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to that prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for the Annette Islands Reserve.

Expenditures from appropriation “Education of natives of Alaska, 1915."

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The latest complete statistics regarding the reindeer herds are those of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1914, according to which the total number of reindeer in Alaska was 57,872, distributed among 65 herds. Of this number, 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 number of reindeer is a net increase of 22 per cent during the fiscal year, notwithstanding the fact that nearly 6,000 reindeer were killed for their meat and hides during the year.

The reindeer enterprise in Alaska has successfully passed through two stages-the introduction of the reindeer to a new country and people, and the development of an administration which has established the industry in the coastal region from Point Barrow to the Aleutian Peninsula. The result has been that the enterprise has been successfully commercialized and has advanced from a branch of industrial education to one of the industries of the country.

Realizing that the establishment of an export trade in reindeer products is essential to the success of the enterprise, the bureau is encouraging the shipment of reindeer meat and hides from Alaska to the States. The last steamer to leave Nome before the closing of navigation by ice brought to Seattle in October, 1914, 25 carcasses 8161°- -INT 1915-VOL 1-27

of reindeer, which 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 continental railway lines running out of Seattle in order that reindeer meat might be given a trial on dining cars, with a view to securing for the natives contracts for the delivery of reindeer meat each

season.

During the winter of 1914-15 the bureau's superintendent stationed at Nome, with the approval of the Commissioner of Education, distributed among the Eskimo herders in northwestern Alaska a proposal from a cold-storage company operating between Seattle and Nome to market in Seattle for the Eskimos, on a commission basis, the reindeer meat consigned to that company. This action will probably result in the shipping of a considerable quantity of reindeer meat from Nome during the summer. The responsibility of accepting or rejecting the proposal of the cold-storage company will rest with the native owners of the reindeer, while the superintendents of the bureau act in an advisory capacity and assist in making the necessary arrangements.

Soon after the inception of the reindeer enterprise certain Lapps were brought from Lapland to Alaska and employed by the bureau as instructors of the Eskimos in the care and management of the reindeer. Each Lapp received 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 and hides.

Under the supervision of the superintendent of the northwestern district a very successful convention was held at Igloo January 11-17, and was attended by about 200 of the Eskimos engaged in the reindeer industry on the Seward Peninsula. The main object of the convention was the exchange of experiences and opinions on matters connected with raising and utilizing reindeer. The discussions included such subjects as the best way to slaughter a reindeer and prepare it for market, the most satisfactory forms of sleds. and harness, and the best methods of driving reindeer. There were also shooting matches, rope-throwing contests, wrestling bouts, and many kinds of races with reindeer. The exhibits included sets of harness, sleds, halters, and clothing made of reindeer skin, for which prizes were awarded. The success of this convention will probably result in holding similar conventions annually in various centers of the reindeer industry.

The reindeer industry is now extending from the mainland to the outlying islands. During August, 1914, upon request of the Depart

ment 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 during October by shipping to Metlakatla, on Annette Island, 8 reindeer from the herd in the vicinity of Nome.

Expenditures from appropriation for "Reindeer for Alaska, 1915."

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The commissioner has continued his policy of attending meetings of the more important National, sectional, State, and local associations interested directly or indirectly in education and of visiting and inspecting schools of all kinds and grades, to the end that he may have first-hand knowledge of educational policies and practices in all parts of the country, understand better the attitude of educators, and bring the bureau and those whom it serves closer together. In doing this he has traveled approximately 70,000 miles, visited 27 States, and made more than 200 addresses. Within the four years during which the present commissioner has been in office he has visited all but four of the States of the Union, most of them many times, and Porto Rico and Alaska. Within the year he has called nine special conferences, six of which he has attended and directed.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The number of special collaborators serving the bureau at the nominal sum of $1 a year has increased within the year from 118 to 122. These special collaborators are attached to various divisions of the bureau or work under the immediate direction of the commissioner. Some are attached to the staff of one or the other of the substations; 12 have desks in the office at Washington a part or all of the year; one is in the office of the home education division in Philadelphia, and one in the office of the kindergarten division in New York. All these assist in making investigations, preparing reports, conducting correspondence, holding conferences, and in other ways. Other special collaborators render much valuable service in making educational surveys, in conducting special studies, in gath

ering information, in compiling bulletins and reports, in formulating expert opinion and giving advice, and in representing the bureau at important meetings. The service rendered by these special collaborators, at a total cost of $122, is probably equal to what could be obtained otherwise only by an additional appropriation of $35,000 or $40,000 for the payment of specialists and clerks.

