]
Jump at the chance, you block
heads l For wasn't all these
wonderful opportunities offered
to the Cooperative Board for the
small amount of thlir secured
dividends of some twelve thousand
dollars, dam payment on stock,
plus the little matter, something
in the neighborhood of ?30,000.
of further purchasing the commis
sary building, fictures, etc.
but when the' woodpile cover was
removed there was an army of rats
and only one stick of wood.
The full purchase price, as sug
gested, would be helpful to the
retiring ARRC, but a load that
would break all the backs of the
struggling Co-op camels,
Ve may well thank our 3tnrs that
we have a Co-op board "dumb
enough" to turn thumbs down on
this offer. For their counter
demands were t hat the Civic
Center facilities be turned over
to the Cooperative without cost,
if they wero to success ully
carry the load .that the ARRC
was ready to drop.
The promised loan from the ARRC
to the Cooperative, tied up by
iron-clad agreements .and entered
into more than two years ago, is
now out of the window.
• 4
The excuse is No Funds, We don't
doubt this a bit. Especially .
when we take into consideration*
the over-sige accounting force,
together with a high overhead.
Nww that the end is near and
dear ( to the colonists) to
that "highly efficient organi
zation," the ARRC Board, it is
casting about for an excuse to
continue, or at least prolong
its lige, by settin^ up a program
fort he Cooperative with a budget,
to be'controlled by the ARRC
Board, to finish the clearing
program on the land that the
ARRC holds in Perpetuity, To
carry out this proposed budget
they ask the Cooperative to take
out a loan of some vj>300,000.
or more to be handled and dis
bursed by the ARRC Board and the
General Manager of the Colony.
What next may we expect?
Several members of the ARRC
Board have since resigned.
And who wouldn't if he were to
preccive that all profits to his
respective business was reaching
the vanishing point?
V/e sincerely hope that the man
agement of the colony will soon
be turned over as it rightfully
should, to the Cooperative. But
in order for the Cooperative to
be a real cooperative and a
success the following wrinkles
must be ironed out:
Z*he facilities must be turned
over to the Cooperative free of
dictation; for the Oood of the
colonists the cooperative con
trccxts must 'be divorced from the
ARRC contracts; the colonists
must be assured a warrantee deed
to their tracts as soon as they
are able to fullfill their obli
gations and pay. for their homos;
additional grazing land should be
provided, with title to IcO .
or 320 additional acres for each
tract owner; and land, now in
reserve and held from settlement,
should be opened to additional
settlement. ,/hcn these things
are done, then we do stand a
( see next page)