Show MANY NEW WAY M irs TO AID ALASKANS washington while educators have spoken of what education ought to do and have propounded th theories eairles the bur don den of 0 which has been that education and life should bo be si synonymous nony one part of the lie united states has been experiencing i perien cing shelf an ideal in actual practice in ili alaska each scho schoolhouse ih si is 14 a social center for the accomplish mont of practical ends many of the buildings in ili addition to the recitation room contain also kitchen hitchen quarters of the teacher and a laundry and baths for the use of the native com emilty every teacher Is a social worker every district superintendent ten lent in ing his widely separated schools must travel vast distances by sled over the trackless wilderness frequently lie he must risk his life on treacherous tempest tempestuous itous waters in a native cabo cadoo or small power bosit boat lie ile must endure the violence of the northern storms the rigors of the arctic winter and the foul foulness fiess of the native huts in which slie lie must often find shelter directed by bureau of education this work la Is cart cabied tell on under the supervision of the bureau of education slid and the details of 0 current operation are reported upon by william hamill ton lie ile tells that there are in alaska approximately natives in vil til laps inges ranging aiom 30 or 40 up to or persons scattered along thousands of miles of coast line and on the great rivers some of the villages on i emote islands or beside the fro frozen zen ocean are brou brought into touch with the outside world only once or tice a year wh whan n i leitell by a united states boasi coast guard steamer on its annual cruise or by the supply vessel sent by the lie bureau of education many of th the settlements have no regular mall service and can communicate with one another and with tile the outside world only by occasionally passing boats la ia summer and sleds in winter wanter during eight months of the year all tile the Nil lages in alaska alatka with the exception of those on the southern const are reached only by trails over the snow covered land or frozen rivers in spite ot of the difficulties of the problem a united states public school has been established in ili each of seventy villages in many instances the 9 school hool is the only elevating power ioner in the community tuberculosis pneumonia rh rheumatism eurna t sni and venereal diseases prevail to an all alarming extent in many of the native lalive villages and in its endeavor to L safeguard afe I 1 feg guard the health of the natives of alaska the bureau of education maintains hospitals in five important centers center ter it employs physicians and nurses who devote themselves to medical and sanitary work and provides medical supplies and textbooks to the teachers te to enable them to treat minor ailments allinen ts and intelligently to supervise hygienic measures there are extensive regions LIL il atch the services of a physician fire are not obtainable accordingly according ly it often becomes the duty of a teacher to render first aid to the injured InJure fl or to care tor for it patient la tient through throng it the lie course of a serious allness Jl ll ness supervise operative cooperative co stoie another duty of the teacher ii 14 to supervise the operative cooperative co store which la is owned anil and managed by the natives who iho deal in everything but refrigerators r strange to say the governa government ent of 0 the white man has to protect the native from the ii white hite roan man himself to secure the native from the intrusions of the unscrupulous trader the bureau of education has adopted the policy of 0 establishing reservations to which large numbers of natives can be attracted and where they can obtain fish and game and conduct their own industrial and commercial enterprises the settlement at noorvik No orvik on the kobuk river in arctic alaska Is one of the most conspicuous successes of at this policy with their advancement in civilization the eskimos living at deering on the bleak sea const coast craved a new home lack of timber compelled them to live in the semi underground hovels hovel of their ancestors while the killing off of game animals made it increasingly difficult to obtain food an uninhabited tract on the bank of the kobuk river 15 miles square abounding in game fish and timber was res reserved arved by executive order tor foi these eskimos and thither they migrated in the summer of 1915 on tills this tract in the are tic wilderness the colonists under the leadership of the teachers within two years have built a village with well itald out streets neat single family lio houses uses gardens a mercantile company a Faw sawmill mill tin an electric light plants plant and wireless telegraph station which keeps them in touch it ith the outside world |