The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-05

EuucatlOn IN Alaska is not
matter of text books, nor are its
benefciarles only children OF school
age. The teachers In that far north
region must have n wide range
Of knowledge. extending from the
a b c's and agriculture to grading
fox skins and raising reindeer. They
IRE not cars of swivel chairs who
enforce rules with birch rods, but
doctors, missiona ries, parsons, whose
duties often necessitate long dog
sledge journeys in Arctic weather.
One teacher, WILL II. WILSON, in
charge of the school at Ugashik, in
his report to the Federal Bureau Of
Etucation says that in one of his
relief expeditions he was forced to
spend three nights in n tent without
stove or provisions. II would have
perished," he said, had It not been
for the natives and the dogs. The
natives furnished the common sense
and the dogs the heat"
So far as the young Alaskans are
concerned the report of the Bureau Of
Education would indicate that work
among them has made considerable
progress. Their greatest advance
ment, perhaps, has been in the
use of English. Some of the teachers
say that at first 1t was difficult to
get children to speak English, be
cause the old women Of the villages
ridiculed them so much" The pupils
are excellent in memory work. but
they are usually slow in arithmetic.
They like hygiene and they know
the meaning of germs" says proud
teacher. Boys as well as girls learn
to sew. One teacher won the good
| will of the district for her school by
teaching her pupils to knit and help
ing them to make gifts. which were
showered upon the adults Mt Christ
mas time.
One phase of the teachers duties
Is SHOWN in a report from the Alas
kan peninsula. The medical work
takes up a great deal of my time"
says the schoolmaster, at is hard to
| refuse to 60 to the other villages
when they ask for aid" Recounting
| his travels last winter he said that he
Vent for medicine $40 miles, took n
child $50 miles for treatment of a
| fractured leg, made thirty-six trips on
medical calls. covering a distance of
1850 miles. and went sixty miles to
| reindeer herd to treat frozen boy.
The total distance travelled on these
missions was 2,O70 miles.
The Bureau of Education has I'M
dertaken to develop among the ma
tlves self-cOnfidence and experience
in business affairs. 1t encourages
the establishment In native villages
of cooperative mercantile stores, and
many of these enterprises are now in
successful operation. The auditing
| of four companies in southeastern
Alaska showed thar they had con,
Quoted a business of almost $97 200
in the past year.
| The bureau also is now transact
| ing personal business for the natives
through an office at Seattle. In this
way they have been able to sell their
furs, ivory and whalebone to thu
highest bidder instead of to agents
as in the past. Their sale of furs
through this source amounted in a
year to more than $4,000.
The raising Of reindeer has been
especially encouraged by the bureau
The herds have shown an increase
Of 20 per cent, Notwithstanding the
fact that 10, ia deer were killed dur,
ing the year. What this industry
represents to the native Alaskans
may be Judged from the fact that
exclusive of the meat and hides
which they used themselves, they re
celved from it an income of 1915
The bureau sees in the extension OF
this industry relief for hundreds OF
natives In remote districts "who are
living in abject poverty, unreachet
by civilizing influences"
The work of the forces for educa
ton among the natives Of Alaska has
perhaps been more marked In the
last year than ever before. The
older natives are beginning to have q
more thorough appreciation Of the
benefits which are accruing to them
Young Alaska is taking to the new
conditions with enthusiasm.