TRIBUTE TO WM.T.LOPP
We are glad to reprint a letter of
appreciation of the many years of
work of William T. Lopp, who has
recently resigned from the Bureau of
Education. This letter was written by
Chancellor Brown of New York Uni
versity and appeared in the New
York Times.
In his letter to the Times, Dr.
Brown said:
“I read with keen interest your edi
torial in today’s issue relating to W.
T. Lopp, superintendent of the edu
cation of natives in Alaska.
Has Exceptional Character
“You cannot speak too strongly of
the service which Mr. Lopp has ren
dered to the Alaskan natives and,
through them, to the Territory of
Alaska, during the past thirty-five
years. Mr. Lopp, with all of the wil
derness-reticence of those whose work
is in the great spaces of the North,
is a man of exceptional character, de
voted to the interests of a backward
people, rich in experience of their
ways, with a lively insight into the
workings of their minds and a sense
of both the humor and the tragedy of
their lot. The play of quiet fun that
runs through his talk is assurance of
the wholescfneness of his outlook up
on man, whether aboriginal or so
phisticated.
“It is not to be forgotten that his
work for many years has covered the
whole of Alaska, including the In
dian and Aleut population as well as
the Eskimo. He has adapted and sup
plemented the work of public school
teachers to fit the needs of this people
in a great variety of ways, sending
among them teaching nurses, securing
provision of physicians and hospitals,
improving their standards and prac
tices as regards housing and .indus
trial habits and methods, furthering
the cultivation of little farms and
gardens where such things are prac
ticable, and taking important steps i
the development of co-operative buy
ing and selling.
Most Picturesque Work
“But his most picturesque work,
and that through which he is most
widely known, is the development of
the reindeer industry. The earlier
methods and results of this under
taking were under sharp criticism
from Secretary Hitchcock and his ad
visors under the Roosevelt Adminis
tration. Mr. Lopp was called to re
organize the industry. This he did
in such a manner as to conserve with
the utfnost care the interests of the
natives. The encroachments of those
who would exploit the reindeer herds
for commercial purposes instead of
using them for educational purposes
have given the Bureau of Education
much anxiety all through these years.
“Mr. Lopp shaped up a system of
training of native boys to be herd
ers, which is the most interesting ap
plication of educational processes to
the fundamental needs of a people
which I have ever known. Under th’s
system the native boy is put through
a systematic apprenticeship, four
years in length; receives the gift of
reindeer from the herd as he proves
his capacity to care for them and at
the end of his course is not only a
competent herder but has a herd of
his own and is able to marry and sup
port a family in native dignity and
comfort.
“I most earnestly hope that the re
port of Mr. Lopp’s retirement from
the Alaskan service will be found to
be incorrect, and that he will long con
tinue to lead this people, whcjm he has
made his own, as a fostering father,
both educationally and industrially.”
EDUCATION
What is an education worth? A
college dean of Boston puts the aver
age maximum income of the high
school graduate at $1,200 and of the
college graduate at $6,000. Yet there
is r.o fixed measure of the relative
value of trained men. Two who have
gone through the same curriculum
may be poles apart in the use they
make of their minds. One man owes
more to mother wit than the books
could teach him. But he who gets
farthest absorbs theory and learns
from practice too, says the Philadel
phia Ledger. The most skilled crafts
man at the work-bench does not pour
contempt on technical literature,
but consults it at every opportunity,
knowing where to put his finger on
the reference he wants.
T
OTEM
A XI
Phone 116
Ketchikan, Alaska. Jack King
v.
Ketchikan Grocery
R. W. Edmonds, Prop.
Redman Building Phone 71
Night—Green 233
Ketchikan, Alaska
ART’S SHOP
TUB, SHOWER
STEAM BATHS
Opposite Coliseum Theatre
DR. W.A. BORLAND
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat
Specialist
JUNEAU, ALASKA
C. M. CARLSON
Chiropractor
3pp. Bucey Motor Co.
Phone 262
Seamen’s Home
ENTERPRISE MACHINE WORKS, Inc.
Ketchikan, Alaska
Machinists, Blacksmiths, Welders
Phone 199
PETERSBURG MARINE WAYS
at Petersburg', Alaska
is equipped to handle your business
NOTARIES LIABILITY BONDS
CHARLES & HARDCASTLE
FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE
KETCHIKAN
r~
PIONEER CAFE
PIONEER BUILDING
IS A GOOD PLACE TO EAT
_j