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them, to the respectable and civilized people that they 

 now are. Whatever they are to-day Mr. Duncan has 

 made them, and he himself and no other is responsible 

 for the change in the individuals that have been born and 

 lived and died, and still live in this colony during the 

 period of his wise and beneficent influence over them. 

 He has kept them by themselves, teaching them to live 

 as the white man lives, and yet not letting the white man 

 come in among them. They govern themselves in town- 

 meeting fashion, consulting Mr. Duncan frequently as to 

 what they ought to do. Liquor is unknown among them, 

 except when occasionally some of the young men go off 

 to a distance to visit other villages, or to work in other 

 canneries, and while absent drink and get into trouble. 

 Then they return to Metlakahtla and receive good advice, 

 and are strengthened anew to resist temptation. 



Within the past two or three years, since the discovery 

 of gold in Alaska, persistent efforts have been made to in- 

 duce Congress to deprive these Indians of the home they 

 have made for themselves on Annette Island; it has 

 been proposed to confine the Indians to a small portion 

 of the island, and to throw the remainder open to settle- 

 ment. The ostensible reason advanced for such a course 

 is that deposits of precious metal have been found on the 

 island, and ought to be worked. As a matter of fact, this 

 is not true. The island has never been prospected at all, 

 for the reason that whenever white men land Mr. Dun- 

 can's police promptly arrest and expel them. This is 

 done in accordance with the agreement made with the 

 colony by the United States Government, which, before 

 they moved to Annette Island, promised that if they 

 would take it for their home they should never be dis- 

 turbed. This promise should be kept. To open a part 

 of this island to settlement, as proposed, would be to de- 

 prive the Indians of their means of subsistence, for it 



