The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-02-08


Of the work Of q Kansas Cit.
man and his wife, steps are sooz
to be taken for the relief Of tn
u Labrador Eskimos. a race tina
for more than $50 years has beef
kept In the direct levels, though phys
ically and mentally equipped for I'd
vaAcsment and prosperity.
Hold back by exploitation, with ita
consequent poverty. disease and alb
ssaes Of hope, this people has come
to be little Congo Of the North, With
mission for . Leopold.
Dr.. William A. Nixon, Q Kansas City
physician, who has recently returned
from spending a year In Labrador
among these Eskimos, brings the story
Of this race, struggling almost for ex
A year ago last June DR.. Nixon was
called from his place in the Kansas
City General hospital by the Moravian
mission and the Newfoundland gov.
eminent to act as a medical mission.
airy among the inhabitants Of Labra-
dor. The death rate among the Eski-
mos had been appallingly large and
DR.. Nixon was chosen by the govern
ment to investigate conditions be-
cause of his Kansas City hospital ex-
perience. The Moravian mission, a
German organization that IS partly
commercial and partly religious, main
tains a hospital at Okak on the west
coast The doctor and his wife, Mrs.
Catherine Nixon, left Kansas City and
assumed charge Of the institution,
Mrs. Nixon acting as matron.
I'VE went up into a land of ice
and snow and found a people of ex-
ceptional intelligence, living on fewer
necessities than I believed could pos
sibly sustain life," DR.. Nixon told a
friend. my wife and l caught a
glimpse of life which he had never
dreamed-no one ever took the trou-
BILE to write the story of the Eskimos
in Labrador. For $50 years the ma
tives have been under the care of the
Moravian mission. Along coast
strip of 700 miles the mission main
tains six trading posts and hospital
at Okak. Twelve hundred Eskimos
are under their control.
1.-THE government allows the mis-
sion company to import supplies free
Of duty and trade with the natives.
In return, the inhabitants are taught
BY the established rules
An Eskimo is not allowed to trade
anywhere but at regular tradins
post. A bookkeeping system is main.
aimed whereby the natives are given
credit for the skins and fish they
BRING in. After $50 years of rule by
he society the Eskimos are still liv-
ng-existing, l should say-under the
worst possible conditions.
Il have seen them-men, women
md children-fight with their dogs
or the scraps from the trading posts.
rhe women carry wood for 20 cents a
lay and pay SO barrel for flour that
8 admitted free of duty. When spring
zones they usually have spent their
earnings for food during the nine
months of winter, and are on the
'erge Of starvation. l reported the
Conditions to the government of New
and Frank Morrison, Judge |
4 the circuit court, made a visit to |
)kak and told the mission authorities
hat conditions must be improved i'm
nediately. The trading people agreed |
o make the required changes.
Labrador is land without vegeta-
ion. In the three summer months |
he natives kill seal and fish. They
urn their catches in at the ports and /
re given credit. After a season of |
ard work they have earned enough
erhaps to carry them through the
inter. When spring comes they have
wed up their savings, and the cycle
, repeated year after year. They are
and usually they suffer
rom hunger all through the cold,
reary winter. Many of their dogs
tarve.
One Of the men sold me a bearskin
Dr. $12 cash, and when he presented
ne money for food at the port he was
efused because he had broken a rule ,
y trading with an outsider However ,
was able to supply him from my /,
.ores and he went home happy. MY ,
life can't help crying whenever she +,
,calls the memories of the days we
)ent in that bleak world.
Their houses are nothing but huts ;,
I'D are lacking in all sanitary conyen.
noes.
THE Eskimos are very bright. One
them plays the organ in the church
Okak and has piano In his howell b
'me one in Germany sent an old
ano to the EslSimos aud the com. Ii
ny sold it to this man for $40. He I,