FATHER PRANGE CHARGES
INEFFICIENCY AND NEGLECT
(Continued from page 1)
in Fairbanks. I mention these two
air services, because they have writ
ten carbon copies of a letter written
to me by Dr. '"an Acheren, head of
the June-'.o office, refusing payment
for three emergency mercy flights to
Mt. Village from Pimute, on the
groun Is that “the bureau ha? no
funds 'or such a purpose." Another
letter, writt n by Dr. Corthell of Mt.
Village to Miss Kathleen Saden of
Pimute of which he sent me a carbon
copy, makes the same asertion. I
quote this letter in full:
Mt. Villaee. Alaska, March 9. 1937.
Miss Saden. teacher, Pimute. Alaska.
Dear Miss Saden: This is to let
■ you know that the following patients
from Pimut° are -eady to return to
Pimute: Joseph Pitka, Sims F^tcrdS,
Edward Chinka—baby with bed eye.
“Thes- patients have no means of
returning to Pimirte, and it is my
understanding that the government
does not have funds for his purpose.
We therefore reouest that you advise
the relatives of these pati-’nts and
urge them to send n team f r them.
Sincerely. Dr. M. E. Corthell, c-o
Indian Office. Juneau;"Father Prange,
Holy Cross.'
“Nevertheless, there is a certain
formality called ‘authoriza*:on’ re
quired end insisted upon, whenever
a native neeu> hospitalization from
an outlving district. The procedure
is as follows: A request for author
i*a+ion to transport a sick native at
bureau expense is wired to Juneau.
The Juneau office may refuse point
blank. or it will take fhe matter m
hand. If the latter, then the propos
ed trip is let on bids, and is awaked
to the lowest bidder. This takes
from two to four days when every
thing goes well, and the patient can
wait until the money deal is closed.
Then if the patient is still alive a few
dollars have been saved by the moth
erly bureau: If the patient dies
shortly after arrival at the hospital,
expenses have been further cut; if
the patient die. before the plane
reaches him. the entire trip an! hos
pitalization are saved with the bur
eau that much ahead.
Bureau Funds
“Presumably then, the bureau does
have a fund for this purpose in spite i
of official statements to the contrary.
Otherwise all this fussing around
with ‘authorizations.' and actual al
lotments on bids for the service, even
after the actual transportation of the
patient to th< hospital specified, the
obligation of such an expense is re
pudiated on "the ground that ‘the bur
eau has no funds for his purpose'.’
In proof of this please consult the
Star Air "Service of Anchorage,
which is trying, so far vainly, to col
lect on just such ‘authorized’ services
in 1936 as well as in 1937.
“Three of these services involve
myself, and concern the case of Jo
seph Pitka. referred to in the above
letter; Frederick Yaska, and Mrs.
Jake Alovsius with Johnny Yaska—
not Edward Chinka. as in the above
quoted letter of Dr. Corthell. The
case of Sims Peterbtf is identically
the same except that it involves the
P.A.A. of Fairbanks, instead of the
Star Air Service of Anchorage.
“These cases wane so urgent, that
the delay of first bartering for the
lowest rate could noKbe permitted.
Sims Peteroff nad a broken leg with
protruding bones, a shattered ankle,
and a cut artery. Soft weather pre
vented the crossing of 36 miles of
tundra for five days after the acci
dent, during which time, the br*sjc
was being cared for by the Pimute
teacher to the "best of ’ her ability.
On the fifth day a native succeeded
in making his way across to Kalskag
on the Kuskokwim, with an SOS for
the nearest plane to Pimute. Bil’y
Knox of be P.A.A. (ready at McGr h
to fly the mail to Bethel.) was the
only" pilot on the Kuskokwim :Va*
i day. He answered the SOS early the
! next morning through bad weather.
Dr. Corthell of Mt. Village author
izes’ the trip when he sees the pa
tient. The leg is not set. the artery
still open, pus ha? begun to accumu
late, and blood poisoning is immin
ent. After four attempts to set the
break, the foot finally had to be am
putated to save the man's life. The
bureau, however, refuses to pay this
transportation because ‘it has no
funds for such a purpose.' and the
bill is sent to me by the bureau, as
the sender of the SOS.
The Pitka Case
“Joseph Pitka has a fracture just
above the ankle, discovered only after
his arrival at the hospital. After a
week's treatment at home, blood
poisoning rapidly developed and it be
came urgently a surgical case. An
SOS ’s released over the Kalskag
amateur station, again without the
usual formality "f a previously ob
tained ‘authorization.’ Th nature of
the case was authorization enough.
Oscar Winehell of the Star Air Ser
vice responded immediately, and Jo
seph Pitka arrived at the hospital
in time to save his life. ‘Another
half a day. Father, and he’d have
been a goner,’ to ouote Dr. Corthell
to me on the case. But in spite of the
doctor’s ‘authoriza*ior.’ for the trip,
the Star Air Service is refused pay
ment on the grounds of ‘no funds for
such a purpose.' and the bureau again
s^n* the bill to me.
