The Monticellonian., 1899-06-16


on the conduct of the educational mat
ter in Alaska. The report says:
In the hope that it may be able to
effectually reach some remedial pow.
er or authority, the grand lGry desires
to direct attention to the deplorable
condition of educational affairs in
Alaska.
No Blame on Congress.
The blame can not be justly laid
at the doors of congress Between
the years 1854 and 1897, inclusive,
there was appropriated for education
in Alaska an aggregate of Y315,000 a
sum, which, had it been judiciously
expended, ought 10 have given Alaska
a school system fairly commensurate
with the requirements of 6nr people.
We do not undertake to say that there
has been any dishonest or direct mis-
appropriation of any par of this
large sum of money, but we do aver
that a considerable portion of it has
been frittered away IN payment of the
expenses of useless SUMMER iaunts
by the general agent of education TO
remote parts of the territory. and il
the establishment of schools at points
where none were needed, unless, in
deed, it be conceded that the educa
ton of the children of t people who
by day catch the ermine, and by
night chase the vermin, and apt to be
given the preference over those of the
intelligent white people who form the
advance guard in the march of civili-
zation into Alaska.
Money UseIessIy Expended.
But for the reason that i, believes,
TINT a large sum of money has been
uselessly expended, and the truth mo-,
being made manifest, will continue
TO be expended under the direction
of the general agent of education III
Alaska, while the neglect of our edit
eational interests is prolonged, the
grand jury would hesitate to refer.
even casually, to his transportation
scheme for revolutionizlng the mode
of travel and TRANSPORTATION of mails
and supplies in Alaska by the intro
duction of domesticated reindeer from
Siberia. But we submit that his ut.
ter neglect of the duties for the per-
Torrance of which he is paid sal
airy, and the consequent demoralizd=
ton of our educational system, de-
mands and justifies even harsher
criticism than that which follows.
The Grand Jury's Charges.
I'VE charge that this man is I'M
truthful and that ne has persistently
tmbodiSd in his official report con-
corning educational matters in Alas
ka that which he knew to De absolute
" false. He has charged time and
time again in his official reports that
the clergy of the Greco-RussiaE
church oppose the teaching of En-
glish in their schools. and threaten
parents that if they allow tfeir chill
dren to learn English, their boys will
be taken away and put into the Amer
lean army as soon as they are old
enough to do duty as soldiers; where
as, the truth is that English has al
ways been taught in the principal!
Greco-Russian schools. If he has been
guilty of deliberate falsehood in his
official report on schools and educa-
ton in Alaska, what reliance is to be
placed on those he makes encernine
the use of reindeer in Alanska? The
plain, simple truth is thas each and
every attempt at the use of reindeer
for transportation in Alaska has been
failure.
Want the IncuDus Removed.
THE grand jury, therefore. earnest
~ protests against any further rec
ommendation for the importation of
domesticated reindeer, aud respect
fully begs and prays on behalf of a
long suffering people that she honora-
bic secretary of the interior may, in
his wisdom, see fit to relieve Alaska
of the incubus of an official who en-
joys neither the respect nor the con-
idence of any considerable portion Of
her people, white or native, and whose
days of usefulness, as far as Alaska
is concerned, were long since buried"
BRIG.-GEN. KING OVERCOME.