There are from 15,000 to 20,000 natives in that part of Alaska-a large, vigorous people. The question is whether the miners shall come in and introduce whisky and vices of all kinds and push the people to the wall and destroy them, or whether they shall be made self-supporting by herding reindeer and owning property. That is a question for the people of the United States to decide. The introduction of the reindeer which was intended first as a new supply of food and a method of civilization for the natives, we have found is as important to the miner as the Eskimo, to the development of Alaska as to the perpetuation of the lives of its people.

Last winter all the food supply of this great mineral belt was taken from San Francisco 3,000 miles to Saint Michael and transferred to river steamers, then taken up the Yukon from 1,500 to 2,000 miles farther and landed on the bank of the stream where warehouses are established at the mouths of the tributary streams. But the great question is to get the food supply from the river to the mines. Last winter the miners paid in cash, in gold dust, $200 for a cur dog, an Indian dog that would not be worth anything here. But they had to have something that would drag a sled. So they say, "We can not stay here unless you furnish us reindeer for freighting and transportation."

Question. Can the mining go on the whole year?

Dr. JACKSON. Yes; the thermometer went 87° below zero, a degree of cold you would say it would be impossible for anyone to face, yet the winter is the best time for mining. It is placer mining, taking the gravel and sand out of the bed of the streams. In the short summers the streams are full to overflowing, so that it is difficult to get at the sand. But in the winter the smaller streams freeze solid and they dig out the ice and then have the river bed free. Large fires are then made in the bed of the creeks, thawing out the gravel. This, then, is dug out and piled on the banks of the streams for washing the following summer.

At Point Barrow we have found for the Presbyterian Mission a medical missionary, a young man who graduates in New York this spring. He and his wife expect to make it their life work to lift up the Eskimo at Point Barrow. They will leave in June for the new field.

Three hundred miles south of Point Barrow is the Protestant Episcopal Mission at Point Hope. Dr. Drigg is the medical missionary.

At Cape Prince of Wales, 220 miles south of Point Hope, is the work of the American Missionary Association, whence these girls came when they were about two years old. They have been more or less in civilization for four years. Mr. and Mrs. Lapp came back and spent about a year in the East, but they have returned, and they met with a very warm reception. They were welcomed with a heartiness that would have been gratifying to the friends of Christian civilization. The reindeer herd progressed finely and they have more than doubled the number they had originally two or three years ago. We expect to hear great things of Mr. and Mrs. Lapp's work. Two years ago God's spirit was poured out and quite a number were converted, so that during the last two years the natives have been carrying on, under the guidance of the missionary, a spirited, live prayer meeting every week. Sixty miles to the east of that neighorhood is a station with a Norwegian missionary. Cruelties still exist there. Mothers still kill their babies because they do not want the trouble of bringing them up. At the reindeer station, on the Sabbath that I was there, I held a religious service. There were about 30 present, but among this small number were four distinct languages and several dialects. My English was translated into the Lapp through Norwegian. It was also translated into the dialects of the Eskimo by a girl 16 years of age. When that girl was born her mother had her thrown out to perish, not wishing the trouble of bringing her up. An older sister picked her up and took care of her till this sister got tired of the charge, and a second time the baby was thrown out into the street to be torn into pieces by the dogs of the village. A neighbor picked her up and brought her up. At 12 years of age she was sold to a husband who treated her so cruelly that she ran away. The tribe took her back, and he beat her till she was nearly dead. She got away a second time, and now, at 16, I found her a large, comely girl with a comparatively ripe Christian character, her whole heart bound up in mission work for her people.

The Swedes are doing a great work. Along the Yukon River are the two principal stations of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the new bishop sent up last spring has established a mission in Circle City, but there was no missionary there when I left.

At Unalaska the Methodist women have 40 Aleut girls in an orphanage. They have two very consecrated Christian women who have gone up there, one from Canada and the other from New York State. The Government school is cooperating with them.

The Baptist Woman's Mission Society works at Kadiak Harbor. They have a large school building and 30 children at their orphanage on Wood Island.

In southeast Alaska is the work of the Presbyterian Church. They have seven 14009 I C-9

churches and 700 native communicants, men and women who in the days of their ignorance and heathenism broke every commandinent in the decalogue, but who are now living Christian lives and training their families in the nurture and fear of God. We want your sympathy in this influx of miners with vice and immorality and whisky. If you have any influence in Congress, exert it in the increase of educational work and of the reindeer funds.

President MESERVE. With all respect for the opinion of those who have spoken, it seems to me that as we consider the normal course of study that has been established, they can be put on the merit system as similar students are put on. In North Carolina colored young men and women are obliged to go before the county examiners and take just the same examinations that the white men and women do. In the normal schools of a high grade a diploma is practically the same as a teacher's certificate. In the normal school in Boston a diploma is the same as a certificate, and the young ladies are not obliged to take an examination for the city schools. That matter as presented by Dr. Hailmann will work itself out. I would not take the position that they should be exempted for any great length of time.

There is a practical feature of this that I observed two years ago. There was a school where an Indian young woman was put in as matron. The school had hardly a baker's dozen at that time, but the confidence of the Indian mothers in having such a matron was soon seen when the number rose to 200. I think the matter can be settled in such a way that they will be under the merit system.

