The Lomens of Nome-Reindeer Herders
THE LOMENS OF NOME
In direct violation of law, the
present Judge Lomen of Nome
connived and did persuade the
Lutheran Mission at Teller to
sell the Lomen Company its fe
male reindeer.
When Judge Lomen offered to
buy the reindeer of the Swedish
Evangelical Mission at Golovin,
Judge Lomen was informed on
July 14th, 1915 as follows:
“The Mission Board could not
dispose of their female deer
without violation of their con
tract with the government.”
Nevertheless, Judge Lomen
continued to persuade the vari
ous Missions to violate their
agreements not to sell reindeer
and went so far as to interpret
the law to them thus—“If the
deer were sold to them (the Lo
mens) under the present con
tract the Government could
penalize the Board to the ex
tent ONLY of confiscating the
number in the herd of deer
which were over and above the
original number in the herd at
the time the contract was
made..”
When the Lomens were push
ing the natives off the Buckland
range, mixing herds to the de
triment of the natives, and re
fusing to “unmix” them when
iequested, Alfred Lomen wrote
“The contract was at least bind
ing upon those who signed for
themselves, and as to whether
they understood or not is a
matter for judicial determina
tion and not that of the Bu
reau.” Fat chance for the poor
native with Judge Lomen on
the bench to make this “judicial
determination.”
When it developed that sever
al signed the agreement with
out understanding it, Alfred Lo
men said “Silence is consent.”
When the Bureau of Educa
tion told the Lomens that the
natives insisted on separating
the herds, Alfred Lomen wrote:
“If you proceed with the sepa
ration as you state that you will,
and should cause damage to
our herd, we will hold you re
sponsible for such damage.”
Alfred Lomen knew when he
wrote that letter that his father
was the judge o.t that district,
and yet he does not hesitate to
make such threats.
In writing this short article,
we make no statements that are
not based on writings of the
parties interested, the Missions,
the Bureau of Education, and
the Lomens.
The conclusion is inevitable
that Judge Lomen knew the Mis
sions had no right to sell the
reindeer and yet he connived
and encouraged their sale and
purchase: that the Laps went
onto the Buckland range as tres
passers and afterwards mixed
the herds; that after the herds
wTere mixed, the Lomens pur
chased the Lap herds and then
devised a scheme cf herding the
reindeer for the Natives where
by the Natives would lose all;
and that Alfred Lomen took un
ethical advantage of the fact
that his father was the judge
and made threats of lawsuits to
stop the Natives from doing
what they had a right to do—
namely, separate and herd their
own deer instead of paying Lo
men to do it.
We expect to reread “The
Spoilers.”
X
If the tide’s out, tide’s bound
to come back, you know. And as
sailors say, it’s generally at low
tide that you find things worth
riekirg u>—Katklron r>.
CATS, GOATS STRUGGLE
ON LONELY ISLAND
“A hundred and fifty miles
out in the Pacific, off the coast
of Mexico,” says a writer in The
Wide World Magzine, “lies the
uninhabited island of Guada
lupe. It is about twenty-one
miles long by half as wide,—a
huge rock, almost continuously
girdled with cliffs rising in the
center to an elevation of 4,523
feet from the sea. Early explor
ers left goats and house cats on
the island and these have multi
plied until now there are belived
to be about 10.000 goats and
probably 50,000 cats.
“The result has been that all
vegetation has virtually disap
peared under the onslaught of
the goats, while the hordes of
cats have exterminated what
ever wild mammal and bird life
formerly existed.
“What will become of both
goats and cats when their food
supply has been entirely ex
hausted is an interesting pro
blem. but I do not think I should
care to be marooned on the is
land when that state of affairs
comes to pass.”
-X
HELP.—We wish to thank our
neighbors and friends, and es
pecially the members of the K.
K. K., who so kindly assisted in
the death and burial of our fath
er and uncle—Card of thanks
in the New Castle (Pa(. News.
Among all the arts music
alone can be purely religious.—
Madame de Stael.
One-half of the world must
sweat and groan that the other
l all may dream.—Lan^fel.ow.