INDIANS AND EDUCATION
liy Will A. .Steel
It must be rather disgusting
to the officials of the Bureau
' of Education at Washington to
hear this contemptible talk of
“One thousand illiterate In
dians'* running the affairs of
the Territory of Alaska. And
particularly so after all these
years of effort and millions of
dollars expended in educating
thousands of young Natives.
With an Indian population
of less than 25,000 the only
wonder is that more of the
competent and literate Indians
do not avail themselves of
casting ballots at our elections.
At no time has any attempt
been made to induce men or
women of the Native element
who could not read or write,
to cast their ballots.
lhe Alaska Native Brother
hood is composed in the var
ious camps of men who would
be a credit to any public gath
ering. They seek to inform
themselves on the questions of
the day and they have a broad
and comprehensive view-point
that permits them to grasp
conditions and issues even more
readily than many of the white
organizations. They are the
kind who ask WHY?
Many of the young men
and women who have grown up
the age of maturity have re
ceived a good common school
education, that has been afford
ed them thru the efforts of the
government. And many have
also attended higher seats of
learning in the States. But
the matter of voting has been
something new to them and
they have been somewhat re
ticent about availing themselves
of the privilege which is now
theirs as much so as it is the
Lily Whites, who vote on
orders.
The records show that for
the 1924-25 school year there
were 2,822 white pupils enrol
led in the 17 schools of in
corporated towns and 1,280 in
the mixed schools outside in
corporated towns. This makes
a total of 4,102, but slightly
more than the 3,979 pupils en
rolled in the 85 Native schools,
with 154 teachers employed,
including superintendents and
principals, And fhc cost of
school per year per child, bas
ed on actual attendance was
$9^, while our white schools
are run at a cost of from $107
to $188 per capita.
But, notwithstanding the ed
ucational advantages that the
Natives have had for these
many years past, the subsidiz
ed press and the Dem.-Rep.
political junkers send broad
cast their false and malicious
slander that illiterate Indians
are running the affairs of the
Territory. They warn the
world against coming to Alas
ka because the political condi
tions here are so dangerous
that the only safety lies in the
formation of a White Man’s
Party to drive the “Illiterates”
from the throne of power.
Yet these same JLily Whites
are ever ready and willing up
on the least ^provocation to
denounce any law-abiding man
who even dares intimate that
there is bootlegging going on
in Southeastern Alaska and
that some mighty important
gentlemen have been connect
ed with it- Of course the
court records will frequently
prove this to be a truism, but
that is ignored by the slander
ers who seek to bring forth a
racial question and alarm the
people in the states who may
contemplate coming north to
reside.
The Indian question became
11 —
very acute after the Primary
election in 1924. A bunch of
Federal officials and hangers
on Democrats sought to nom
inate a Republican ticket in
the First division, and lost
out in every instance. They
then turned their attention to
defeating that ticket and rais
ed the Indian question to such
an extent that the average vot
er began to fear almost for
his life, and hundreds were
persuaded that safety and re
lief could only be secured by
the defeat of the Republican
ticket. And the great victory
of these marauders was the
election of one member of the
House.
une ot tne most disgruntled
fighters in that campaign was
the Governor. He gave some
semblance of substantiability
to the racial issue and per
suaded most of the Federal
Brigade to follow him in knif
ing Dan Sutherland and all
other candidates on the Re
publican ticket. To-day Dele
gate Sutherland stands forth as
Alaska’s foremost and honored
citizen.
“Pa,” said little Clarence,
“what is a martyr?”
“It is a wife who has to
give up buying the new coat
she wants because her husband
just has to pay grocery bill, son.”
Index Market
Phone 244
T. FERRY C. LEASK
All merchandise priced at a fair profit,
When you buy from us you get the best.
May We Serve You Better.
g- —.. —-r-- —
FOREST J. HUNT
KODAKS, BOOK STORE AND NEWSSTAND
DEVELOPING AND PRINTING PROMPTLY AND
PROPERLY DONE
Mail orders carefully executed.
ALBERT REINERT
Ketchikan, Alaska
Ladies’ and Gents* Furnishings, Dry Goods, Boots and Shoes