The Ketchikan miner., 1908-03-21
THE INDIAN QUESTION

III ASNNA~o A&As
 IL is ssid that Governor Hoggatt and Delegate Gale will unite in an effort 10 secure an appropriation for manual training schools for the Alas ka Indians. Good, That sounds like business. The Alaska Indians have been made to suffer by misguided efforts in their behalf as much. and perhaps more. than have the white men of the district, We say misguid- ed efforts. but tha, hardly covers the ground. Men have posed. in and out of Alaska, as special representatives of the Indians, who had DO real Snowl- edge as ,o their needs. Snd less ability 10 discover s remedy for their wrongs. These men have generally been seek ing job with q ias salary rather than the good of the Indians. If not that. they have had some kia0..ot religion they have desired 10 fasien upon thu Indians poor untutored soul. They have sought 10 take away from the Indian his own quaint beliefs. and give him in return a philosophy which he could neither grasp nor remember. Such converts as have been made. Fare generally known IS the most unreli- able oi the whole lot.
 | We do 10, contend that these teach CTS have not left their impress upon the race. for they have, some eyen hare bright red hair. The manual training srhool, in the hands of ener- getic teachers, and free from the hin- dering twang of secsarian cant, will do more for the natives of Alaska than all the psalms that were ever sung. As they learn 10 turn their hands and minds 10 useful work they will have less time for practices which drag them dowu. They will learn to work. and 10 depend on their own efforts They will become self supporting. selt-respecting men and women. Any labor we'll done makes the worker hetse- Every human crayes employment. out ii that crag- ing be not guided in proper channels i. will become an abnormal hansering after the exciteuleDss that come with sinful practices. When business men take up the Indian question ard handle Ii in business way all will be well.
 50 sings our old friend Sam Wall, who is nov welding his trenchant pen from the editorial chair of the ! lSksgWay Daily Alaskan.
 h the main Sam Is right. No one will dispute with him the fact that many bene5ts will be derived by the First Families of Alaska" through q course of manual training. but isn't he little bii hard ou the sky-pilot: While in some instances the motives which hare induced the wearers Of the cloth to select Alaska as 8 field Of missionary eudeavor have been mer- iceuary. it cannot be said that il is true of majority of the good men who have devoted. and are deyoling. their lives 10 the uplifting of the Indian No ore has yet heard of any clergyman iD the Tanana suffering from the gout as rescl; Of high liy- ! ing, or rolling ID any fat bank ac- counts for their ONT personal gain. On tbe contrary the work ue by 
 them has been Hisho0s material re- ward. ard is has been highly bene- fcial 10 the native in it's results The Indiaus have been taught the value Of leading cIeanIy lives: they have been ,utored ss far as possible in the crafts essential 10 making their lives more endurafIe ard their babitats more comtOr . ble than they ever dreamed of before ihe white missionary came. While religious teaching has been forced or .he Indian. it has been as a side issue The Indian has frs. been taught the value oi the material les sons learned from their masters, and then the reiigiCus side Of their exist ence has .sael explained to ineH- ana kuo3iag inc value of these frs. les sons they have been in receptive bumor 10 accep: tle last and believe that religion might mean 8. much 10 them as did the more material part of their ischiUgs.
 The different churches t. Alaska are doing 3 >pi-oGs6 aOEs. n hicb they should i-e encouraged. and ali honor should be given 10 the men Of education and refinement who are willing to sacrifice the comforts of lite to which they are entitled, in order tba, the work of the Master. & they see iE. might be carried en- Faitbaus> F1S<
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