^p—B——Hgi! Fi i, . —rrt
DTHE JLUSKO lij .6
A- X. Grant, Publisher, Sole
Owner and Editor.
Published Every Saturday
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Entered as secona-cHtss matter Au
gust 35th, 1023, at the postoffice at
•Tokotna, Alaska, under the Act ad
March 3, 1878.
Takotna, Alaska, Nov. 30, 1920
iDR. W. J. COOPER TALKS OF
EDUCATION, ESPECIALLY AS
IT PERTAINS TO ALASKA
In order to better understand the
.conditions and problems of Alaska,
Dr. W. J. Cooper, U. S. Commissioner
,of Education, paid Alaska a visit dur
ing the past summer. Before leaving
■SSpattle for the North, Dr. Cooper
.delivered a radio address, from Se
attle, a perusal of which will prove
most interesting to those interested
in the subject of education:
“There has been a general agree
ment among both real philosophers
.and all serious thinkers in every
period of the world’s history to the
.effect that education is absolutely es
sential to civilization and to what we
.ordinarily call progress. There has
ibeen no such agreement, however,
upon two important questions con
cerned with education. In fact, there
;,has been serious disagreement on
.these issues: First—who shall be ed
ucated ? Second—under whose con
.trol and direction shall the educa
tional system be?
“In Europe;, especially in the years
prior to the great war, ea .h nation
jhad its own particular educational j
.policy, Jn some of the southeastern
.countries fully half of the people or
jmore were actually illiterate, and the
.governments appeared to be not seri
ously concerned with this condition,
jin other European countries the per- i
..centage of illiteracy was almost noth- j
jing; in fact they put the United,
^States to shame in this respect. But,!
in most of these nations where all
(People were educated, virtually two
.systems of schools were provided: A i
.small group of people—in all, about
jtep per cent—were trained to be lead
ers in one system. The great major
ity of the peoojde were trained in an
other school system, to be followers.
The system of schools in the king
dom of Russia, which was based upon
•this plan, turned out to be one of the
jioost efficient the world has ever
known. Jt was adeally adapted to
'the form of government existing in
.the German empire prior to 1918. In1
'this country we have been proceeding
for many years on the theory that
■all .persons are entitled to an educa
tion. The founders of the republic
.called attention to the fact that gen
,eral education was necessary to the
success of a democracy. Jegerson,
.author of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, .wrote that any nation
-which expected to be free and unedu
.cated expected what never had beep
;aqd never WQuld.be. Yet, in the face
,of this principle recognized by our
leaders, there are people in the
United States today who think that
too .many persons are educated. The
.answer to .these peoople is the voting
list, all people are to participate
jin the management of the govern
ment, it is obvious that all must be
£ufficiently educated to understand
fjfce problems confronting tlje govern.-:
ment. Since we have universal adult
suffrage, we must have educational
opportunity for everyone.
“The second question as to who
shall control the schools has been
long debated. Some maintain that
education should be a private enter
prise; others believe that the state
.alone should control the educational
system. There has never been any
serious attempt in the United States
to reach a decision in this contro
versy; therefore private schools and
public schools exist. side by side in
mannf communities, and each indi
vidual parentn has the opportunity to
decide for himself where his child
snail he educated. The problem it
self, however, has been complicated
In the United States by the nature of
our government. We have left to
local initiative and to local enter
prise those activities of major con
cern to each locality. We aim to han
dle nationally only such matters as
cannot well be performed locally.
; Therefore we have a United States
army, a United StSates navy, a
j United States foreign service; but we
! have state systems qf schools, state
systems of highways, state care for
the insane, and the unfortunate, etc.
i As a result of this separation of
' powers, the United States Govern
ment has had little direct concern
with general education, and has ex
ercised practically no adnnnnistra
tive autthority even in cases where
federal subsidies have been granted
to states to encourage education of
special types.
One noteworthy exception to this
general system is found in the educa
tional system of the Territory of
Alaska. The schools for the white
citizens of the Territory are handled
by the Territorial government much,
the same as the schools would be
handled if the Territory had the
status of a state in the Uniijjn. The
education of the natives, however, is
a responsibility jjf the JJnited States
Government, arra is administered by
the Department of the Interior under
direction of the United States Com
missioner of Education.
