Seward daily gateway., 1925-08-05

lIduSleI Iue SCuOUlluS nhu WI
 the natives to the territory and be re- lieved of the Bureau of Education become understandable.
 Under such an administrator as Herbert Hoover, who systemlzes ana coordinates everything he touches and sees the necessity of general reorgaQizati tion, undoubtedly official order would be brought out of !offl- cial chaos and the affairs of this re- mote but promising land would be handled efficiently. Logically the suggested transfer is cOmmendaDIe. Certainly the Alaska Railroad would fit better under the Department ot Commerce and profit by the change, since no step has been taken to col oniZe or develop the land traVersed by the railroad, and commerce must essentially be the basis of success.
 The Agricultural Department, which in Alaska means the Forest Service and the Bureau of Public Roads, IS admittedly efficient and functions helpfully. It has brought its admin istration closer home to Alaska and is signally successful in securing needed appropriatio from Congress. It bureau officials are trained and we'll qualified, and alert to the wis dom of close cooperation with the territory. It is the departments pol icy to give them the fullest author ity and have them exercise it. The one remaining weakness in it's organ ization, making for circumlocution and delay, is the maintenance by the Bureau of Public Road of its Alas ka headquarters at Portlad
 Long-Range Administration
 Of all the Federal agencies operat- ing in the territory, the Bureau of Education is the feeblest. Long range direction of the schools and hospitals for the natives explains it. Officially the best I could say of the Governments treatment of it's wards-still so dealt with, altho Con- gress has made them citizens-was that it generously, if not always ef- ficiently or adequately, provides for them" Unofficially it may conser yatively be said that this provision falls far short of actual, urgent needs and is deplorably inefficient. The present chief of the Alaska Division of the Bureau of Education offici- ates at Seattle Annual recommends tions by governors and biennial me- morials from the legislature urging change of this impossible status have gone unheeded at Washington. By contrast with the progressive school sy5'cm fo> whi!e children conducted by the territory the na- tive schools, with few exceptions, are of negligible value and make pitt able showing.
 Equally ill-equipped is the medical ministration. The bureau spends in Alaska more than tw0-thirds of it's total appropriation of $437,O75, and an additional sum of $122,32O is made available this fiscal year for the medical and sanitary relief of the Eskimos, Aleuts, Indians and oth- CT natives To date such large ex- penditures have failed to produce commensurate results or revealed, generally speaking, wisdom in the outlay.
 The natives are scattered over a wide domain and the difficulties at tending their care and education are great, but the territory in it's edu- cational and relief work has been remarkably successful in overcoming such difficulties. Often the territory in emergency extends aid to natives although literally the use of it's re- IISI JULIUS IS COulIuSu LO AIIOo Oa the erroneous theory that the Indi- ans and Eskimos are otherwise pro- vided. For some months the Ameri' can Red Cross has kept in Alaska a corps of nurses who have rendered fine service in alleviating distress among the Indians and teaching them how to live.
 l If a fraction of the sum disbused at long range through bureau chan nels was made available for use at the hands of trained Red, Cross agents, the condition of the nations wards would be greatly improved. Missions conducted by church deno' minations do, praiseworthy humani- tartan work with limited r%Burces, and the Sheldon-Jackson School at Sitka is progressive and useful in stitution. Accessible Indian commu- mites. such as Rake. BayVieW, Hyda-