Northwest History. Alaska. Eskimos.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1937
• Subjects: white man; hooch; Alaskan game commission officer; starvation; the North; the Arctic; Gren Collins; the Arctic slope; Eskimos; the natives; government agencies; administration; the Alaska coast; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Alaska; Arctic; Pacific; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/91044

Young Esquimos Like The White Man's Grub But Not Their Hooch: Alaskan Game Commission Officer Finds No Indications Of Starvation In North. Young Esquimos Like The White Man's Qrub But Not Their Hooch Alaskan Game Commission Officer Finds No Indications of Starvation in North Despite the stories that have come down from the North about starvation in the Arctic during the past year, Gren Collins, Alaska Game Commission officer, who has just returned from long journeying on the Arctic slope, reports that he saw no signs of hunger among the Eskimos, and further, they have a good supply of their native foods, fish, birds and game animals. "There are times," Collins said, "when the natives do get hard up for white man's grub. The old people are satisfied with wild meats. But the younger ones have developed a taste for civilized foods." At certain points in the North the government has provided supplies of flour for issue to the Eskimos. At other trading points there are none. This inequality in distribution causes complaints from the natives and from some traders. If the government could keep reserve supplies on the Arctic coast, in case of a serious shortage of food, it would be a good thing, Collins believes. But indiscriminate issue of relief articles will destroy the Eskimo's initiative. "The natives will be ruined economically if the hand-out system is extensively practiced by government agencles," said Collins. "Only the most careful administration to their needs would be advisable. Otherwise the Eskimos would lose their natural resourcefulness and independence. "The Eskimos on the Arctic coast are not liquor drinkers," Collins said. "They are pretty clean people up there, and it is to be hoped that they maintain the best of their habits. Some of them are very good workers."