The Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 191?-19??, 1919-05-21
MANY new ways.
TO AID ALASKANS.
$4,000 Native People in Arctic
Zone Need Everything but
RefrigeratOrs.
70 VILLAGES HAVE SCHOOLS
Teaching Hygiene in High Attitudes,
Cooperative Stores, and Raising
Reindeer-Each Teacher a
Social Worker.

4 WaShingt0n.-While educators haV
spoken of what education ought to do
and have prOpOunded theories the bur
den of which has been that education
and life should be Synonymous, ont
part of>the United States has been ex
+ periencing such an ideal In actual
! practice. In Alaska each schoolhouse
is social center for the accomplish
ment Of practical ends. Many OF the
buildings, In addition to the recitation
room, contain also kitchen, quarters
Of the teacher, and a laundry and
baths for the use Of the native COM
munity.
Every teacher Is a social worker.
Every district superintendent, in visit
ing his widely separated schools. must
travel vast, distances by sled over the
frozen, trackless wilderness. Ere
quently he must risk his life on treach.
erOus, tempestuous waters in a native
canoe or small power boat. He must
endure the violence of the northern
storms, the rigors of the arctic winter,
and the fOulness of the native huts in
which he must often find shelter.
Directed by Bureau of Education.
This work is carried on under the
supervision of the bureau of education,
and the details of current operation
are reported upon by William Hamil-
ton. He tells that there are in Alaska
approximately $4,000 natives In vii
lagos ranging from 80 or 40; up to 300
or 400 persons, scattered along thou
sands of miles of coast line and on The
great rivers. Some of the villages on
remote islands or beside the frozen
ocean are brought into touch with the
outside world only once or twice a
year, when visited by United States
coast guard steamer on its annual
cruise, or by the supply vessel sent
by the bureau of education.
Many of the settlements have no reg
ular mail service and can communl-
cate with one another and with the
outside world only by occasionally
passing boats In summer and sleds In
winter. During eight months of the
year all the villages in Alaska, with
the exception Of those on the southern
coast, are reached only by trails over
the snow-covered land or frozen rivers.
In spite Of the difficulties Of the
problem United States public school
has been established in each Of sew
enty villages. In many instances the
school Is the only elevating power in
the community. -.--.---as-..
tuberculosis, pneumonia, rheuma-
tlsm, and venereal diseases prevail to
an alarming extent in many Of the
native villages, and in its endeavOr to
safeguard the health of the natives of
Alaska the bureau of education main
tains hospitals In five important CEN
tiers. 1t employs physicians and nurs-
es, who devote themselves to medical
and sanitary work, and provides medi-
cal supplies and textbooks to the
teachers to enable them to treat minor
and intelllgently to supervise
nygienlc measures. There are exten.
Sive regions in which the services Of
physician are not Obtainable. Ac-
,ordingly, it often becomes the duty Of
teacher to render first aid to the
injured or to care for a patient :
through the course of a serious illness.
Supervise Cooperative store.
Another duty of the teacher is to. SUI
'ervise the cooperative store which is
'wned and managed by the natives,
Who deal in everything but refrigera-
Ors. Strange to say, the government ,,
# the white man has to protect the ,
lntive from the white man himself.
70 secure the native from the intru-
ions of the Inscriptions trader, the ,
'ureau of education has adopted the
'olicy Of establishing reservations to
which large numbers of natives can be
.ttracted and where they can obtain
sh and game and conduct their own
Industrial and commercial enterprises.
The settlement at NOorvik, on the Ko-
uk river, in arctic Alaska, is one of .
he most conspicuous successes of this
oliey.
With their advancement in civiliza. n
ion the Eskimos living at Deering, II
n the bleak sea coast, craved new
ONE. Lack of timber compelled them
o live in the acknowledgement novels
{ their ancestors, while the killing Off ii
( game animals made it increasingly III
ifficult to obtain food. An uninhab-
led tract on the bank of the Kobuk
liver, Is miles square, Astounding in
anne, fish and timber, was reserved
y executive order for these Eskimos, III
nd thither they migrated in the sum-
leT of 1915. On this tract in the arc
lc wilderness the colonlsts, under the
of the teachers, within two
ears have built village with wen
lid-out streets, neat single family III
ouses, gardens, a mercantile company, II
sawmill, an electric light plant. and
wireless telegraph station which keeps
hem In touch with the outside world. III
Hog Weighed 712 Pounds.
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