The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-02-18

n N a large measure ds tne result
Of the work of a Kansas City
man and his wife, steps are soon
to be taken for the relief of the
Il Labrador Eskimos, race that
for more than $50 years has been
xept in the direct levels. though phys
cally and mentally equipped for ad-
ancement and prosperity.
Held back by exploitation, with its
consequent poverty, disease and abb
sence Of hope, this people has come
10 be little Congo Of the North. with
mission for Leopold.
Dr. William A. Nixon, a Kansas City
physician, who has recently returned
from spending year In Labrador
among these Eskimos, brings the story
Of this race, struggling almost for ex-
lstence, in q land that Nature forgot.
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
srnment 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, q
German organization that IS partly
commercial and partly religious. main
tains q 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 az matron.
I'VE went up into a land Of ice
and snow and found q people of ex-
.eptional intelligence, living on fewer
necessities than believed could pos
sibly sustain life," DR.. Nixon told q
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 a coast
strip of TOO miles the mission main
tains six trading posts and q hospital
at Okak. Twelve hundred Eskimos
are under their control.
THE government allows the mis-.
sion company to import supplies free
of duty and trade with the natives.
In return, the Inhabitants are taught
Christianity. BY the established rules
an Eskimo is not allowed to trade
anywhere but at regular trading
post A bookkeeping system is main
tanned whereby the natives are given
credit for the skins and fish they
bring in. After $50 years of rule by
the society the Eskimos are still liv-
ing-existing, should say-under the
worst possible conditions.
II have seen them-men. women
and children--fight with their dogs
for the scraps from the trading posts.
The women carry wood for 20 cents a
day and pay $40 barrel for flour that
is admitted free of duty. When spring
comes they usually have spent their
earnings for food during the nine
months of winter, and are on the
verge of starvation. / reported the
conditions to the government of New
foundland, and Frank Morrison, Judge
of the circuit court, made a visit to
Okak and told the mission authorities
that conditions must be improved i'm
mediately. The trading people agreed
to make the required changes
Labrador is land without vegeta-
don. In the three summer months
the natives kill seal and fish. They
turn their catches in at the ports and
are given credit. After a season of
hard work they have earned enough
perhaps to carry them through the
winter. When spring comes they have
lived up their savings, and the cycle
is repeated year after year. They are
improvident and usually they suffer
from hunger all through the cold,
dreary winter. Many of their dogs
starve.
"One of the men sold me a bearskin
for Sl2 cash. and when he presented
the money for food at the port he was
refused because he had broken a rule |!
by trading with an outsider. However. |
| was able to supply him from my
stores and he went home happy. My
wife can't help crying whenever she !
recalls the memories of the days we
spent in that bleak world.
Their houses are nothing but huts
and are lacking in all sanitary conyen-
fences.
THE Eskimos are very bright. One
Il Hem plays the organ in the church
at Ut3kt and has a piano In his howell