ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 295 



indnstrial school here where the children may have a truly Christian woman to 

 guide and direct them as they grow up to maturity, oue who will direct them as 

 their unfortunate ])arents have never been directed. 



I advocate the employment of teachers of long and varied experience, men and 

 women of character, whose blameless lives shall be a guaranty of the success of the 

 school, and who nre, withal, devoted to the work for the sake of the good to be 

 accomplished, and who are not above stooping down to lift up the poor aud lowly 

 ones in whose welfare so very few take an interest. 



There arc at present on St. Paul Island 25 boys and 37 girls, who are over 5 and 

 under 18 years of age, who ought to be under the immediate care and control of 

 such teachers as I have suggested. With such care and safeguards thrown around 

 tliem they would grow up to be useful men and women, morally pure, physically 

 healthy, and mentally improved — a credit to us all. 



During the mouth of September, 1890, I sent 6 orphan girls to the school at Una- 

 laska, and in .Tune, 1891, I visited them there and found them so much changed for 

 the better in every respect that I am sorry there is no room in the school to accom- 

 modate a few more of the orphans on St. Paul, who have no one to care for them as 

 children should be cared for. 



As w^e have so many children on the islands, and as their parents object to let 

 them go to Unalaska to scliool, even if tluire were accommodations there for them, 

 1 respectfully submit that an industrial school be established here as soon as pos- 

 sible, and that its entire management shall be under the exclusive control of the 

 Government. I am well aware of the fact that my suggestions for so many changes 

 in behalf of the natives may look like extravagance and be ridiculed by all who 

 would continue the present system, but I know the people are deserving of all I 

 am asking, and I have faith in their pledges that the confidence reposed in them 

 will not Ifi' abused. 



It is true they are poor and lowly and illiterate, and ignorant of many things 

 known to the more fortunate of mankind; but their fidelity to Government inter- 

 ests, their love of order, and their obedience to law compels all who fairly study the 

 situation to honor and respect them. 



Ignoring, for the time l)eing, the moral obligations we are under to do all in our 

 power to save them from extinction, and coming down to the question of expense, 

 we find that the actual cost of making the changes suggested would be so small in 

 proportion to the good accomplished in saving and civilizing a people so worthy, 

 that it would be a shame to allow such a consideration to retard the good work for 

 a moment. 



I left St. Paul Island on August 28, and at that time the natives were in fairly 

 good health, and, as there has been 100 tons of coal landed for their use, and as the 

 lessees have brought a plentiful supply of food and clothing of a quality much bet- 

 ter than usual, I expect they will be comfortable and well supplied during the 

 winter so far as their physical wants are concerned. 



In accordance with your instructions, I have written up the census of June 30, 

 1891, and I herewith transmit a copy of the same, which shows a decrease in popula- 

 tion of 16 persons since .Tanuary 1, 1890, a period of eighteen months. It also shows 

 that we have 47 more females than males, and that 26 of that surplus are widows. 



I respectfully suggest that an effort be made to induce j'onng men to come here 

 from any or all of the islands of the Aleutian chain. The plan should be to bring 

 none but young, healthy men, who would come to marry and make permanent homes, 

 and to take but a few from each island. By recruiting from all of the islands a few 

 young men might be obtained from each without injury to any; but the idea of 

 removing the entire population of one island is a very unwise one, because the people 

 as a whole do not desire it, nor would it be just to the lessees to encumber them with 

 so many who are old and helpless. The subject requires the serious consideration of 

 the Department and deserves the attention of all who are interested in the welfare 

 of the seal islands and of their inhabitants. 



A controversy, extending over the civilized world, is now being carried on as to 

 the causes which have led to the destruction of the fur seal in so short a space of 

 time, and many plausible theories have been advanced by men of scientific attain- 

 ment and sound knowledge who are earnestly endeavoring to solve the problem, and 

 also by men who have no interest in the matter beyond that of distorting facts for 

 the sake of present gain and profit to themselves and friends at the expense of valu- 

 able vested rights and in defiance of law and reason. 



Every imaginable cause is named as the one, except that of pelagic hunting, while 

 it is a well-established fact which admits of no contradiction that the seals are being 

 exterminated by incessant hunting in the Pacific Ocean aud Bering Sea by a fleet of 

 vessels fitted out for that avowed purpose. 



The official records show that after the Alaska Commercial Company had taken 

 100,000 Beals every year from 1870 to 1883, a period of thirteen years, the seals had 



