RELIEF: Homes from a Hat

Off the Army transport St. Mihiel at Seward, Alaska last week trudged the second & final contingent of Depression-whipped U. S. farmers who had taken up the Government’s offer of a new life in Matanuska Valley (TIME, May 6; LETTERS, May 27). Leaving their wives & children behind for a few days, 136 men swung aboard day coaches, rode all night to Palmer. There they lined up with their 67 predecessors, shuffled past the colony’s genial Chief Don Irwin, dipping their hands into his hat. A slip of paper told each man which 40 acres, barring swaps, failure or despair, were to be his home until he died. Without a stop to look at their new land, the 136 new colonists pitched in to help unload the train, scatter farm equipment and household goods among eight temporary tent colonies.