The Alaska daily empire., 1919-12-19
ALASKA NATIVES
 SHOULD BE MADE
 TO SUPPORT SELF
(From Annual Report of Gov, Thomas
 Riggs, Jr.)

tFfOm Annual Report of Gov, Thomas
 Riggs, Jr)
 To formulate a definite Indian
 policy for Alaska wiil be hard and difficult task. particularly where there is found such great admix
 tnre of white blood. Further com plexities are found in every com
 mnnity, whether of native or mixed blood, due to different conditions oi climate and environment I have con
 sulted officials of the Bureau of Edu
 cation, clergymen. missionaries, doc
 tors, and each one has d different suggestion. 1 doubt if much change can ever be effected in the older gen erations; hence the greater part O helpful endeavors must be directed toward the education of the young
 On the Seward Peninsula. on some of the Aleutian Islands, and along Bris tol Bay the terrible influenza epidem
 ic has left an enormous number oi orphans There seems no reason t.
 me why these children can not be trained to useful life away from the
 igloo, barabara. or hut tH5
 Hereditary disease is much in evi
 dence among practically all of the tribes. In one large village in South eastern Alaska the local physician advises me that the blood of fully 90 per cent of the inhabitants is
 tainted. Tuberculosis in it's various
 forms is very prevalent There shouia be sanitariums established where the various diseases can be isolated and treated. It will not be necessary for special legislation to enforce any needed regulation. as this can be done by order of the Territorial Com missioner of hcalth. acting in co operation with the Bureau of Educa tion For lack of funds the Terri tory cannot establish the plants needed. nor should it be asked t6 further care for the natives. but un doubtedly they should receive greater consideration from the hands of 'the Government than they now do ,.
 A movement is on foot among the younger element of the natives of Southeastern Alaska to cast aside old tribal customs and to adopt the manners and customs of the white man. Such a policy should receive every encouragement. There should , be more vocational schools where boys can be taught carpentry. boat building. gas, and steam engineering and other useful trades. Graduates of the few vocational schools now bnild and run for themselves power fishing craft of all descriptions and compete successfully with the white fishermen. Natives with some eduea ton arc found as miners, sailors farmers, and laborers The Eskimos make good reindeer men and work in Inc mines and fisheries of Seward Peninsula. In the interior with only a few exceptions. the natives live as has their forebears for centuries, by hunting. trapping and fishing.
 4 sane Indian policy would consist of first, the elimination of communic- able and hereditary. diseases, and. decOHu, tdlHihS Vuc youii6 lo uoetui trades in the Territory itself. Unless the native is made healthy and de- gently self-supporting, religious and scholarlastie education is, to a great extent. waste effort. fa1
 do not believe in placing native and half-breed children in schools outside of Alaska, as it has been found that they do not readily be- schools near their own homesst I do not think it is demanding too much of the Government in asking that our natives have as much spent on them per capita as do the Indians in