their own enterprises has been demonstrated at Hydaburg, Klawock, Atka, and St. Lawrence Island, where cooperative stores have been in operation for some years. In their own cooperative stores the natives secure articles of food, clothing, and furniture at equitable prices, and the shareholders divide among themselves the profits which would otherwise go to a middleman. RECOMMENDATIONS. The imperative necessity for adequate and special provision by congressional appropriation for the medical relief of the Eskimos, Indians, Aleuts, and other natives of Alaska can not be too strongly urged. Year after year this matter has been brought to the attention of Congress, without success. As an emergency measure, dictated by the absolute necessity for action, part of the education appropriation continues to be used for the checking of disease in the native communities. Three school buildings have been remodeled for use as improvised hospitals, a few physicians and nurses have been employed, and the teachers have been supplied with simple remedies to enable them to treat minor ailments. This makeshift arrangement should be replaced by an adequate medical service such as has been repeatedly recommended by the Bureau of Education in the estimates submitted to Congress. One of the greatest difficulties with which those responsible for the work of the Bureau of Education have to contend is the fact that the congressional appropriation for the support of this work is usually not available until the end of August. With the exception of its southern coast, all of Alaska is icebound for eight months of the year. It is only during July, August, and September that supplies can be delivered at places in the interior of Alaska and on the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. In order to insure delivery before those regions are again closed by ice, supplies should leave Seattle not later than June 1 of each year. It is therefore recommended that the estimates for the support of the work of the Bureau of Education in Alaska be taken out of the sundry civil bill and included in the urgent deficiency bill. It is recommended that the appropriations for the support of the Alaska school service and of the Alaska reindeer service be made reimbursable, as is the case with regard to several of the appropriations for the support of the Indian service in the States. Some of the school gardens produce vegetables in excess of immediate needs. It is probable that the surplus product of these gardens, also the baskets and other native work done in connection with the school service, could be made productive of considerable income. By the sale of meat and hides the reindeer service could probably be made self-supporting. THE REINDEER SERVICE. The reports from the reindeer stations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1914, show a total of 57,872 reindeer, distributed among 65 herds. Of the 57,872 reindeer, 37,828, or 66 per cent, were owned by 980 natives; 4,113, or 7 per cent, were owned by the United States; 5,924, or 10 per cent, were owned by missions; and 10,007, or 17 per cent, were owned by Lapps. The total income of the natives from the reindeer industry during the fiscal year, exclusive of the meat and hides used by the natives themselves, was $77,934. The total, 57,872, is a net increase of 22 per cent during the fiscal year, notwithstanding the fact that nearly 6,000 reindeer were killed for meat and skins during the year. No deterioration in the herds on account of inbreeding has been noted. On the contrary, the chief of the Alaska division maintains that the reindeer now in Alaska are larger animals than those which comprised the original stock imported from Siberia, that Alaska affords a better range than Siberia, and that the climate is better adapted to the reindeer industry. The herds in Alaska average more than 700 reindeer each, so that the danger of inbreeding can not be serious. The introduction of wild caribou into some of the herds has increased the size of the reindeer in those herds. The greatest menace to the reindeer industry are the fires, usually started in the neighborhood of mining camps, which sometimes cause the wanton destruction of vast stretches of valuable grazing lands. The reindeer industry is now extending from the mainland to the outlying islands. During August, 1914, upon the request of the Department of the Interior, the revenue cutter Manning conveyed a herd of 40 reindeer from Ugashik, on the Alaska Peninsula, to Atka, a remote island in the Aleutian chain, where it will be a valuable factor in alleviating the deplorable conditions which have hitherto prevailed upon that desolate island. The extension of the reindeer industry into southeast Alaska was begun by the shipment to Metlakahtla, on Annette