332 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



Government exercised only the same supervision that it would over 

 any of our dependent Indian tribes should a similar emergency arise. 

 It was simply an attempt on the part of the Department to stand 

 between the ignorant, credulous natives and what was believed to be 

 an unjustifiable action on the part of their church officials. 



Exact status of tlie fund unlxnoivn. — It should be further remembered, 

 in considering the question of its restoration, that the exact status of 

 this money is not known. It is supposed that it is to go the way of 

 some $16,000 or $18,000 that have been loaned by this church congre- 

 gation to the consistory at iSan Francisco, and upon which the latter 

 promised to pay interest, but not a dollar of which has yet been 

 received by the natives, while for the ])rincipal of the loan not even an 

 accou)iting has been made. It formed ])art of a scandal affecting the 

 former bishop, Vladimir, who was removed under circumstances which 

 left doubt in the minds of the public as to his honesty and general 

 uprightness of character. The uncertainty as to the fate of this loan 

 was a subject of comment by the natives upon the islands, and did they 

 possess the requisite knowledge of American affairs, they would insti- 

 tute suit for such an accounting. No other native people in that region 

 are so sedulously looked alter as these Pribilof Islanders in the matter 

 of contributions to the church, but ])roper attention is not paid by tlie 

 consistory of San Francisco to their material or real moral welfare; 

 and now that they have become dependents on the Government, by 

 reason of the depleted condition of the rookeries, it would seem to be 

 the duty of the Government to devise some means to protect them 

 against the organization which, claiming spiritual control over them, 

 exercises that control to enrich itself. 



The consistory knows that this money was devoted to the welfare of 

 the needy natives, and the fact that it still demands it for its own uses 

 is clearest evidence that it is indifferent to the interests of tlie natives 

 or to their condition. No pretense is made by the consistory that the 

 natives have been deprived of any benefits, but the soreness arises 

 from the fact that it is the loser. If the consistory disiilays such 

 activity in securing what it claims as its own, it would seem to be 

 almost a duty on the part of the Government to assure itself that the 

 future of the money previously referred to as belonging to its wards, 

 the ignorant, timid natives of those two little isolated islands, is not 

 jeopardized, especially when the church official (o Avhom it was intrusted 

 has apparently been found derelict by his superiors. 



Indif'erence of consistory to natives'' needs. — The bishop who is now so 

 solicitous concerning the recovery of this money for the church failed 

 utterly in all matters of courtesy w^hen calling at the island last sum- 

 mer. His coming was welcomed by the Government officials, they 

 believing that it would furnish them an opportunity for conference 

 looking to the welfare of the natives, but he made no effort to acquaint 

 himself from reliable sources with the condition of the natives, nor 

 manifested the slightest concern as to their progress or material wel- 

 fare, while he did not even call at the village of St. George, from which 

 no contribution could be ex])ected. 



That the natives do not teel especially aggrieved by the return of the 

 money is indicated by the fact that they to an individual accepted it, 

 realizing as they did their needy condition. 



Oorermnenfs action no ititerference with religious liberty. — This action 

 of the Government can not justly be construed as interference with the 

 religious liberty of the people, but must be looked at in the light of an 

 attemi)t merely to protect its wards. 



