ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 293 



given it in an annual report, but it will be sufficient at present for me to say that the 

 entire sanitary arrangement here needs an overhauling. 



1 do not say thrs by way of complaint against the former or present lessees, but 

 simply as a statement of fact. 



Had the Treasury agents pursued a policy somewhat different to that followed for 

 so many years, and had the people been treated as human beings should be treated, 

 and not as beasts of burden or slaves; had they insisted on a policy of kindness to 

 all and protection to the native's wife and daughter, then the natives of the seal 

 islands would have been far advanced in civilization, and might have been a com- 

 paratively healthy and happy as well as a useful people. Unfortunately the greater 

 part of twenty years has been allowed to pass away without an effort being made to 

 do much more for the natives than to take them out of the old sod houses of Russian 

 times and put them in comfortable frame cottages. 



It is a disgrace to those who remained silent on the subject that there is not, even 

 yet, a water supply for the natives nearer than half a mile; that there is no drain- 

 age; that there is not a water-closet, except one for the school children, and that the 

 filth and garbage of the entire village is left to decay in holes dug in front of or near 

 the dwelling. 



During the past winter, when the snow was several feet deep on the level and from 

 5 to 10 feet deep in drifts, it was hard work for the strongest men to reach the well 

 from which the natives draw their supply of water, and it was often utterly impos- 

 sible for women to reach it, and consequently they depended for months on melted 

 snow for water for domestic purposes. 



All this suffering could be easily avoided by the wise expenditure of a few thou- 

 sand dollars to pay for the machinery necessary to pump and force the water into 

 the village; and I respectfully refer the matter to the serious consideration of the 

 Department. 



That a system of drainage properly constructed would add to the comforts of the 

 people and prevent a great deal of sickness is a self-evident proposition to every one 

 who has looked below the surface to investigate the subject, and it can not be estab- 

 lished too soon if we would save the remnant of the natives from extinction. 



For the sake of common decency and good morals, as well as for health, it is nec- 

 essary that a suitable water-closet be erected for every family. 



The fuel question is one that continues to come to the front every succeeding sea- 

 son, and it should bo settled once and forever. 



The lease calls for 80 tons of coal for the natives of St. Paul and St. George — 30 

 tons to St. George and 50 tons to St. Paul ; and the lessees have supplied every pound 

 of it. But 80 tons is not enough, and more coal is an absolute necessity. 



During October, 1890, when nearly every family on St. Paul Island had its quota 

 of sick, I issued coal, and continued to issue it through the winter at about the rate 

 of 10 pounds a day to the family until March, when I had to cease the further issue 

 of coal to heads of families and giA'^e it to the widows, sick, and aged persons only. 

 When they were killing the full quota of 85,000 seals on St. Paul, and the men were 

 earning from $300 to $600 per annum, it was the custom to burn the fat or blubber 

 of the seals and to buy coal from the lessees whenever it was needed. 



But now there is no blubber, and the earnings are very small — far too small to be 

 spent for coal at li cents per pound, or $33.60 per ton. 



I am well aware that you will be informed of the existence of plenty of driftwood 

 strewn in large quantities along the beach, and of the laziness of the men who neg- 

 lect to gather it for liring; but when one knows that the driftwood is not so very 

 plentiful, and that it has been water-soaked for months, and that it is next to an 

 impossibility to dry it in this damp climate, it is easily understood what a nuisance 

 it must be to cook by or live near a fire made from such wood, which must be smeared 

 over with blubber before it will burn. 



If for no other reason than that of forever doing away with the use of blubber, the 

 present quantity of coal ought to be inci-eased. This blubber is stripped from the 

 seals during the killing season of .June and July, and is stored in tubs, barrels, boxes, 

 etc., until wanted for use in cold weather, by which time it has become rancid or 

 rotten to such a degree that it is unfit to be allowed under the roof of civilized man, 

 much less to be used to cook his food and warm his cottage. 



Again, in order to obtain the firewood spoken of, it is oftentimes necessary to go 

 across the island, a distance of 8 miles, through deep snow, for as much wood as a 

 man can carry homo on his back. That men sometimes sit down in despair and let 

 their families suffer with cold, or that they squander their money for coal at the 

 enormous price of $33.60 per ton, rather than undergo such hardships for a back load 

 of wet wood is not at all to be wondered at. 



They must have more coal. Two hundred tons is not too much for the natives of 

 St. Paul Island if they are to have a fire every day, and since coming into Bering 

 Sea I have not seen a day when a good fire was not a necessity to every family. 

 Indeed, I find they have bought and paid for out of their scanty earnings 153,650 



