College For “American” Samoans.

Barstow Plan — And Some Criticism.

THE Barstow foundation, which was created in September, 1931 and en dowed with £ 40,000 for the education of youth in American Samoa, plans to finance a school in Tutuila in which a selected group of young men will be educated in American and Samoan ways of life.

Last July a committee of the Founda tion visited Samoa and details were dis cussed. The school will have two white instructors, man and wife, a Samoan will be in full-time residence. In addi tion, there will be supplementary Samoan instructors in special subjects, arts and crafts.

Students, who will not exceed 18 in number, will live at the school and will be selected from young men recom mended by chiefs. No distinction will be made between men of full or part Poly nesian blood but only candidates of pro mise will be accepted. Other plans in clude the training of a Samoan nurse in hygiene in Honolulu and the sending of a selected candidate there for an in tensive course of agriculture. These of fers are being considered by the Gov ernor and will be sent for approval to the Secretary of the Navy, who has the final say in the matter.

Now comes the Hawaiian newspaper, “New Freedom,” on the scene. In two scathing articles it attacks the ideals of the Barstow Foundation, and says that while he means well, Mr. Barstow is “barking up the wrong tree.” Higher education for Samoans is dismissed curtly as unnecessary and uncalled for.

We quote from the article: “The Samoans during the last hundred years have been getting, in the London Missionary Society’s schools, all the edu cation they need or can absorb. What is very badly needed down there, in what they call ‘American’ Samoa, is not more education but some more doctors and sanitarians to teach the Samoans to use latrines, properly screened from flies, . . . . To look after their children, . . . . when their houses are swarming with flies that alight in bunches on the eyes of the little children. . . . On the small island of Tutuila, including the adjoining islets, there are a total of 270 persons either totally or partially blind in a population of 9,831. It’s a big blind institution that’s needed on Tutuila —not a college.”

The author then quotes American pot —in fact, put the clock back a couple of years! Having to let my labour go was like drawing several eye-teeth, but, under the circumstances, it was the only thing left to do as I could not feed them.

“All this has been very disheartening, to say the least; and it seems to me it is very like having to pay the penalty for trying to be British in a French col ony. For French this place is surely be coming, despite the fact that Britain maintains and retains a staff of officials in Vila.

“Please do not take it that I am ‘griz zling’ because the French were assisted. 1 know that that assistance was neces sary! What annoys me is the unfairness of the whole thing. If for one, why not for the other fellow, if there is to be equality of privileges between the nat ional of the Condominium.”

Samoan statistics, which show a large number of natives suffering from all sorts of diseases. He states that if the money it is proposed to spend on educa tion were spent on curing and prevent ing these, the Samoans would be much happier.

The results of education of natives in Honolulu are taken as an example.

There the natives have ceased to grow their own food (taro) and are too lazy to catch fish for themselves, leaving Chinese or Japanese to do it. The Ha waiian women consorted with American bluejackets in the same way that Samoan women are now doing at Pago Pago, and the result is that pure blood natives are disappearing, leaving a num erous progeny of half-white.

The second article goes on in much the same strain, and also says that Tu tuila is an unsuitable site for a school.

“New Freedom” perhaps overlooks the

fact that education of the natives is the best means of introducing sanitation to Tutuila, Recent investigations concern ing the causes of depopulation in the Pacific have shown that it is important that natives should get the right foods.

The Barstow Foundation proposes to educate young Samoans in agriculture and sanitation.