Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-08-02
GIRLS HELD AS SLAVES
WORST CONDITION or The OLD
SOUTH ARE DUPLICATED
IN ALASKA.
OicIosure Made in Letter From Su-
perintendent Of Schools
at Unalaska.

st. Louis, July 30.-Slavery within
the domain of the United States,
white persons sold and held under
bondage in violation of the laws Of
civilization-this is the charge Of
Professor w. A. Davis, superintendent
of the United States public schools
at Unalaska, Alaska.
In letter to st. Louis friend the
professor tells how he has been at
work since 1898, when he went to
Alaska. to eradicate the evil, but de-
clares he has been unable to get the
United States authorities interested.
He says he has personally freed two
little girls from slavery and sent them
without avail to procure the release
of six other white girls in Unalaska.
He says the same conditions exist in
other towns.
Eight Girls in Bondage.
In part the professor writes:
"At the beginning of the school
year. September, 1903, I canvassed
the village of Unalaska for scolars,
and to my horror and disgust I found
eight little girls, ranging in age from
6 to 12 years, in slavery. When |
asked their masters if they intended
to send them to school they seemed
much surprised and grew quite indig-
nant. and in substance said:
"'Send them to school? We did
not get them to send to school; we
got them to wait on our families, and
that's what they are going to do
Immediately upon making the dis
covery l called the attention of the
proper authorities to the fact and
was assured that immediate meas
u1es would be taken to remedy the
evil That was a year and a half
ago. and yet nothing has been done
officailly though by individual effort
l have secured the release of two pitt
full little creatures who were return
ed to the island from which they came
and in all probability were sent away
again at the first opportunity in some
other direction.
Extends Over Territory.
"In the village of Unalaska. with
a population of not more than 200,
| there are six girls in bondage as ser.
vile as that of the blacks before their
emancipation, and it is safe to assume
that the same conditions prevail all
over Alaska.
"These children are usually Or
phans, and are given away by those
with whom they have been left by
their deceased parents as freely and
with as little compunction as one in
the states gives away puppies They
are brought here by trading schoon-
ers from various portions of the terri
tory.
"They are treated in all respects as
slaves. Their food is of the common.
est, poorest kind their clothing con-
sists Of cast-off garments, and l have
seen one of these girls in mid-winter
wading in snow barefoot and without
enough rags upon her body to hide
her nakedness.
Almost Beyond Belief.
with an inherited sentiment in
favor of the enslavement of weak, op
pressed and helpless human beings
10th on the part of the natives and
on the part of their absolute masters
the Russians, it was not to be wonder
ed at that when this territory passed
into the hands of the United States
slavery was common. but that il
should continue to exist without mo
lestation in spite of article IS of tn.
amendments to the constitution O
the United States would be beyont
my belief if were not in plain view
of its. God-forsaken. wretched littl,
victims eyery day."