ALA8KA INDUSTRIES. 279 



ceeded in teaching a pupil to read or write a sentence in the English 

 language. Schools in charge of good, competent teachers, who have 

 other qualifications than those of being bookkeepers or seal clubbers, 

 should be insisted u[)on by the Department, and the school season 

 should be changed from the short, cold, dark, and blustering days of 

 winter, when, on account of the inclemency of the weather, the school 

 has to be discontinued for days at a time, to the more pleasant months 

 of summer. Kadical changes are absolutely necessary in these respects 

 if it is the desire of our Government to civilize, educate, and improve 

 this people. They should not only be taught the rudiments of the 

 English language, but also habits of industry, economy, cleanliness, 

 and morality. That these people are quick to learn and susceptible to 

 rapid improvement is demonstrated in the charity school at Unalaska, 

 conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Tuck. Six of the most promising orphans 

 on the islands were sent there in September, 1890, and I found on vis- 

 iting the school this year that they could talk the English language 

 quite fluently and read and write quite intelligently. The teachers as 

 well as the physicians should be employees of the Government, and be 

 entirely removed from the control and influence of local company 

 agents. Tliis view of the subject is held by all the agents and by all 

 other officials who have visited the islands and had their attention 

 called to the subject. 



The maintenance of the widows and orphans and aged and infirm is 

 construed by the lessees to apply to the supply of food only; conse- 

 quently, clothing and fuel up to the present time have had to be fur- 

 nished I'rom the natives' earnings or from other sources. The terms of 

 the lease are as follows: "And will provide the necessaries of life for 

 the widows and orphans and aged and infirm inhabitants of said 

 islands who are unable to provide for themselves." I take it that fuel 

 and clothing are as much the necessaries of life as food. The lessees' 

 agent agreed to provide fuel and clothing for this unfortunate class for 

 the coming year, but denies that it is a part of the conditions of their 

 lease, and requests that the Department rule upon the subject. 



A portion of my instructions required me to take an accounting of 

 all the necessary supplies furnished the natives by the lessees, other 

 than those required to be furnished under their lease, and for which the 

 natives are unable to pay. I find that by good management the natives 

 were well provided for last winter and spring, and but few of them were 

 in debt, and those for only small amounts, which I adjusted in the divi- 

 sion of earnings ($1,665.20), the proceeds of certain food skins taken in 

 1890 (Exhibits K and L), which I paid over to them July 4 of this year 

 under Department instructions of May 7. 



The division of the natives' earnings for this year's catch was made 

 at the close of the present season. My right to do so or the Secretary's 

 authority to make such a regulation was seriously questioned by the 

 1 lessees' agent, and he strongly protested against my action, but my 

 instructions were so clear upon that subject that, after having con- 

 sulted the native chiefs as to the wishes of the people, I made the divi- 

 sion as directed, and, as I believe, to the satisfaction of the native 

 inhabitants. (Exhibits M and jST.) Owing to the small catch this year, 

 and to the further fact tluit the savings of the natives from former 

 years are exhausted in most cases, it was necessary to make some 

 arrangement for their maintenance during the coming winter. I 

 addressed a letter to the general agent of the lessees on the subject, 

 and he assured me that necessary supplies would be issued as requested. 

 S-ubsequent to this, and while in San Francisco, the lessees' agent 



