Among many reports of a similar nature published by or with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, it is sufficient to cite the following appraisals of the life and work of Father Duncan, which render incredible the slanders concocted against him by self-seeking plotters.

Report of Commissioner of Education for fiscal year 1891-92, volume 2, page 876.

Metlakahtla is truly the full realization of the missionaries' dream of aboriginal restoration.

Report of Commissioner of Education for fiscal year 1896-97, page 1626.

the news of the remarkable success of the mission had circulated wherever the English language was known. Twenty-sixth Annual Report of Board of Indian Commissioners, page 128.

* the finest object lesson in Indian civilization that the world has

ever seen.

In the annual report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year 1924, page 109, the Honorable Hubert Work declared that Father Duncan's mission colony at Metlakahtla "thrived amazingly" and became "one of the missionary achievements of history.”

SECTION 84. STAR WITNESSES AND THEIR SPONSORS

Rules for measuring credibility of witnesses. Sources of information in departmental reports. Arctander and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Arctander. Arctander discredited by criminal record. Marsden and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Marsden. Marsden discredited by his own statements. Hawkesworth endorses Marsden. Mitchell and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Mitchell. Mitchell discredited by his own statements. Thompson and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Thompson. Thompson discredited by his official record. Jones and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Jones. Jones discredited by his own statements. Beattie and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Beattie. Beattie discredited by his own statements. Lopp and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Lopp. Lopp discredited by his official record. Hawkesworth and his sponsors. Departmental reports rely on Hawkesworth. Hawkesworth discredited by his own statements. Unsavory record of witnesses suppressed in departmental reports. Erroneous and unsigned legal opinion misquoting statute cited by Secretary's committee.

RULES FOR MEASURING CREDIBILITY OF WITNESSES

It is a cardinal and universally controlling rule that in determining the weight and probative force to be given the testimony of any witness, his credibility must be measured and determined, among other ways, by his personal interest in the controversy, his feelings toward the contending parties, his relations with the person who sponsors his use as a witness, the reasonableness of his statements, and any conflict between his testimony and other declarations he may have made elsewhere.

When tested by these long-established rules but little or no credence can be given to the statements and testimony of the witnesses upon which the Secretaries of the Interior based their orders which resulted in the invasion of Metlakahtla, the illegal seizure and confiscation of private and mission properties, the destruction of har

mony and unanimity, and under which Father Duncan and his followers were deprived of their constitutional rights and persecuted. This is unquestionably true, because those witnesses were strongly biased and controlled by their overpowering desire to advance their own interests and importance by gaining and exercising control of both religious and secular affairs at Metlakahtla through the elimination of Father Duncan and to the detriment of his Christian mission.

The testimony of these witnesses was also colored and distorted by their feelings of jealousy, animosity, and hatred toward Father Duncan, because they coveted the fruits of his success, felt the force of his righteous condemnation of their illegal schemes and conduct, and were angered by his refusal to surrender and comply with their suggestions and demands.

Furthermore, the testimony of these self-seeking, covetous, and vindictive witnesses is overcome by the documentary evidence showing their own self-incriminating record and, in many instances, their self-incriminating statements.

It also should be emphasized that the statements making up the record which has been used in the departmental reports on Metlakahtla are purely ex parte, were not made under oath, nor were these witnesses in any case subjected to cross-examination.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS

As shown elsewhere, in the plot against the Metlakahtlans a false and surreptitious file on Metlakahtla to deceive and mislead the Secretary of the Interior was built up in the Department of the Interior.

The use of the false and surreptitious file on Metlakahtla in the preparation of departmental reports has been already discussed. (See ch. X, Slanders Refuted; sec. 80, Secretary of Interior Deceived by Unreliable and Fictitious Departmental Reports, supra, p. 19351.) In the attacks on Father Duncan the principal sources of information were the unsworn and ex-parte statements of

1. John W. Arctander, an attorney discredited by a criminal record. 2. Edward Marsden, who had voluntarily deserted Father Duncan's mission colony and become a Presbyterian missionary stationed at the rival mission village of Saxman, Alaska (1898-1916).

3. Bertram G. Mitchell, a spy for the Bureau of Education, planted in Father Duncan's mission school through the activities of Arctander and his confederates (1908-10).

4. A. N. Thompson, superintendent of schools of the southeastern district of Alaska (1908-10), whose untrue and misleading reports were used by the plotters in their attempts to intrude a Government school in Father Duncan's mission village.

5. Charles D. Jones, who was made the first teacher of the school intruded at Metlakahtla by the Bureau of Education (1913–16).

6. William G. Beattie, superintendent of schools of the southeastern district of Alaska (1911-16), and later industrial director of the Bureau of Education at Metlakahtla (1917-19).

7. William T. Lopp, superintendent of education of natives of Alaska and Chief of the Alaska Division of the Bureau of Education (1910-23).

8. Charles W. Hawkesworth, who succeeded Beattie as superintendent of schools of the southeastern district of Alaska (1916-30) and was made Acting Chief of the Alaska Division of the Bureau of Education, effective July 1930.

