Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 188, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1917 — The Eskimo Tells the World Why He Asks to be Left Alone [ARTICLE]

The Eskimo Tells the World Why He Asks to be Left Alone

“Why are you trying to educate the Eskimos? Why don’t you let them alone? They were happy and were able to exist before you began to change their mode of life.” These are the questions that are asked and answered in The Eskimo, a monthly magazine published at Nome, Alaska, in the Interests of Eskimos of the northwest district of Alaska. Walter. C. Shields, superintendent of the work of the bureau of education, department of the Interior, in northwestern Alaska, who writes the leading article In this new’ magazine- of the North, says: “The people who ask these questions, if they are really sincere enough to warrant any consideration, can be divided into two classes. First, those w’ho display their scientific knowledge by quoting the Ijiw of ‘the survival of the fittest,’ with the assumption that the Eskimo is not fit to survive. The second class claim a peculiar insight frame of mind of the ancient Eskimo, 'who, they assert, was an especially contented individual, and furthermore they insist that the Eskimo of today is not contented. Eskimo Fit and Able. “This set of critics insists on taking the position, indefensible in this day and generation, that education is a bad thing for a people. The claim of our service is that the Eskimo by reason of his inherent qualities and because of his geographical position is fit and able to survive, and we claim that by our system of education for him we are making him not only more fit to survive, but that he will "be a vital factor in the development of northern Alaska. “The Eskimo is not dependent. On the contrary, h£ is, even in the present condition, a real and vital factor in-the wealth of the country. He has never received a ration from the government; he can support himself, not always according to. our standards, it is true, but it is better for him to eat strictly native food than for him to learn to expect the government to support him. The wail so often heard from ignorant-but presumably charitable people, ‘Why don’t you-give the poor people some food?’ if heeded would make paupers of a self-sup-porting and noble race. We are proud of the fact that we have not fed the Eskimo. We are proud of him as « man because he feeds himself. “One reason why primitive races have so often been pushed to the wall by the white race has been that the white race has coveted and needed the land. As far as we can see, for years to come the white man will not make any attempt to push the Eskimo off his part of the map. While there will undoubtedly be developments in mining, yet for a long time to come the Eskimo will have plenty, of room in northern Alaska. Therefore, even if this nortiflern part of Alaska, through some unexpected devSoprfient, should become desirable for a large population, we believe that, with what development the Eskimo has already received and the additional development that even five years more of undisturbed possession of his northern fastnesses will,give him, he will be well fitted to meet advanced economic conditions. “The keynote of our school system for the Eskimo is its direct relation to the village life. Thus Ghe school republic becomes the village council, the school garden soon becomes the village garden, the cooking class becomes the bread-baking class the village, the clean-up of the school grounds becomes the village clean-up, the bench work for the boys’ Class becomes the boat and sled building center for the village. And, most striking of all, the 'schoolboy who cis sent to the reindeer herd as an apprentice in four years becomes the trained

herder, the supporter of his family and a future leader of his people. “We Want No Praise.” “We of the Alaska service are helping to bear the white man’s burden; we do not claim to be ministering to a dying race; we want no praise as helpers of the weak or as ministers to the.downtrodden who are dying in filth and degradation. We do not allow anyone to class us in these categories. That class of work is entirely humanitarian and is properly the duty of the missionary organizations. But as representatives of the government we claim the right of our service to exist because we are developing the resources of northern Alaska just as much as any man with a pick and pan. We are adding to the wealth of the nation just as much and as surely as any prospector or trailmaker. We are making a country productive just as much as any reclamation project that was ever managed by the government." The teachers and others who have established The Eskimo have been formerly congratulated by United States commissioner of education for their enterprise in Inaugurating the magazine. Doctor Claxton believes that itjwlll be of direct help t© the service of the bureau of. education in Alaska.