Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-08-29
GAR STILL RULES.
HAS FAITHFUL ALLEGIANTS IN
AMERICAN TERRITORY.
Word of the the Russian Church
Head Is More Potent Than
United States Law in
Remote Alaska.

There are remote regions in the in
terror of far away Alaska, under Amer
lean rule, where the car of Russia still
holds the faithful allegiance Of hun
dreds of former subjects, where his
word as the head of the Russian church
means more to the people than law
of the United States congress or a rul-
ing of the United States courts.
These people are descendants of mixed
Russian and native stock and the active
PROSECUTING of the representatives of
the Russian church has kept them loyal
to the Little Father" and has led them
to accept him as their temporal ruler,
although 40 years have passed since the
signing of the treaty which conveyed
the country to the United States.
In these settlements the Russian Ian
| guage is almost exclusively spoken,
missions are maintained by the Russian
church and schools conducted under
the auspices of those missions.
In many respects the people are as
thoroughly Russian in both appearance
and allegiance as are the people in the
outlying portions of Siberia on the OPP
| posite coast of Behring sea.
OF the 10000 people living in Alaska
one-sixth are communicates of the Rus
| sian orthodox church. The church
| maintains in the districts 16 parishes,
| 3S missions and 80 schools, having a
| total of 740 children in attendance.
The total enrolment in the 33 public
| schools maintained in the district by
the United States government is 2,10O,
only three times as large as that at
| Russian schools.
In all there are 1O6 missions main
tained in Alaska by different religious
| denominations, of which the Russian
church maintains SO. While the Rus
sian religious influence is hardly the
| dominant influence in Alaska, it is easily
the largest religious influence, and is
probably the dominant influence among
the native population, since many of
the churches, notably the Congregation
al and Episcopal, devote their energies
largely to the white settlements.
| The Russian missions are maintained
in remote settlements where the popu-
lation is chiefly native or a mixture
| of native and Russian.
1t is difficult for most Americans to
understand how an absolute autocrat
like the car of Russian has so long held
the answering allegiance of millions of
people. A key to this enigma may be
found in any one of the thousands of
modest homes In the district of Alaska.
In the humble cabin of the average In
dian river pilot on the Yukon river, in
the shack Of the Aleut fisherman, on
any of the Aleutian islands or in the
miserable igloo of the Eskimo reindeer
herder at Point Barrow, may be found
hanging side by side two highly colored
prints; one that of the meek and lowly
| Nazarene, and the other that Of the
car of Russia, the head of the Rus
sian Greek Eastern Orthodox church.
In each of the Russian missions the
Russian speaking priests and mission
aries persistently instruct their parish
toner's that the power OF the car is not
only temporal, but spiritual as well, and
| that no loyal and devout member OF
the church should take up arms against
the Little Father" or in any respect
disregard his wishes or commands.