GOV. BONE PREDICTS
ALASKA STATEHOOD
Statehood within four years is the
dream of Alaska, according to Scott
Bone, Governor of the Territory, now
here on a furlough.
“Alaska is slowdy getting ready
for statehood,” said Governor Bone
at the National Republican Club.
“As yet we suffer from a lack of
population which would militate
against us with Congress undoubt
edly. There has been no material
gain since the 1020 census, although
there has been a steady growth. We
believe that with the development of
Alaska’s natural resources and the
onward march of industry there will
be an incidental jump in the popula
tion in the next four years which
may warrant a demand for state
hood.”
Six hundred thousand square miles
in area, Alaska has only 60,000 inhab
itants, of which one-half is made up
of Indians and Eskimos and one
half of whites.
Alaska, according to its Chief Ex
ecutive, is now beginning to come
face to face with serious political
problems. One is the enfranchise
ment of the Indians. Governor Bone
believes this may call for some ac
tion by Congress, imposing an edu
cational test. For the most part
these new voters are illiterates, in
tellectually but poorly equipped to
exercise the right to vote. Nor are
they owners of any considerable
property and the white property
owners in the southern part of the
State feel quite as badly about this
new emancipation as did the South
ern whites when the negroes were
enfranchised.
Natives Voted in Blocs
“This is particularly true in elec
tions where questions of taxation or
the choice of legislators are concern
ed,” said Governor Bone. “They are
frequently voted in blocs by bosses
of their own race and this is bitter
ly lesented by persons whose prop
erty may be affected by legislation.
We have a small legislative body,
composed of only eight Senators and
sixteen Representatives.
The Alaskans feel that their terri
tory, with its tremendous hoard of
natural wealth, has been the neg
lected stepchild of Uncle Sam long
enough, according to the Governor.
“Alaska,” he said, “is the least
understood civilized commonwealth
cn the earth. It is not the vast up
heaval of snow and ice that it is
generally supposed to be. It has an
equable climate and is an inhabita
ble, ard even an inviting land. Its
ports, with one exception, are open
all the year round, so that there is
constant communication writh the
outside world through Vancouver and
Seattle.”
GIVING THE INDIANS A
CHANCE
(From New York Times.)
How our Indian policy has changed
from one of extermination to one of
friendly aid during the last hundred
years is excellently shown in a re
view of the first century of the In
dian Bureau just issued by the
Board of Indian Commissioners.
Warfare has given way to education,
destruction to protection. Tribes
that a hundred years ago were in a
state of naked savagery are now en
joving the benefits of modern civili
zation. This change is indeed great
—though it was slow in coming, hav
ing mostly taken place during the
last few decades—and there is hope
that never again will the Indians
be treated so shamefully as they
were during the first half of the
last century. The record is one of
broken promises, of rapacity and ol
greedy violence on the part of the
white men until quite recently. Even
today there are still unscrupulous
individuals possessed of the old fron
tier idea that “the only good Indian
is a dead Indian,” who would like to
rob the Indians of what remains to
them of their birthright. Against
these the Indian Bureau and the var
ious non-governmental associations
for the protection of Indians have
had to make a constant fight. Upon
the Indian Bureau necessarily has
fallen the brunt of this work, and to
its credit be it said that duiing tin
last twenty-five years it has done
all that was in its power to protect
and help the Indians.
There is now before the country a
robiem which will require the com
ined wisdom of the Indians them
elves, of the Government, and ot
ducators and missionaries to solve,
’his is, how to adjust the Indian
o his modern environment. Almost
11 the Indians are now in contact
,*ith our civilization. The young
tors have been educated m oui
chool and speak English. In tins
rocess they have necessarily been
,-eaned away from their tribal cus
oms. Experience has shown that
n too many cases what we have
;iven them is not a substitute for
'hat they have lost. They are fae
d with the double task-first of
ompeting economically with the
rtiite man, and second, of finding
social and spiritual place in the
,-hite man’s world.
Of the two the former is perhaps
he easier. Indians can and have
ieen taught to become good farmers,
nechanics, carpenters, plumbers and
lembers of other trades. Too of
en, however, they are unwilling to
save their tribal groups, as they
fiust do if they are to profit from
ducation, Those who leave find
tiemselves isolated from the new
world, and very often when :hey re
turn to the reservation are even iso
lated from their own people. To
provide for adjustment requires un
usual thought and care.
This has raised the entire question
of the advisability of breaking down
the Indian’s own traditions and cul
ture. Among the tribes of the South
west in particular is this a problem.
There the Pueblo Indians had a well
developed civilization of their own
before Plymouth or New York was
discovered. Today these Indians have
their own strongly marked culture,
and produce pottery and embroider
ies which have a commercial as well
as an artistic value. The same is
true, to a lesser degree, of their
neighbors, the Navajoes. In the de
sire to “Americanize” these native
Americans, there has been a subtle
but persistent effort to break up
their tribal organization and in par
ticular to undermine their religious
life by interfering with their cere
monial dances. Most efforts in this
direction have been in a spirit of
benevolent ignorance of the fact
that the Indian’s culture is intimate
ly bound up with his religion, and
that the religion is expressed out
wardly by the dances. A few indi
viduals have attempted to bring
pressure to break up the religious
iife on the ground that some of
these dances were “immoral.” Such
persons would undoubtedly be . as
tonished to learn that many Indians
look upon our own dancing as gross
ly indecent.
For the whole Indian problem there
is no general solution. Different
tribes in different regions must be
handled differently. The principal
need is for greater tolerance on all
sides. The Indian Bureau has come
in for much unjust criticism. Well
meaning people have shown an
amazing lack of understanding of
the Indian’s own life. Some of the
associations bent on helping the In
dians have been unwise enough to
endeavor to instill in some of the
Indian tribes false ideas that they
are being persecuted. Others have
circulated malicious falsehoods about
the Indian ceremonies. Few have
paid any real attention to the In
dians’ own plea—that they be left
alone, to live their own lives without
interference from those who would
destroy their culture or make them
change their religion. In shaping
the future Indian policy of the Gov
ernment, this aspect of the case de
serves especial consideration.
The Majority Model
“Yes, my friends,” said the theo
logical lecturer, ‘some admire Moses,
who instituted the old law; some,
Paul, who spread the new. But af
ter all, which character in the Bible
has had the largest following?” As
he paused, a voice from the back
bench shouted: “Ananias!”—Colum
bia State.