“Frederick Yaska had been suffer
ing s moral yerrs from chronic ap
pendicitis. Another recurring attack
"r December was treated a? best
could be by the teacher of Pimute,
when suddenly relapsed into an acute
attack. The boy’s father braves a
storm at night across the 36 miles
of tundra with an SOS for a plane.
Palph Savory of the Star Air Ser
vice responded and the bov was got
ten to the bosnital and operat’d
upon. Dr. Corthell. in view of the
urgency and seriousness of the ease,
again ‘authorizes’ the expense of the
♦rip. But the Star Air Service is
likewise refused payment on the
same old grounds of ‘no funds for
such a purpose.’ This bill too, the
bureau has sent to me.
Suffering Woman
“Mrs. Jake Aloysius, a former pa
tient at Mt. Village, had recovered in
November from an attack of pneu
monia. was now laid up with pro
longed pleurisy and suffering from
an internal disorder, wh’ch the doc
tor had assured her would some day
*-e~uire surgical correction. Weather
'•onditrnns prevented the crossine of
♦be tundra, to go 'hroueh the usual
formalities of ‘authorization.’ the let
♦ing out of bids, and all that, bv the
bureau, advantage was taken of th ■
na««ing of the Holy-Cross-Mspshall
mail plane to send her to Mt. Village,
this opportunity was also taken to
send along the one and one-half
year-old Johnnv Yaska, who had a
bulbous eye beginn'-g to fester. Mrs.
Jake Aloysius was refused as a gov
ernment patient, on the ground of
being tubercular. The Vaska baby
had its bad eve removed as a n ■•es.
sity to save the sight of the other
eve. Yec because it was not a so
called emergency operation, its pro
portionate share of the $75 fa-e for
itself and Mrs. Aloysius was denied
bv the bureau, and the Star Air Ser
vice is again without pay for its trip.
“The grounds for refusal this time
were: The woman was not admitted
as a hospital patient, and the baby
was not an emergency case. This
time nothing was said by the bureau
ebout ‘no funds for such a purpose.’
a ' ' rase long since grown familiar.
I thought when I entered the Star
Air Service office last week, that I
would be met with a vigorous de
mand for settlement of all these ac
!--- J.ated bills, repudiated bv the
j rndian Affairs. To the
j Subscription Blank
| THE KUSKO TIMES,
| Takotna. Alaska.
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Enclosed find .
for which enter my subscription to The Kusko
Times for ..
<On«- ynmr *+»<*•: *ix mnn»h<-. ♦Tt.oO.)
Name_:___
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Address
company's credit be it said, it did
not present me with those bills. And
tc my amazement they showed me a
stack of similar unpaid bills for un
pent emerpencies durinp 1336 and
1337, all repudiated by tjhe bureau on
the same old prounds. “iw funds
for such a purpose.’ Yet all were
officially ‘authorized.’
Formalities
"Perhaps the P.A.A. of Fairbanks
can produce a similar stack. If not,
and the Peteroff case, too. was paid
by the bureau, it can only be be
cause the bureau is afraid of the P.
A.A., and not the Star Air Service
or myself. If it too, remains unpaid,
for the same reasons that the Star
Air Service remains unpaid, then
why the formality of an official ‘au
thorization.- the iettinp out, of bids
for emergency trips to the lowest
bidder, and the humanitarian pose of
maintaininp hospitals more or less
adequately staffed and equipped at
the bureau expense, when the bur
the bureau expense, when the bureau
has no intention of payinp its own
ineurr d oblipations, but intends to
pas? those on to the airplane com
panies or to private charities. If an
ordinary citizen in the ordinary dis
charge of his private affairs did this,
he would be jailed as a fraud.
“The fiction is, that the medical
division of the Bureau of Indian Af
fairs in Alaska is maintained for the
adequate care of the sick, injured
and diseased natives. The fact is,
that the medical division of the Bur
eau of Indian Affairs in Alaska is
maintained for the adequate liveli
hood of a few incompetents, whose
job is not the care of the sick na
tives, but the saving of government
money, by pushing its own expenses
over to others.
Just Another Native
"What after all is a sick native to
the bureau ? The answer is given in
the picturesoue language of Dr. Cor
thell of Mr. Village, used in my pres
tnce to Miss Saden of Pimute rela
tive to her care of the sick in their
homes and villages: ‘Don't be a
damn f,*i] and kill yourself for noth
ing! What the hell do you care
whether they live or die 1 ! It’s only
one l->ss.' Only one less.
"Indeed, fact is stranger than fic
Be Sure to
STOP
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We Specialize in
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MAIL ORDERS
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MRS. THOMAS H.
M’LEAN
McGRATH ALASKA
tion. And if Alaska feels proud of
her honor in proving this dictum te
be true tfirough the agency of Bur
eau of Indian Affairs, then God help
Alaska. If she feels such an ‘honor'
a disgrace to her good name, there
are plenty of good Alaskans who
know how to repudiate such an hon
or, and they will do so What do
you think?’"
Frank J. Guskej
7W7TARY PITB1JC •
Takotna. Alaska.
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