Dr. RYDER. I have followed in the track of the teachers' institutes, and I desire to bear testimony to the fact that they have had a great influence on the work of the American Missionary Association. Dr. Hailmann was kind in speaking of the contribution which our teachers and others have made, but I want to say that Dr. Hailmann has contributed vastly more than he has gained through these institutes. The vital organization has not only been accomplished in these Government schools, but is felt in our missionary work. The possibility of what may be accomplished has been marked in all our institutions.

Mr. Garrett asked that a portion of Judge Howry's letter on Indian depredation claims might be incorporated in the platform.

The platform was then read by President Meserve. After some discussion it was referred back to the business committee, who were instructed to prepare it for publication after consultation with the Board of Indian Commissioners.

The following platform was adopted:

All departments of the Indian Service should be free from partisan politics. We commend the action of President Cleveland in extending the merit system, and urge such legislation by Congress as will completely emancipate the Indian Service from the spoils system.

The work of educating and Christianizing the Indians has been so greatly hindered by the sale and use of intoxicating liquors, that we urge upon the United States Senate the speedy passage of the Meiklejohn bill (H. R. 280), which forbids such sales to Indian allottees, as well as to other Indians.

We believe that all Indian depredation claims allowed by the Court of Claims should be paid by the Goverement, and not by the Indians. The present generation of Indians, as a rule, did not commit the depredations, and inasmuch as the tribes are the wards of the United States, and the Government properly undertook to protect the settler, the interests of all would seem to justify direct payments from the Treasury on the judgments as they are now being rapidly taken.

The work of Dr. W. N. Hailmann, superintendent of United States Indian schools, has been characterized by scholarly and progressive methods, bringing the schools up to a high degree of efficiency. We commend Dr. Hailmann to the President-elect, and ask that he be retained in the position he so ably fills.

We urge upon all the churches the importance of continuing and extending their religious work among the several Indian tribes.

We think it is the duty of the United States in all cases where the lands assigned to Indians can not be tilled without water speedily to provide irrigation, that the Indians may become self-supporting.

Since the Indian can not become civilized and self-supporting without instruction in home making and in intelligent farm work, we believe that the number of field matrons and practical farmers should be largely increased.

We urge the importance of the prompt passage by Congress of some measure to bring order out of chaos in the Indian Territory, in accordance with the recommendation of the Dawes Commission.

On motion of Mr. Garrett, it was voted that a committee of seven should be appointed to wait on the President-elect to confer with him on Indian affairs. The following was the committee afterwards appointed:

Rev. C. J. Ryder, D. D., Mr. Herbert Welsh, Bishop W. D. Walker, President Merrill E. Gates, LL. D., Gen. John Eaton, LL. D., Rev. Dr. McArthur, and Mr. Joshua W. Davis.

A letter from Hon. G. D. Meiklejohn was read saying that the bill with reference to selling liquor to Indians had passed the House without amendment.

It was voted that a committee of three should be appointed to see Senators with reference to this bill.

Adjourned at 5.30 p. m.

Expenditures by religious societies during the last year for Indian missions and education (not including special gifts to Carlisle, Hampton, and other schools) are as follows:

American Missionary Association (Congregational).

Baptist Home Mission Society

Friends' Orthodox..

Methodist Episcopal Mission Board.

Methodist Episcopal Mission Board (South)

Mennonite Mission.

Moravian Mission.

Presbyterian Home Mission Board.

Presbyterian Home Mission Board (South)
Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society.
Indian Rights' Association

Women's National Indian Association.

$35,000.00 21, 355.00 10,000.00 8, 937.00 9,908.35 5,498.33 13, 500.00 114, 003. 25 6, 032.00 48, 700.00 6, 020.35 20,043.55

LIST OF OFFICERS CONNECTED WITH THE UNITED STATES INDIAN SERVICE, INCLUDING AGENTS, SUPERINTENDENTS, INSPECTORS, SPECIAL AGENTS, AND SUPERVISORS OF INDIAN SCHOOLS; ALSO ADDRESSES OF MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

MEMBERS OF BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS, WITH THEIR POST-OFFICE ADDRESSES.

SECRETARIES OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES ENGAGED IN EDUCATIONAL WORK AMONG

INDIANS.

Baptist Home Missionary Society: Rev. T. J. Morgan, D. D., 111 Fifth avenue, New York.

Baptist (Southern): Rev. I. T. Tichenor, D. D., Atlanta, Ga.

Catholic (Roman) Bureau of Indian Missions: Rev. Jos. A. Stephan, 941 F street NW., Washington, D. C.

Congregational American Missionary Association: Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D., Bible House, New York.

Episcopal Church Mission: Rev. W. G. Langford, D. D., Fourth avenue and Twentysecond street, New York.

Friends' Yearly Meeting: Levi K. Brown, Goshen, Lancaster County, Pa.
Friends' Orthodox: E. M. Wistar, 705 Provident Building, Philadelphia, Pa.

Methodist Missionary Society: Rev. A. B. Leonard, 150 Fifth avenue, New York.
Methodist (Southern): Rev. H. C. Morrison, D. D., Nashville, Tenn.

Mennonite Mission: Rev. A. B. Shelly, Milford Square, Pa.

Moravian Mission: J. Taylor Hamilton, Bethlehem, Pa.

Presbyterian Home Mission Society: Rev. Wm. C. Roberts, D. D., 156 Fifth avenue, New York.

Presbyterian (Southern) Home Mission Board: Rev. J. N. Craig, D. D., Atlanta, Ga.