Island, of 8 reindeer from the herd in the vicinity of Nome. The Bureau of Education is distributing the reindeer as rapidly as the natives can be trained to individual ownership, the policy being to encourage independence and initiative among the native population. The distribution of reindeer is in charge of the United States school teachers, and it is expected that the Government will distribute all its reindeer within the next four years. In August, 1911, 40 reindeer were delivered to the Department of Commerce for use in stocking St. Paul and St. George Islands; in June, 1914, the number of reindeer on those islands had increased to 133, of which 75 were on St. Paul and 58 on St. George. By Executive order the Aleutian Islands have been set aside as a reservation under the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce for the conservation of fish and fur-bearing animals, and for the raising of reindeer. In compliance with the request of the Department of Agriculture, 55 reindeer were delivered to that department during September, 1913, from one of the herds of the Department of the Interior on the Alaska Peninsula, of which 19 were landed on Amaknak Island and 36 on Umnak Island, of the Aleutian chain. Hitherto no special endeavor has been made to foster the exportation of reindeer meat from Alaska, in view of the fact that most of the reindeer butchered have been required to supply the local markets in Alaska. It appears that such exportation is now desirable. The last steamer to leave Nome before the close of navigation by ice brought to Seattle 25 carcasses of reindeer. These were placed on sale in Seattle, retailing at from 20 to 35 cents per pound. The chief of the Alaska division also brought from Nome 3 carcasses to be distributed among the five transcontinental railway lines running out of Seattle, in order that reindeer meat might be given a trial on the dining cars, with a view to securing for the natives contracts for the delivery of reindeer meat each season. Soon after the inception of the reindeer enterprise certain Lapps were brought from Lapland to Alaska and employed by the Bureau of Education as instructors of the Eskimos in the care and management of the reindeer, each Lapp receiving a certain number of reindeer in payment for his services. During the summer of 1914 a company, organized at Nome, purchased about 1,200 reindeer from one of these Lapps. This company intends to purchase other herds now owned by Lapps, and to engage in the exportation of reindeer meat on a large scale. LIST OF PERSONS IN THE ALASKA SCHOOL SERVICE, 1913-14. William T. Lopp, superintendent of education of natives of Alaska and chief of the Alaska Division, Alaska. EMPLOYEES IN THE WASHINGTON OFFICE. William Hamilton, Alaskan assistant, Pennsylvania. David E. Thomas, bookkeeper, Massachusetts. James O. Williams, stenographer and typewriter, Illinois. EMPLOYEES IN THE SUPPLY AND DISBURSING OFFICE, SEATTLE. Harry C. Sinclair, supply agent, Maryland. Alexander H. Quarles, special disbursing agent, Georgia. Chauncey C. Bestor, assistant supply agent, Washington. Julius C. Helwig, clerk, Indiana. Miss Florence P. Hutchinson, stenographer and typewriter, to January 3, 1914, Washington. EMPLOYEES IN ALASKA. District superintendents of schools. Walter C. Shields, northwestern district, Nome. Special disbursing agent and assistant district superintendent of schools in the northwestern district of Alaska. Walter H. Johnson, Nome. Physicians. Emil Krulish, M. D., Public Health Service, on special detail. Henry O. Schaleben, M. D., superintendent southwestern district, Seward. Bruce H. Brown, M. D., Nulato, from August 24. Edgar O. Campbell, M. D., Klawock, from October 1. Linus H. French, M. D., Kanakanak. Paul J. Mahone, M. D., Juneau. Daniel S. Neuman, M. D., Nome. Herbert N. T. Nichols, M. D., Kotzebue, from August 16. Ovid B. Orr, M. D., Akhiok, from September 1, 1913, to March 8, 1914. John W. Reed, M. D., Bethel. Nurses and teachers of sanitation. Mrs. Anna G. Barton, Kogiung. Miss Mabel Berg, Russian Mission. Mrs. Clara M. Brown, Nulato, from August 24. Miss Esther Gibson, southeastern district of Alaska. Mrs. Ruth Hawkesworth, Hydaburg, from October 1, 1913, to May 31, 1914. Miss Paula Hubbert, southeastern district of Alaska, from September 1, 1913, to December 10, 1913. Miss Harriet Kenly, Nome, from October 1. Mrs. Louise M. Nichols, Kotzebue, from August 16. Mrs. Gertrude W. Shaver, Klukwan, from October 1. Mrs. Marie Umgukh, Kanakanak, from October 1, 1913, to April 30, 1914. Contract hospitals. Holy Cross Hospital, Nome. Fairhaven Hospital, Candle. Good Samaritan Hospital, Valdez. St. Ann's Hospital, Juneau. The Children's Orthopedic Hospital, Seattle. Hospitals maintained by bureau of education at Nulato, Kotzebue, and Kanakanak. |