Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-02
CHILDREN IN ALASKA.
Their Condition Said 10 Demand Legislation
by Congress

" NonEresA
ssrNHIs CONGRESS SHOULD NOT FAIL
to make some provision BY legislation
for the protection OF native children in
Alaska, said Commissioner of Education
Sheldon Jackson to a STAR reporter. In that
arctic province Of Uncle Sans q system Of
infant marriage prevails, babies only a few
days or weeks old being engaged to each other
by contract which is considered binding when
a manageable age shall have been reached
Children who are left orphans are relocated 10
the condition OF slaves, and parents commonly
sci! their little daughters for immoral purposes
or as plural wives
Very young children are often given 10 old
people In order that they may eventually take
the place OF husband or wife to the survivor of
the welded pair. l have known boy OF six
teen TO become In this way the husband Of an
old woman. grsy-haired. blind and SO crippled
that she could only crawl about the floor. The
boy mad been taken a prospective husband
when allttle child, and his duties as the head Of
the family began at once whenlthe old man be-
came helpless Many boys are forced thus into
the most hateful relations, being called upon 20
JAKE the place of father 10 family left BY an
oiu man. In the course Of time the young man
tskes future wife in a similar fashion to assist
the Old one. Child girls are continually forced
into these situations. often becoming mothers
"A little girl ten years old came to Mrs Viii
lard at the Presbyterian Mission home in
Juneau pleading to be protected. She was a
bright and pretty child. but it Was necessary to
tell her that she could not be taken in without
her parents consent. Finally she announced
that her parents were willing, but, after she
had been admitted to the home. her mother
came and demanded her. The mother sad
that she was very poor. that she had lost all her
other children by death, and that this one was
too precious to part with. She and her husband
needed the money which a little girl would
bring them, and already they had kept her Tor
some time for a white man who had promised
TO give them ESQ If they would keep her safe
for him until she was a little older. Could the
child have been taken from her parents and
made the ward OF an industrial school she
would have been saved from life of misery.
and Alaska might have hadsn additional citizen
OF intelligence instead Of drunken, howiing
squaw.
I'm another similar case girl Of twelve
years was taken by her family from the home
trought her back saying that she was Of no
use She cried too much; white man not like
1t, they said. She was taken in and was one of
the most tractable and sweet-tempered OF the
children. In the spring the parents wanted to
take her again. This was not consented to and
then began q series Of prosecutions. The little
girls father had two wives-her own mother,
who was old and decrepit, and the daughter Of
the latter by a former husband. This younger
wife and her husband brought the helpless
old woman repeatedly to the door OF the mis-
sion, where she lay for hours upon her face,
crying and beseeching the little girl
to save her. as she was TO be left alone
to starve to death unless she would come out
and work for her. In this way they triumphed
finally over the girls tender heart and she went
away with them. They Immediately married
her to notorious native who had already had
a number Of wives, for $50 and ten blankets
After few days of terror she fled to the mission
and begged to be sent to the training school at
Sltka. But the United States commissioner re-
Piled that her parents were her natural
guardians and that such a proceeding was i'm
possible without their consent. So they soon
got possession Of the little girl again.
when an Alaskan native woman has given
birth to an infant she hunts up q friend who
has baby of the opposite sex and a contract Of
betrothal is entered into between them. As
soon the children have reached the age of
thirteen or fourteen years they live together
without further formally. The selling OF chill
dren to white men or 20 others who can afford
to pay a fair price for them is usual Among
the king-gets orphan children become the
property Of the mothers family. being thus in
fact made slaves. No laws exist controlling
such matters in Alaska, and humanity would
seem to demand that some legislation be en-
acted upon the subject without delay"