The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-28

lliS lANllC I1SfNlIlOS are taught to IOlOI Old Glory. The school represents the
 United States government, and over It
 floats the American flag. It is the chief
 meeting place of the people, and in many cases they come to the teacher to settle their troubles. Children are taught that they must not swear, nor use vulgar lan- guage. They are shown the bad effects
 of drink and are not allowed to use to-
 bacco in school. This is a great reform,
 Tobacco has always been common among the EsEimos. The custom was brought in by the whalers, and the people are
 so addicted to the use of the weed that 1t was formerly a rarity to find child
 over 10 years of age who did not smoke, chew or snuff. Along Kotzebue sound the Eskimos mix their smoking tobacco with shredded willow pith to make it go further, and they char the fungus of the spruce tree and mix the powder with finely cut black Kentucky tobacco for snuff. In chewing tobacco it is said
 that many of these people swallow their saliva.
 The use of alcoholic liquor is also
 diminishing. This has been one of the curses of these natives The poorest of whisky and alcohol is brought in by the whalers and traded for furs and whalebone. The Eskimos of the far north learned how to distill alcohol from mo- lasses, sugar and flour They mixed these together with water and boiled them in an old oil can into which was inserted gun barrel fitted with dough or clay to render the Joints airtight. This gun barrel was then passed through a block of ice, which condensed the steam from the mixture so that it came out drop by drop as crude spirit, which was caught in a receptacle. A drunken
 Eskimo acts like a crazy man; and every attempt is made to keep liquor out of the villages.
 Sanitary methods are being taught by the school teachers and doctors. The bureau of education has a number of medical directors who visit the schools and instruct the teachers how to care for the people. There are also trained nurses who work among the sick, and a war is being waged against tuberculosis and other prevalent diseases. There are now IA doctors and IA nurses who are continually working among these people but the number is not sufficient, and an appropriation from Congress is needed to establish an efficient medical serv- ice.
 The teachers do all they can to in-
 struct the people how to take care of
 themselves They have established bath
 tubs in most of the schools, and many
 of the children now get baths once a
 week, and the grownups occasionally
 come in and have a wash-off. The
 teacher at Kivalina, one of the Eskimo
 villages north of Boring strait, says that
 the bathtub is one of the chief features
 of his school. This was put in and
 school opened. Later, Friday afternoons,
 after school hours, were set aside as a
 bathing time for the girls, and Satur-
 days for the boys. The children could
 not get enough of warm water, and four
 boys would often take bath in the
 tub at one time. The adults took advan-
 tage of the tub, and during that term
 492 school baths were recorded.
 In these baths soap is now used, ant the disgusting makeshifts of the past
 have been abolished. In some of the villages the old-fashioned sweat baths still prevail. These are held once a week during the winter. The bathhouse is made of logs and sod A fire is built on the earth in the center, and the smoke comes out through a square hole in the
 roof. When everything is redhot tht
 coals are covered and a skin Is placed
 over the roof hole, so that no heat es- capes from the building. Precipitation is induced by heating the body with bun
 
 platform at one end of the house. and the heat serves ill place of towels for dry ing their bodies. Sometimes they rush out and pour cold water over themselves from holes in the ice.
 I have been greatly interested in the school republics. which have been estab- lished all along the coast of the Arctic ocean. They are also to be found in the E., o r,F Kuskokwim basins. There is one at Wainwright. between Icy cape ond Point Barrow, which has enacted it's own schoo laws and governs the school under the
 teacher. All pupils who can read ir the first reader are eligible for member ship. The officers consist of a pres lident, mayor and judge, each with a Term of one month There is a council, which meets every Friday afternoon. At
 this the president takes the chair and laws are enacted. No bill can become
 a law without it is passed by the coun-
 cil and is signed by the mayor.
 Among the laws are: s'No citizen shall speak Eskimo in the schoolroom. No citi-
 zen shall whisper or look behind in school time. None shall be noisy or rude. He
 shall not wear his skin parka into the
 schoolroom and he shall be fined if he comes to school with dirty face or
 uncombed 1hair.' The laws give also
 the duties of the citizen pupils and the
 work each is to do in cleaning and keep
 ing the school. They provide for the records of attendance, of the game killed
 by the village hunters, of the weather,
 and also of the amount of paper, pencils and books to be used
 This school is governed by the mayor,
 who has three police officers. One is truant officer. one health officer and another the monitor of the kindergarten. One of the police officers is always present in the schoolroom, and this is so during the recess and after hours, when the schoolhouse is used as sort of club. The teachers say that the re- public has done great deal of good. A similar enthusiastic report comes from Kivalina, where they have pres ident. vice president, judge, two peace officers, two health officers and two
 commissioners of work. The term of of flee lasts for two months. The teacher
 there says that the peace officers and
 judge find very little to do as the chill
 dren are good and spend much of their time in outdoor sports. The health of ficers watch over the cleanliness of all
 the children in the village. They make
 every one clean himself of ver1nin. and
 when a new child comes to school he is taken to the bathroom where his hair is combed and his body rigidly inspected.
 He is made to wash his face and hands
 and if his clothing is dirty he is sent home to have 1t washed or changed. The
 commissioners of work do the hard labor
 of the school. They take care of the
 fires, sweep the schoolroom and bring
 in Ice and snow for the bath tank. They
 can call upon other children to help
 them, but they are responsible for the
 work and do 1t we'll