Girl Slaves in America.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7941, 3 October 1905, Page 2

Girl Slaves in America.

Suavity within the domain o; the United States, white persons sold ami held under bondage in spite of lhe laws of civilisation—this is ilie charge of Professor W. A. Davis, superintendent of the puli.lic schools of Unalaska, Alaska. In a letter the professor tells how he has been at work sine; l!)l)3, when he went lo Alaska to eradicate the evil, but he has been unable to get the United States interested. He says hu has

personally freed two little girls from slavery and sent them to incir homes while he has worked without avail to procure the release of six other white girls in Unalaska. He says thu same corditions exist in other towns. In part the professor writes :—, "At the [beginning of the school year in September, 1903, 1 canvass-

Ed the village ot Unalaska for scholars, and to my horror and disgust found eight little girls, ranging in ai'C. from six to twelve years, in' slavery. When I asked their masters ' if they inti-i (iea to send ti.em to .' school they seemed much surprised i and grew quite indignant, and in' 1 substance said ; 'Send them to ■school ! We do not get them to semi to school; we got them lo wall on our families,,and that's what they're going lo do.'

"Immediately upon making the discovery •# called the attention of the authorijes to the facts, and wh assured that immediate, measures would be taken to remedy the evil. Thai was a year and a-lialf ago, and yet up to the present time nothing has been done .officially, though by.iiidMdual efforts I have obtained the release of Iwo pitiful Nine creatures who were returned to the island whence they came, and in all mola/uhty were scut away again at tiic first opportunity in some other direction. At the present time, however, in (he village of UiuUska wiih a population of not mote tllaii 200, there arc no fewer than nix 'girls in bondage as servile as that of the blacks before their emaneipal on, ami if is safe to assume that the same conditions prevail all over nlasks. These children are usually orphans and are given away by those Mlh whom they have bn-n left by Hick; dead,parents as freely ans villi as little compunction as one in (he Stales (gives away puppies of an in-

fcrior breed of dogs. Thev *r. bought by trading schooners fro,,, various parts 0/ (lie Territory, aiid as a rule arc owned by white i«™ who have native wives/' mc "