Telegraphs and Ninety per cent of the towns and mining camps of Alaska, even to Kotzebue Sound, can be reached readily from any part of the world. The Signal Corps of the Army constructed, and now operates, a system of more than 4,000 miles of cable, wireless and land lines, which connects Seattle, via Sitka and Valdez, with Nome to the ex treme northwest, Circle City to the central north, and along the immediate southern coast to Skagway. These lines are open to com mercial use, and transact a business of such volume that the tariffs approach $225,000 annually. Private companies operate a tele phone system, which from the centre at Nome reach Candle and other stations on Seward Peninsula. Similarly the mining camps of the Fairbanks district are connected with Fair banks. The United States Navy operates radio stations at Cordova, Dutch Harbor, Saint George, Saint Paul Island and Sitka.
The whites and the natives are educated separately, the former at local and the latter at Federal expense. In 1915 schools for the white children were maintained in 14 incorporated towns and in 31 other settlements, with a force of 105 teachers and 2,503 children.
Under acts of Congress the education of the Eskimo and Indians is conducted under the. direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the expenses of the system being met by con gressional appropriations. In 1915 such appro priation amounted to $200,000, from which were maintained 71 schools with 106 teachers. There were 3,666 pupils enrolled, while the average at tendance was 1,991. The instruction is along thoroughly practical lines,. and covers the moral, physical and mental training of both adults and children. Elementary English subjects, domestic science, industrial handicrafts, personal hygiene and village sanitation are the principal subjects. Nearly three-fourths of the native children be tween 10 and 14 years of age can read and write English. The teachers are debarred from trade. Besides their school work they aid in the reindeer service, and actively engage in the care of the sick and distressed, distributing food and clothing to the absolutely destitute and affording hospital care. In the special hospitals at Kanakanak, Kotzebue and Nulato is employed part of the force of doctors and nurses. Contract hospital service is also had through hospitals at Candle, Juneau, Nome, Seattle and Valdez.
Missions.— The Presbyterians began mis sionary work in 1877, and though the establish ment of independent churches in the larger towns has materially modified the needs, they yet maintain three missions, as well as the hospital at Haines and the training school at Sitka. The Baptists, Congregationalists, Friends, Lutherans, Moravians and Methodists have contributed largely to religious training in Alaska. The Catholics have labored assidu ously and successfully, especially in the Yukon Valley at Nulato and Holy Cross; the latter is a station monumental for its success in agri culture, stock-raising and industrial training. The Greek Church has gone its own way with the natives near their stations. Although the Episcopalians entered the field late they have pursued their work to a greater extent than any other denomination. About $50,000 are
spent annually on their 24 missions, and four hospitals, those at Fairbanks, Iditarod, Ketchi lcan and Valdez.
Natives.— The Indian population of Alaska has fallen from 29,536 in. 1900 to 25,331 in 1910, and was estimated to be about 24,000 in 1915. As far as their racial distribution was deter mined in 1910 they were divided as follows: Aleuts, 1,491; Athabascans, 3,916; Eskimo, 12,652; Haidas, 530; Tlingits, 4,458; and Tsimshians, 729. The Aleuts occupy the Aleu tian Archipelago, where they barely maintain life by fishing. The few Haidas live in the Ketchikan region, being offshoots from the tribe on Queen Charlotte Islands. The Tsimshians, generally known as the Metlakat lays, are for the most part living in com munity on the reservation of Annette Island, granted them by Congress; they are industrious, temperate and thriving. The Tlingits are the natives living principally in the Sitkan Archi pelago, and along the coast northward to the Saint Elias region. Known to tourists through their totems and other customs, they have gradually abandoned old ways, many being em ployed in mines, fishing, etc. Living in the interior of the country, in the valleys of the Copper, Kuskokwim, Tanana and Yukon, the Athabascans are rapidly disappearing. Both 'game and fish are scarce, and regular labor in mines and agriculture is confined as a rule to Indians under mission control. The Eskimo are a coastal people, whose habitat extends from the Canadian border of the Arctic shore westward to Cape Barrow, thence south and easterly along Bering Sea and the Alaskan Peninsula to Cook Inlet. Only about one-fifth live on the shores of the Polar Sea. About two-fifths occupy permanently the hunting and fishing grounds between Bristol Bay and Nor ton Sound, where game is abundant in some form summer and winter. The education and care of the natives are treated under the head of Education and Missions. Their conditions have materially improved during the past few years, as far as selected communities are con cerned. The United States has set apart certain reservations, thus freeing them from obtrusive and demoralizing surroundings : Annette Island, Saint Lawrence Island, Hydaburg, Klawock, Klukwan, Port Gravina, Long Bay, Ft. Yukon, and on Kobuk River. The Territorial legisla ture has enacted laws granting citizenship, and authorizing separate self-governing towns to Indians under certain restrictions. Co-opera tive stores have been conducted with success by natives at Hydaburg, Atka, Klawock and Saint Lawrence Island, and are being organized else where. Efforts, so far unavailing, have been made to induce Congress to bring about the betterment of the 5,000 Eskimo in the Yukon delta through the abolition of the liquor traffic and the development of industrial training. In 1915-16, however, an appropriation of $25,000 was made by Congress for the relief of natives, supplementary to the funds used in education.