needs of about 5,000 natives, all but 500 of whom
belong to the Thlinget and Haida Tribes.
We note that the various Commercial Clubs
are appointing committees to wait upon Dr. Coop
er to urge the merits of their respective commun
ities as a site. This is all well and good, but the
primary consideration in choosing the site should
not be the desire of a community that its town
be selected, but which community shall best serve
the needs of the natives for whom the school is
being built.
Mr. Morrissey of the Ketchikan Chronicle
urges the choice of a site near Ketchikan, and
particularly the town of Metlakatla and suggests
further that the school could well be a memorial
to William Duncan. Without decrying in any
way Father Duncan’s work among the Metlakat
la people, we have this to say. We do not see
why the Bureau of Education, of all agencies,
should erect a memorial to Father Duncan. No
one in Southeastern Alaska was more opnosed to
the work of the Bureau of Education than Father
Duncan, and if he were alive today, he would 015
pose most strenuously the location of this school
on Annette Island. The present school there was
established by the Bureau over his strong opposi
tion. Father Duncan did not believe in the edu
cation of the Indian past the most elementary
stage. He found that the educated Indian was
not so tractable or servile as the ignorant one, and
he was not able to continue autocratic control ov
er the boys and girls who went away to school.
It is a fact that with very few exceptions, the In
dians of Metlakatla who have any degree of edu
cation, received it at the old Sitka Training
School maintained ,by the Presbyterian Church
and much against the wishes of William Duncan.
There are 4.,500 Indians in Southeastern Alas
ka. not connected in any way with the island of
Metlatatla, speaking another tongue, with a heri
tage of different customs and ideals. They do
not wish the school established on that island and
their wishes are certainly entitled to more con
sideration than are Edward Morrissey’s. If the
sghool is to be a memorial to anybody, we respect
fully urge the merits of many good and faithful
teachers or the years gone by who did not amass
a fortune in the process.—The ALASKAN.
Hon, Dan A. Sutherland Presents
Senate flemorial to Congress
tz5
IION. DAN SUTHERLAND
Of Alaska
Monday, May 20, 1929
In The House of Representatives
Mr. Sutherland. Mr. Speaker,
under leave granted to extend
my remarks, I desire to place in
the RECORD certain measures
passed at a recent session of
the Alaska Legislature.
The first document, Senate
Memorial No. 1, present the ac
tive opposition of the Governor
of Alaska to the people in their
attempt to secure that voice in
their local government to which
they are entitled under their
organic act.
During the Seventieth Con
gress the Governor of Alaska
came to Washington and ob
tained the introduction of a bill
in Congress for the purpose of
—X
repealing that provision of the
organic act that inhibited Fed
eral appointees from adminis
tering Territorial affairs. This
bill v;as for the purpose of per
petuating powers exercised by
the governor and other Feder
al officials which were declared
by the United States District
Court to be illegally exercised.
In other words, lie asked Con
gress to nullify a court decision
which was adverse to his own
personal interests, a ‘though the
decision was favorable to the
people of the Territory.
At the time suit was started
to enjoin Mic Treasurer from,
paying these illegal salaries to
Federal officials, the governor
injected himself into the suit
by petition for iiitervenor filed
by his privately employed nt
torney. The court promptly
i;hii( id the organic act and, the
governe ■, thus defeated in court
action, appealed to Congress and
with the aid oi’ file Secretary of
the Interior, attempted to force
'through the House of Repre
sentatives a bill which in effect,
would set aside the court’s de
cision. Congress promptly con
firmed the court’s decision and
upheld the organic act giving
the people of Alaska the right
to administer their own local
government. The memorial re
hearses the details of the case.
ThC serious controversy that
lias are cn in Alaska regarding
bureaucratic domination of the
Territory is not by any means
a new phenomena of civil gov
ernment in the Territories. The
history of the United States Ter