PUR SEALS AND OTHER LIFE, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, 1914. 1 37 



cases the children in the family were made to suffer through deprivation of proper clothing and some- 

 times food . 



At the end of the year the sum of $632.48 was unused from the natives' fund and remained for dis- 

 tribution. This amount was divided among the sealers, tlie first-class men receiving about $32 each and 

 the lower grades in proportion. This money was nearly all spent in the store for articles of general use. 

 No portion of it, as stated, was used to create or to increase savings accoimts in bank. It is reported, 

 however, that the natives were greatly pleased with tlie plan as operated and under it many of them 

 came into possession of more money than they ever owned before. 



The net result of this one year's experiment is not large. It shows that the natives desire their 

 earnings in cash rather than a mere credit. It shows also that if paid in cash for their labor in taking 

 sealskins, etc., the greater portion, if not nearly all, of their money would be used for the same purpose 

 for which the credit is used, namely, the purchase of the necessaries of life. It shows that under the 

 present communal system the natives are not desirous of creating permanent savings funds because of 

 their inability to profit greatly by the result of the self-denial necessary to create the fund. 



It must be stated that conditions were not favorable for carrying the operation of this plan beyond 

 the mere point of inducing the natives to cmlail their use of the necessaries of life to a minimum. It 

 was impossible to demonstrate to them that any particular benefit would follow this saving, because 

 there was nothing they might obtain with their savings except the bare necessities of life, of which they 

 had deprived themselves in order to create the savings fund. And, having saved, all they could buy was 

 what they could have had without saving. Under the present system it is not permitted to purchase 

 for island use anything but the barest necessaries of life. Articles from the use of which the average 

 citizen finds enjoyment or benefit, and by means of which he is able to bring his life above the level of 

 mere animal existence, are not allowed to be purchased for sale on the islands. Neither can the native 

 improve his mind and broaden his education by travel , because no means of transportation are available. 

 His clothing is of a certain fixed grade each year; if he desires a better suit or an unusual article of 

 clothing he can not purchase it because it is not in the store; nor can he order it unless through some 

 cumbersome private arrangement almost impossible to make. In short, he is held down to the use of a 

 greatly circumscribed class of merchandise, on an isolated spot of the universe, in which use he must 

 live and die, practically without power to alter the condition. 



Why, therefore, should the native save money? Money has no value unless it can be used as a 

 medium of exchange. The mere hoarding of it induces no satisfaction or comfort to any normal person. 

 The reward of self-denial exists in the possibilities for greater enjoyment and greater comfort created as 

 the result of the self -discipline. If the native has no use for his money after saving it, he will not save 

 it; neither will anyone. To carry out successfully any scheme of this character, it is necessary to 

 broaden the possibilities of the native's purchasing power. He must be able to buy desirable and attrac- 

 tive articles at least to the amount of his savings. 



Everywhere, except to these people, a prize is offered for thrift. It should be held out to them, too. 

 For example, it should be so arranged that the shiftless must wear poor clothing, but the provident may 

 wear better. The provident, industrious man should be able to obtain better food than his careless 

 and lazy neighbor. Under the present system this is impossible. This situation could be adjusted 

 readily by a private concern, and it should present no more difficulties to the Government. 



NEED roR BROADENED OPPORTUNITY. 



Since the killing of seals has been stopped on the islands, except a few for food, and because of the 

 material reduction in the appropriation by Congress for the natives' support, the system of cash pay- 

 ments has, unfortunately, been discontinued after only one year of trial. The building up of the moral 

 and intellectual fiber of a people is a matter of generations, not of years, even under ideal conditions. 

 In the case of these natives, not only should precept and example be afforded , but an intelligent readjust- 

 ment of conditions on the islands should be made to give point and object to mere academic advice. 



It may seem from the foregoing that because no greater results were obtained from this experiment 

 it is useless to attempt to lead the natives to greater self-reliance and thrift. It is believed, however, 

 that such object is not so near an impossibility as supposed. The cause should be sought in the system, 

 not the native. The instinct of self-preservation is as highly developed in these natives as in the more 

 effete races, and this instinct forms the basis of all desire to lay by something of what is in hand to insure 



