552 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



DKrAltTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 



TVasliington, D. C, March 3, lSfi5. 



Sir: Section 13 of the act providing a civil government for Alaska devolves upon 

 the Secretary of the Interior the duty of niakiiig needful and inoper i>rovisiou for 

 the education of children of school age in that Territory until permaneut provision 

 shall be made for the same. 



The nature of the duties assigned by section 516 of the Revised .Statutes to the 

 Commissioner of Education would seem to point him out as th(^ jiroper officer through 

 whom the purpose T)f Congress should be carried into execution. 



I have to request, therefore, that yon prepare a plan of operation and initiate such 

 steps as are necessary and proper for carrying into effect the legislation above referred 

 to, reporting the results of the same as may be hereafter directed by the Secretary of 

 the Interior or whenever in your judgment there may be occasion for so doing. 

 Very respectfullj', etc., 



H. M. Teller, Secretary. 



The Commissioner of Education. 



It Avas a work of great magnitude, in a new and untried field, and 

 with unknown difiQculties. It was a work so unlike any other that the 

 experience of the past in other Departments could not be the sole guide. 

 It was a problem peculiar to itself, and must be worked out by and for 

 itself. It covered an area of one-sixth of the United States. The 

 schools to be established would be from 4,000 to 6,000 miles from head- 

 quarters at Washington and from 100 to 1,000 miles from one another; 

 and that in an inaccessible country, only one small corner of which has 

 any public means of intercommunication. The teachers of five schools 

 in southeastern Alaska would be able to receive a monthly mail; the 

 larger number of the others could only receive a chance mail two or 

 three times a year, and still others only one annually. 



It was to establish English schools among a people the larger portion 

 of whom do not speak or understand the English language, the diffi- 

 culties of which will be better appreciated if you conceive of an attempt 

 being made to instruct the children of New York or Georgia iu arith- 

 metic, geography, and other common-school branches through the 

 medium of Chinese teachers and text-books. Of the 3(>,()00 people in 

 Alaska, not over 2,000 speak the English tongue, and they are mainly 

 iu three settlements. 



It was to instruct a people, the greater portion of whom are uncivi- 

 lized, who need to be taught sanitary regulations, the laws of health, 

 improvement of dwellings, better methods of housekeeping, cooking, 

 and dressing, more remunerative forms of labor, honesty, chastity, the 

 sacredness of the marriage relation, and everything that elevates man. 

 So that, side by side with the usual school drill in reading, writing, 

 and arithmetic, there is need of instruction for the girls in housekeep- 

 ing, cooking, and gardening, in cutting, sewing, and mending; and for 

 the boys in carpentering and other forms of woodworking, boot and 

 shoe making, and the various trades of civilization. 



It was to furnish educational advantages to a people, large classes 

 of whom are too ignorant to appreciate them, and who reijuire some 

 form of pressure to oblige them to keep their children in school regu- 

 larly. It was a system of schools among a people who, while in the 

 main only partially civilized, yet have a future before them as Ameri- 

 can citizens. 



It was the establishment of schools in a region where not only the 

 schoolhouse but also the teacher's residence must be erected, and where 

 a portion of tlie material must be transported from 1,500 to 4,500 miles, 

 necessitating a corresponding increase in tlie school expenditure. 



It was the linding of properly qualified teachers who, for a moderate 

 salary, would be willing to exile themselves from all society, and some 