The names of the persons whose statements were particularly featured and relied upon in the unreliable and fictitious departmental reports used to deceive and mislead the Secretary of the Interior, together with citations showing the identity of the sponsors of these witnesses and pertinent information in regard to these persons, will now follow.

ARCTANDER AND HIS SPONSORS

The activities of John W. Arctander in the schemes of the conspirators against the Metlakahtlans are disclosed:

The following excerpts from official documents, arranged in parallel columns, show:

1. The use of the unsworn and ex-parte statements of Arctander in the unreliable and fictitious departmental reports, through which the Secretary of the Interior was deceived and misled in regard to the conditions at Metlakahtla.

2. The record of Arctander's previous suspension from the practice of law by the Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota, on March 28, 1879, for falsifying public records, and his subsequent disbarment by the Supreme Court of the State of Washington, on March 19, 1920, for disloyal, mercenary, unethical, and unprofessional conduct, proving him to be an unreliable and discredited witness and unworthy of belief.

Notwithstanding this criminal record, Arctander has been sponsored by advisers of the Secretary of the Interior and his statements have been relied upon in the official reports to the Department.

2. Report Concerning Conditions at Metlakahtla, Annette Island, Alaska, by Maj. W. R. Logan, inspector, March 4, 1911. (Pp. 20-24, 43-45 (exhibit L), 46-47, 49, 80.]

3. Opinion of H. S. Cragin, a temporary clerk in the Department of the Interior, filed with the Secretary of the Interior, April 27, 1915.

On the basis of this so-called legal opinion by Cragin, the property of Father Duncan and his mission was seized by order of the Secretary of the Interior, June 26, 1915, and since that time agents of the Department of the Interior have devastated the property and have continued a policy of ruthless destruction and suppression of this Christian mission. The reliance placed by Cragin on Arctander and his unreliable statements is shown by the following citations to Cragin's socalled legal opinion:

Sec. 2.-0-Sources of informationO-I have gotten my information from the office file on Metlakahtla, and from the biography of Father Duncan by John W. Arctander (which I shall hereafter refer to as Arctander, p. so and so). This book is called the Apostle of Alaska.

Sec. 4.-0-*

[Cites John W. Arctander as authority for allegations.]

Sec. 5.-0—*

[Cites John W. Arctander as authority for allegations.]

We are of the opinion that the act of respondent [Arctander] in affixing the false dates to the jurats and acknowledgments were acts of 'wilful misconduct in his profession.' For such mis

'conduct, General Statutes, chapter 88, no. 18, authorizes an attorney to be removed or suspended. The respondent [Arctander] is suspended from practicing in any of the courts of this State filing of this decision; and it is further for the period of 6 months from the ordered that he pay the costs and disbursements of this proceeding."

Subsequent to his activities in the plot against the Melakahtlans, John W. Arctander was disbarred from practicing law and his name stricken from the rolls by the Supreme Court of the State of Washington, as shown by the following excerpts from the opinion of that court:

Supreme Court of the State of Washington (110 Wash. 296-306). In re Arctander. Opinion Per Main, J. (No. 129. En Banc. March 19, 1920) In the Matter of the Proceedings for the Disbarment of John W. Arctander

4. Report to the Secretary of the Interior by committee on matters pertaining to Annette Islands Reserve, Alaska, May 3, 1927.

Although the bibliography of the life and work of Father Duncan lists more than 200 books, the Secretary of the Interior's committee on matters pertaining to Annette Islands Reserve, Alaska, declares, on page 4, that in its research it examined two books published with respect to Metlakahtla, one of them being The Apostle of Alaska, by John W. Arctander.

In its sponsorship of Arctander and his false and defamatory statements against Father Duncan, the Secretary of the Inte

rior's committee states in its report, pages 7-8:

It is asserted in the Brief on the Law that Mr. Arctander's book, which is an eulogy of Mr. Duncan, did not receive the unqualified endorsement of Mr. Duncan, and that fact has not been lost sight of in giving weight to matters averred exclusively in this book. Going further, however, counsel for Mr. Wellcome have sought to discredit the book by a reference in their brief to the fact that, following the World War, Mr. Arctander was disbarred from the practice of law for activities found to have fostered resistance to compulsory military service and contrary to the plain duty of attorneys at law during that emergency.

JOHN W. ARCTANDER

*

19

*

"It is clear that lawyers were called upon by the Government to assist registrants in the preparation of their questionnaires and to aid generally in the just administration of the selective service law and regulations and to give their best service to the Nation freely and without compensation. * *

66* * * In all, he [Arctander] assisted 401 registrants in the preparation of their questionnaires, and received therefor as fees the sum of $2,005. Shortly after he had begun this work, the Government appeal agent for the city of Seattle called his attention to the fact that he was at least violating the spirit of the selective service regulations, and his partner, and other friends advised him to

19 Reported in 188 Pac. 380.