VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN
'Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947, at the post office ut
Palmer, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
PRINTED AT PALMER, ALASKA, EACH FRIDAY
By the Matanuska Press, Inc.
Publisher, Bus. Mgr.
A1 J. DeJulic
Editor
Mrs. Marian Badcor
Associate Editor
Virginia Gallanl
Barbara Carter .Wasilla Correspondent
Subscription Rates.50c a month, $5 a yeai
Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
KEEP OUR FLAG FLYING
June 14, yesterday, was Flag Day.
How many of us. in honor to our nation and to the Flag which
is the flying symbol of the United States, her Territories and
Dependencies, displayed that Flag?
* Are we becoming a lax and indifferent people?
That we cannot believe. Our flag flies in Korea today where
our boys fight, and in every other part of the world where the United
States of America is represented.
We may be bowed under what we consider an extravagant lax
burden for bureaucratic support. We may be cynical about the
lack of leadership of an administration which many deem has run
amock. But fundamentally we believe America is sound, even
though most of us did not fly the Colors on Flag Day.
Let us review a bit of history:
Flag Day was the 176lh birthday of the senior service of the
Armed Forces, the United Stales Army. It began as the Continental
Army in 1775. ten rifle companies facing overwhelming British
redcoats. At one time a mere 80 men, it has also been a force of
‘more than 8.000,000 soldiers.
In Alaska the record of the Army is typical.
The United States Army Engineers dispatched Capt. Charles
P. Raymond on military explorations in the Territory 91 years ago.
Seven years later, March 30, 1867, the purchase of Alaska was sealed
by solemn treaty with Russia. On October 29 of that year, troops
under Col. J. O. Davis, United States Army, occupied the then
capital of Sitka.
On March 18. 1868, at Sitka, the Army created the Military
District of Alaska. In 1882, Lieutenant Lockwood and parly advanced
on foot to the highest northern latitude ever recorded. Two years
plater 25 Army men set out on the Greely Arctic Expedition to study
weather conditions. Seven died. But from the information they
gathered came the establishment of a Weather Bureau Service
by the Army.
More progress in Alaska resulted from the efforts of the Army
in the establishment of a signal system. Beginning with construc
tion of a cable in 1900, the Signal Corps went on to lay cable from
Juneau to Skagway in 1902; two years later commercial business
was transacted by radio for the first time through a Signal Corps
station in Alaska.
In 1905 the United States Army Engineers began work as the
Alaska Road Commission, conducting highway surveys. By 1914
the engineers were investigating available railroad routes in the
Territory. _ They made possible the present Alaska Railroad.
A period of transportation growth was under way. Working
against terrific obstacles of climate and terrain the program survived
- until networks of Territorial roads were linked with the United
States by the rushed-through engineering miracle called the Alaska
Highway.
That was in 1943, when Army ships discharging troops and
freight to be .carried over Alaska highways and railroads. In the
Aleutian Chain the Army had met and beaten the Japanese in a
bitter winter campaign.
Today the Army in Alaska continues its part in the develop
ment and defense of the Territory, working for the security and
peace of Alaska and the nation.
EXPEDITER GOES NORTH
Tighe E. Woods, Housing Ex
pediter of the United States, will
^ make his first trip to Alaska this
month. He will go first to Juneau
for a meeting with Governor
Gruening and with members of
his staff from various parts of
the Territory and then will con
tinue on to Anchorage and if pos
sible to Fairbanks before return
ing to Washington.
Valley Frontiersman Classifieds CM Results
r.
MORE POWER TO OSTO
EDITOR’S NOTE: We had settled down to write an editorial
when the mail brought this clipping from the Congressional Record
of May 28. It contains a lot of things we might have tried to say
in a more—and far less amusing—way.
AN Open Letter to OSTO (Office of Straightening Things Out)
DEAR MR. GOVERNMENT: Up until now I have been a firm
believer in the free-enterprise system, a system, incidentally, that
has made America as great as it is and for me a way of life as Amer
ican as the Liberty Bell, Abraham Lincoln, and the Brooklyn
Dodgers, but now I am thoroughly confused.
A few weeks ago one of your agencies moved to Denver; it was
a great day for the locals—it boosted our prestige and increased our
population. However, this agency immediately hired all the typists
in the city at a rate far above what the Denver market could afford,
and therefore took the cream of the crop in this one fell swoop.
It look my secretary, Dorothy, are paying her $2,650 a year to
start, 26 days vacation, and 15 days sick leave. I, who happen to be
in the highly competitive field, cannot afford to meet these terms
even if I wanted to because on top of all that another agency
freezes my prices so that I am unable to make more profits.
Furthermore, in order to keep down inflation, the OWS came
along and told me I could not meet the salary the Government had
offered her anyway. These were woes enough indeed, since they
not only disrupt the efficiency of my office but cut down on my
business as well. Now, all these, Mr. Government, I was able to
bear in the spirit of patriotism, but last Tuesday when Congress
met and said, in effect, "Louie, because we are going to pay Dorothy
more money than you can we are going to have to increase your
taxes again", I then blew my top, and here I am completely mollified
and can tell you now I have one foot on the bottom rung of the
bandwagon—I, too, want to get on.
Therefore, if you can use a drug buyer (with references that
bear a taint of being brought up under the free-enterprise system,
but which I assure you I can alter quickly working 40 hours a week,
26 _ days vacation and 15 days sick leave, which in my present
agitated, condition I can certainly use) then consider this as a formal
application. I am enclosing a self-addressed and stamped envelope
for your answer. I do this because I do not want the cost of govern
ment to go up again on my account. (You see how these darn
free-enterprise habits stick to you?)
LOUIE ALBI.
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EVERY CHORE MADE EASIER
Yes, electricity can make every chore easier. Electricity in
every building on your farm and the use of modern day elec
tric appliances will save hours of work. For up-to-date farm
ing electricity is essential. It more than pays for its low cost.
Mntnnuska Electric Association, Inc.
Your REA Electric Co-Op in Palmer
"Serving the Valley Since 1942"
I PALMER. ALASKA
»♦» »»* *«»«*«*
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Box 131, Anchorage
| Who Said Food Prices Are Going DP In Palmer? |
WE THINK PRICES ARE COMING DOWN ! ! !
WATCH FOR OPENING DATE SOON—
Palmer's Newest and Finest Complete Food Store. We Have Many
Surprises in Store for You.
Shamrock Bakery
If Your Grocer Does Not Handle Shamrock Bakery Products, Our Bakery Is Open Until 8:00 P. M. Daily.
SHAMROCK BREAD
is your best buy, white or
wheat — full 1’/2-pound guar
anteed. Fresh daily.
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