The Sauk Centre herald., 1938-11-10
SAUK CENTRE HERALD. Sank Centre, MINI.

;ENIRE HERALD, Sauk Cent
Matanuska from Robbinsdale. Hen
nepin county and who has made
more than $1,000 from garden
truck in the past two seasons, be-
side winning 25 prizes at the Mata-
nuska county fair, has to say:
when my wife our four children
and I arrived at Palmer, all we had
in the world was $54. The growing
season was half over before we had
a chance to do anything with our
land. But rather than sit around
and squawk about the utter con-
fusion and lack Of organization, we
walked out to our tract and plant
ed radishes.
II soon realized that, If the Pip
pels were to make any money. it
would be because we got in and
worked and didn't wait until the
government did something for us.
The first season we made more than
$50 from our radisnes and we could
have sold three times as many.
Come into the house and I'll
show my account books. You can
draw your own conclusions. You
will see why, in spite of the fact
that I have made more income than
any other farmer and am the only
person in the Valley paying an in
come tax, am being forced off my
land and out of the colony.
II am no longer a desirable citi-
zen. The ARRC ALASKA Rural
Rehabilitation CorporatioD gave
me written notice May /, 1888, to
vacate my 40 acres.
"Wen, I'm still here and I don't
intend to leave without a fight"
He led the way into an immacu-
late five room house, tastefully
furnished with a good quality
furniture and, from a colonial desk,
took down his farm books and
spread them out.
"Why are you no longer desir-
able citizen, Mr.. Pippel?" I asked.
"I'n tell you why. Matanuska
was originally planned to be a
farmers cooperative community. A
Utopia in Alaska, where everybody
worked for everybody else, every
thing to be marketed jointly, all
made money and everybody lived
happily ever after. But it soon
became apparent that good per-
centage Of the colonists had come
for the boat ride and would remain
just as long as the government
footed the bill for food and over
head. When the ARRC shut down
on their cedits, the squawks reach
ed to Washington and hi h
| heaven"
Walter Pippel then declared en-
phatically that he and his family
were not working from five in the
morning until nine at night to help
feed and support brother and sister
colonists who slept until 10 a M,
whose cows were milked when con-
venient and whose hens died of
neglect.
"Here in Matanuska, the man
who does is supposed to help sup
port the man who does not. To
the best of my knowledge. there is
only one country in the world de-
dicated to that principle and it's
not the u. s. A."
Alaska towns have never been
able to obtain enough garden
truck. The Territory imports more
than $250,O00 in green vegetabtsa
every year. Pippel saw the oppor-
tunity. For the past two seasons he
has shipped radishes. onions, car
rots and turnips to five major
Alaskan cities In competition with
green's and produce brought in
from Seattle. He has built 81, ,250
greenhouse to get tomatoes to mar
ket weeks before tomatoes arrive
from the outside. (de declares that
this greenhouse is not regarded as
an improvement on the land, be-
cause it was not approved by the
ARRC.)
"But why have you been ordered
off the land, Mr.. Pippeli"
Because 1 refuse to allow my
self and my family to be leveled
down to the standard of the weak
est sister in the colony. My produce
is rated the finest in the Valley
yet, by the terms Of the coopera-
! tive marketing agreement (Which
I refuse to sign), my garden truck
would be Jumped with the poor
er stuff and paid for accordingly.
Business men in Anchorage re-
ported that one day in July, Walter
Pippel personally sold IT'S punches
of green onions at eight cents and
$50 punches Of radishes at five
cents, and that on the same day the
cooperative marketing organization
of Matanuska brought to Anchor
age to sell IL punches of radishes
and IL punches of onions.