Northwest History. Alaska 7. Alcoholic Liquor, United States

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1935
• Subjects: Seattle; Alaska; United States Coast Guard; prohibition; native Alaskan Indians; coast guard ship; Morris; Red Cross; Seldovia; English Bay; Ninilchik; liquor; makula; Chelan; sale of liquor; Aleutian Peninsula; Bering Sea cruise; Aleutians; the United States marshal; sale of fox; furs; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Bering Sea; Pacific
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/88451

Indians Pauperized By Liquor In Alaska. Indians Pauperized By Liquor in Alaska SEATTLE, Wash.—Recent reports of officers of the United States Coast Guard substantiate those which were brought out of Alaska last fall of the effects of the repeal of prohibition upon the native Alaskan Indians. In a report of the work done by the coast guard ship, Morris, in distributing Red Cross supplies of food and flour to the destitute and needy at Seldovia, English Bay, Ninilchik and other ports, one paragraph reads: "Since repeal, the natives, in many cases, spend all their money on liquor, letting their families starve and go in rags. During prohibition, and before, natives could not buy liquor, and instead, made and drank a sort of potato wine they called 'makula.' This cost little and there was money left for food." This testimony is explained as confirming the report of the commanding officer of the Chelan, relative to the sale of liquor to natives on the Aleutian Peninsula which that officer observed during the Bering Sea cruise of the Chelan, in the season of 1934. A letter received from a United States marshal in the Aleutians, further reports that money received by natives from the sale of fox and other furs has been quickly exchanged for liquor, and families have been left destitute.