“As U. S. Commissioner of Educa
| tion, I am now en route to Alaska,
' partly for the purpose of inspecting
sites propoosed for a fourth indus
trial schol. If Alaska is t develop
adequately its own resources its peo
pe must be trained—a principle whicr
applies to the native and to the
newer white population alike. If
Alaskans are to raise their standard
| of living as residents of Continental
: United States have raised theirs, edu
cation and technicl trinngshrdto d d
! cation and technical training must be
be developed as it has been developed
in the States.
i “But I dm interested in another
matter even more vital. I should
like to develop more Alaskan lead
ers of Alaska. It is entirely in order
during a pioneer period to depend
upon others for help. The natives of
Alaska could in the beginning learn
the English language only through
the hep of teachers whq spoke our
language natively. They could gain
acquaintance with the ideals of Amer
ican government only from those ed
! ucated in the States. They could best
acquire knowledge of modern sani
tary science and scientific methods of
combating disease from those who
had been trained in these methods.
But it seems to me that the day has
arrived when Alaska should develop
its own leaders. I want to see Alas
| ka’s children taught by Alaskan
: teachers who have learned to speak
| their country’s language, who have
; come to understand her ideals, and
: who love her institutions. It may be
that these young men and young
women will need some opportunity to
study in the State of Washington or
. Oregon or California frequently study
in the universities of the Eastern or
Middle Western States, and just as
our teachers of French study in
France, and our teachers of Spanish
study in Mexico. But by and by,
Washington’s.children are taught by
Washins’tan’f teachers trained to
meet the standard a ents of the state,
and the same is true in all 48 states.
I hope Alaska will accept this .chal
lenge and will send forth its able
going men women to be trained as
teachers. 1 also look for the day
when some of these young, men . and
women will ask for training as
nurses, dentists, physicians and sur
geons, that Alaska may take her
place alongside of the best states in
the Union in standards of health and
sanitation.
‘So I desire to become afifuaihted
with Alaska. I want to know some
more promising Alaskans. I want
to confer with those who are really
interested in educational, social and
economic progress in the Territory.
1 shall welcome all constructive sug
gestions from officials and private
citizens alike.”
WHAT MAKES A NEWSPAPERS
(Valdez Miner.)
A mistaken idea- with some people
is that a newspaper is an individual
proposition. If they don’t like the
editor they feel they must knock the
newspaper and stand in the way of
its success whenever possiblee.
They do not realize that the local
paper is just, as much a part of the
community as the schools, churches
1 or anything' else. The newspaper is
different from any other business; it
is a community affair. It is for ser
I vice to the people and not for any in
! dividual.
You may not like the editor, and
the editor may not love you any too
well, but the paper he is responsible
for does just as much for you as the
service rendered others. There is
nothing persoonal aboout it, it is
here for a purpose, and that purpose
is to do what good it can in every
way it can, and the greater the sup
, support of those it undertakes to
: serve the better service it can render.
It takes the people to make a good
newspaper, and without the help of
the peoople no one can run a suc
cessful newspaper. It requires money
to operate any kind of a business—
even the churches—and the papers
are no exception. For this reason
they must have the financial support
of the business interests, as well as
the good-w'lL
Few cewrpaper publishers make
more than a comfortable living—
some not that.
It should be remembered that it is
not the plant that makes the news
paper, but the editor and his staff
! that is useful to the community, and
j except in rare instances they are en
I titled to Hie fullest support the cora
j munity can give, and liberal patron
age is necessary if the paper is to be
a credit to the town.
i
McGrath
Pool Hall
—
Fresh Fruits
Candies
Tobaccos
Pipes
Cigarettes
Soft Drinks
Cigarette Holders
FRANK LANGE
Propriety
The late'GhaimCey Deprw delighted
in his hater ye*** in his story about
<a dry minister* *i»d a -wet son.
The minister : had preparede a ser
mon advocating .Henry Ford’s idea
that the army and navy should both
be uaedt tA enforce the prohibition
lawy .and- his sob'got at the manu
script of the sermon and changed the
text.
Thus it. came about that the min
ister, who, like many another scholar,
was absent-minded and slow in the
uptake,'.began his dry sermon in this
fashion:
‘■'We choose for our text this Sab
■ . "■ ■
hath morning, my brothers, the sixth
And seventh verses of £he of ' tthe
thirtty-firs chapter of Proverbs ”
. And then, before he could stop
himself, he read out from'.th# Book
of Books:
“Give stron gdrink unto hun that
is ready t? perish,. a!nd wint unto
those that be’ of heavy..heart. Let
him drink and forget his poverty, and
remember his misery no more.”
Another thing that;the .country is
suffering from is too much money
for shares, and not enough -for plow*
share.!. ^-Detroit News.
Pete Michels’ Roadhouse
McGRATH, ALASKA
r . _
Meals, $1.00 50c
Rooms, $1.00
THE BEST THE MARKET AfFBR&fv
-
Takotna Pool Hall
Presk iferlts Candies Soff Drinks
Tobaccos Cigars Cigarets
Apples Oranges
Charlie O’Halloran - - - Prop.
Max Simel : S”
STATION: FAtEVlEUV 1NNOKORJVER.
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