752 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



which are a healthful addition' to their 

 usual diet of fish and meat. 



There are extensive regions in which 

 the services of a physician are not ob- 

 tainable. Accordingly, it often becomes 

 the duty of a teacher to treat minor 

 ailments, to render first aid to the in- 

 jured, or to care for a patient through 

 the course of a serious illness. 



The Bureau of Education fosters the 

 establishment of co-operative stores 

 and other co-operative enterprises 

 owned and managed by the natives 

 themselves. By thus relieving them- 

 selves of the burden of the profit 

 exacted by the middlemen, the natives 

 are able to secure the necessities of 

 life at the lowest prices and can at their 

 own local stores obtain equitable value 

 for their furs, ivory, woven baskets, 

 and other native products. 



The 70 school buildings are valued 

 at $247,411, and the school equipment 

 and furniture at $65,000. The appro- 

 priation for education is $200,000 a 

 year, of which $36,000 is used for 

 medical relief of the natives. The 

 school enrollment is approximately 

 4,000. About 1,500 native children in 

 remote villages are still to be provided 

 with school facilities. 



MEDICAL WORK. 



There is no specific appropriation 

 for the support of medical work among 

 the natives of Alaska. For several 

 years the Bureau of Education has been 

 striving, without success, to secure 

 funds for use in making proper and 

 adequate provision for the checking 

 and prevention of the diseases which, 

 beyond question, prevail to an alarm- 

 ing extent among the native races of 

 Alaska. It has succeeded in securing 

 a modification of the terms of the ap- 

 propriation for education of natives of 

 Alaska which enables it to employ ph) - 

 sicians and nurses. It cannot erect the 



hospitals which are so greatly needea. 



Realizing the absolute necessity for 

 action, the Bureau of Education is 

 using $36,000 of the $200,000 appro- 

 priated for the education of natives in 

 employing nine physicians, nine nurses, 

 in supplying the teachers with medical 

 chests for use in treating minor ailments 

 of the natives, also in maintaining three 

 improvised hospitals in school buildings 

 in centers of native population where 

 hospitals are most urgently needed, and 

 in making contracts with four hospitals 

 for the treatment of diseased natives. 



Nearly 1,800 cases were treated in 

 the hospitals at Juneau, Nushagak, Nu- 

 lato, and Kotzebue during 1912-1913. 

 The most prevalent diseases were tu- 

 berculosis, trachoma, rheumatism and 

 venereal diseases ; the surgical opera- 

 tions included excisions for tubercular 

 diseases of the bones, the removal of 

 tubercular glands, laparotomies, curet- 

 ting of ulcers, setting broken bones, 

 sewing up recent wounds, and excisions 

 of hemorrhoids, cataracts, abscesses, 

 tonsils, and adenoids. During the year 

 epidemics of infantile paralysis at St. 

 Michael and of diphtheria at Nulato 

 were checked by physicians employed 

 by the Bureau of Education. 



Referring to the medical work of the 

 Bureau of Education in Alaska, Dr. 

 Emil Krulish, Passed Assistant Sur- 

 geon, United States Public Health Ser- 

 vice, detailed to investigate health con- 

 ditions among the natives of Alaska, 

 makes the following statement in his 

 official report : 



"This improvement in the Sitka vil- 

 lage, which is an example of the im- 

 provement in other sections of Alaska, 

 I attribute chiefly to the influence and 

 efforts of physicians, nurses, teachers, 

 and hospitals now under the Bureau 

 of Education. It demonstrates the fact 

 that the outlook for the general im- 

 provement of the native is encouraging 

 and the task is feasible." 



