, 1878-01-25
FRIDAY. JANUARY ,. l>i>.
FAR OFF ALASKA.

Our Alaska news, which we pub
Jsh THIS week, will be read with
great interest; particularly that por
tion which relates to the Indians.
We have already, on several oc.
casions, referred to the natives OF
Alaska, and recommended substan'
tally the same views as those eX
pressed by our correspondent. We
are more than ever convinced that
the plan, which has been in such sue
cessful operation for more than thir
" wears in British Columbia, is the
proper one for the Indians OF Alas
ka. We want no troops, or Indian
Agents sent there to look after the
natives. The whole business should
be managed as in British Columbia,
bv missionaries sent them by the va
rious denominations, all to be under
the general supervision of one In
dian commissioner who, like Com.
missioner Powell, of Victoria,
should visit each station personally,
at least twice year, and report to
the Indian Bureau at Washington.
The eagerness of the Alaska In
dians for instruction is shown by our
correspondent, in the success attend.
ing the labors of Mrs. Mcfarland,
their teacher.
If our government would only use
a little common sense in dealing with
these Indians, and be guided by the
advice and counsel of persons who
IKE an interest in the welfare OF
tuose natives, and who, from long
residence on this coast and personal
observation, are more competent to
advise than the horse leeches who
Cor so long time have hung around
the Indian Office at Washington, We
would see a vast improvement in
that policy which, since the days cl
George Washington, has been one
vast system of fraud, peculation and
downright robbery of the Indians
who are simply the wards of Con
gress, but whose rights are trampled
upon by their indifferent guardians.
Secretary Shurz seems determined
to carry out epolicy of the Presi-
dent regarding Civil Service, and we
recommend to him the careful perus-
al of our correspondents article.
AS for the remainder of the top
les contained in the letter, we have
but this to say: The government of
the United States is bound by every
obligation to extend the laws over
Alaska, and the sooner the better; or
else the people there will make their
own laws, which, with the element
always to be found among a pioneer
population, would hardly prove to be
as salutary as may be required.
Now that the Ala k mails are
to start from Port lownsend, Con.
gress should unite judcially the two
Territories Of Washington and Alas
ka, until the latter shall have suf
ticient population to warrant Terri.
torial government of her own. 1t is
useless for any one to talk of annex.
ing Oregon and Sitka, although the
Portland people think that all legal
business from Alaska should be car
ried by and past this Territory to
their city. The United States cour:
is held in Port Townsend as we'll as
Portland, and our Judges, to say the
least, are fully equal to any on the
bench of Oregon. We hope our
Delegate in Congress will feel suffi.
cient interest in this matter to call
the attention of Congress to it and
have some action taken the present
session. We commend our readers
to a careful perusal Of the communi-
cation.
Now that San Francisco capitalists
have commenced to develop the
varied resources Of Alaska, it will
be we'll for those flippant writer's,
who think Alaska only fit for polar
bears and savsges to reside in, TO
try and inform themselves of facts,
or they may commit the same mis-
take, through ignorance, that Tom
Benton did in the Senate Of the Uni.
ted States, when he condemned the
country around Puget Sound, as the
direict of nations.
The fact must not be ignored, OF