The efforts of the commissioner to obtain for the bureau the hearty cooperation of educational associations, boards of education, and education officers and teachers, mentioned in the commissioner's statement for the year ended June 30, 1914, have been continued with gratifying success. It is quite evident that when the bureau has more strength within itself, so that it can give better direction in more lines of work and direct more effectively in those lines it has already undertaken, this cooperation will become still more valuable. That this bureau and bureaus in other executive departments at Washington may cooperate helpfully is shown by plans of cooperation which have been worked out by this bureau and the Division of Agricultural Education in the Department of Agriculture, the Children's Bureau and the Bureau of Immigration in the Department of Labor, and the Public Health Service.

At the request of the President this bureau has undertaken to cooperate with the Children's Bureau and the Public Health Service in a study of exceptional children and the means of their care and education. Two or three conferences have been held, but little progress has been made, chiefly because of the fact that this bureau has no specialists in this very important phase of education. As soon as the bureau can have such specialists, the work will be carried forward. It is of very great importance that there should be a better understanding of this subject, which affects two or three millions of children who can not be helped much by the usual means and methods of education, and which must have interest for society as a whole.

Within the year plans have been worked out by which this bureau will cooperate with education officers and others in the State of Delaware in making a complete survey of educational conditions and of all the educational agencies, public and private, in that State, and in working out and putting into operation plans for a closer cooperation of all these agencies, and for a system of education in the State as nearly as possible ideal. All public officials of the State, including the governor, who is taking an active interest in the matter, are giving their hearty support. The Department of Agriculture of the United States, the Children's Bureau, and the Public Health Service are cooperating with this bureau in this work. The State of Delaware offers peculiar advantages for a cooperative work of this kind. The results of the work will no

doubt extend to some extent to all the States. I believe this is one of the most important projects this bureau has ever undertaken.

With the cooperation of the Department of Agriculture and the assistance of Mr. George N. Briggs, whose salary and expenses were paid by the Government exposition board, the bureau prepared and installed in the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco an exhibit showing the activities of the bureau, the present status and recent progress of education in the United States, the work of colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, and certain phases of recent improvement in rural schools and of the work of schools for Negroes. The commissioner assisted in working out plans whereby the exhibits of the several States, cities, and educational institutions participating in the exposition avoided unnecessary duplication and succeeded in making a more or less unified and comprehensive exhibit of the best in education in the country as a whole.

All the needs of the bureau set forth in the statement of the commissioner for the year ended June 30, 1914, still exist, and I beg leave to submit again, with slight modifications, the recommendations submitted in that statement.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

(1) An increase in the salaries of chief clerk, editor, statistician, specialist in land-grant college statistics, specialist in higher education, and other specialists, and the removal of the limit on amount of salaries which may be paid from the lump-sum appropriation for rural school education and industrial education. The duties of these positions require the services of men and women of such kind and degree of ability as demand salaries considerably higher than are now paid in this bureau. I can only repeat what I said in my statements for 1913 and for 1914, that work of this kind had better not be attempted than not done well.

(2) An assistant commissioner, who should also be a specialist in secondary education and should serve as chief of a high-school division of the bureau. The duties of the office make it necessary for the commissioner to visit distant parts of the country and to be absent from the office frequently many days at a time. There should be an assistant commissioner to carry on the work in the office. The increased work in the office demands much more of the commissioner than was demanded formerly. Probably the most important phase in public education in the United States at present is that of the secondary schools. The high school is, or should be, the heart and center of our school system. The problems of the high school are more difficult and their solution more urgent than those of any other part of the school system. The head of the high-school division of

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