the interest of the public welfare. As a matter of equity, it seems that the Government should extend its excellent system of education' to all full-blooded natives and those of mixed blood, as the drain on the Territorial treasury is very great.

The following tables show the distribution of children of full and mixed native blood in the various schools throughout the territory for the school year 1919-20:

It is thus shown that there are 930 children of native blood being educated by the Territory. About 3,600 are reported enrolled in the schools of the Bureau of Education, hence the Territory is educating about 20 per cent of all the native children in Alaska. As the Territory spends by direct appropriation from the legislature and by allotment from the Alaskan fund a yearly sum of approximately $320,000 for the schooling of a total enrollment of about 3,400 children, it would seem that the territory is spending approximately $68,000 a year on education which should properly be borne by the Government.

The work of the Bureau of Education is highly commendable. With most limited appropriations it is training the native to useful citizenship, and while its endeavors among the older natives is not always fruitful, still the younger generations, where under the influence of the bureau, show splendid advancement. I should like to see the service expand to all corners of the Territory.

The work of the various missionary societies must not be overlooked. In their particular localities they are doing splendid work. Practically all of the larger denominations are well represented. The largest denominational plants are at Sitka, where the Presbyterians have established a fine boarding school named in honor of its founder, Sheldon Jackson; the Catholic schools at Holy Cross, Mulato, Mary Igloo, and Akularak are splendid institutions conducted by sisters of various orders; the Baptists have an orphanage at Wood Island but the school is maintained by the Territory; Methodists are well established at Unalaska; Moravians at Yakutat, Bethel, and Golnofin Bay; Episcopalians have schools at Tanana Crossing, Salchaket, Eagle, Ketchikan, Nenana, Anvik, Allakeket, and a mission at Point Hope on the Arctic. There are Episcopal hospitals at Tanana, Ketchikan, Point Hope, and Fort Yukon. At Point Barrow, the most northerly point of Alaska, the Presbyterians have just established a modern hospital.

I have endeavored to procure information on all the missions, but have not succeeded in getting in touch with all of the denominations. The work of the missions should be encouraged by all church people, as their work is most beneficial although uncoordinated and estab

lished only in the larger fields. The Bureau of Education must handle the unattractive fields and bear the greatest burden of native education.

I recommend that there be appropriated annually an emergency epidemic appropriation of $50,000 for combating epidemics among the natives and for relief. This is in accordance with house joint memorial No. 16 of the legislature of 1919. It has been shown that the annual appropriation for medical relief can not cover an emergency, but such emergencies must be met. In 1918 and 1919 the Territory afforded relief to native sufferers in the great influenza epidemics at a cost of nearly $100,000. The Territory can not be expected to be again held responsible. During the past year the Territory has also had to handle a minor epidemic of smallpox among the natives. If an appropriation, as suggested above, is allowed and not expended before March 4 of any year, the appropriation, or any balance, should become part of the annual appropriation of the "Education and support of natives of Alaska." It would also be of great benefit to the bureau if the War Department could be authorized to loan or transfer to the bureau wireless outfits such as could be erected at the more inaccessible schools.

Many natives are found to be suffering from tuberculosis in all its forms and from hereditary diseases. There should be some way devised to separate those affected from the healthy. This is a difficult problem, as the natives resent any attempt at control. There is a Territorial law, which the Bureau of Education could well invoke, framed to deal with just such cases.

The natives of Alaska receive little support from the Government, comparatively speaking. For instance, for the year 1921 in Arizona, with approximately the same number of Indians as Alaska, there was appropriated for them $736,650 in addition to the amount appropriated for general purposes, while there was appropriated for Alaska a total amount of $371,400.

The superintendent of education of natives of Alaska makes the following report:

NATIVE SCHOOL SERVICE.

During the year the field force of the Bureau of Education in Alaska consisted of 6 superintendents, 133 teachers, 9 physicians, and 13 nurses. Sixty-seven schools were maintained.

As the result of the epidemic of influenza among the natives of northern and western Alaska during the autumn of 1918 and the spring of 1919 about 250 children were left orphans. In the Nome region it was found possible to distribute the orphans among Eskimo families, but in the Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet districts it was necessary for the bureau to assume their entire care in orphanages which were erected at Kanakanak and Tyonek,

NATIVE MEDICAL SERVICE.

The appropriation of $80,000 for medical relief was expended in maintaining hospitals at Juneau, Kanakanak, Akiak, Nulato, and Kotzebue; 9 physicians and 13 nurses were employed. To assist them in providing medical relief, each teacher is provided with a standard medical equipment with which to attend to ordinary ailments and less serious injuries.

METLAKATLA.

The rehabilitation of the colony at Metlakatla, on Annette Island, is progressing satisfactorily. In 1917 the Secretary of the Interior, on behalf of the

Metlakatlans, entered into a five-year lease with the Annette Island Packing Co., of Seattle, granting fish-trap privileges within the reserved waters adjacent to Annette Island and permission to erect and operate a cannery within the reserve. The returns to the Metlakatlans for fish royalties, trap fees, labor, and for lumber purchased from the local sawmill amounted during the season of 1919 to $90,032.88. It is hoped that in 1921 the revenues accruing from the lease will enable the Secretary of the Interior to take over, for the Metlakatlans, the property of the lessee within the reserve and to arrange for the operation of the cannery by the natives themselves. The Metlakatla Commercial Co., organized by the Bureau of Education, continues successfully to conduct the mercantile business of the colony and to operate the sawmill. The importation into Alaska of laborers needed by the salmon canneries has been a troublesome problem to the operators of the canneries and a great detriment to the natives of the villages in which the canneries are located. The Metlakatla Commercial Co. successfully fulfilled its contract with the Annette Island Packing Co. for the furnishing locally of the labor required by the cannery in Metlakatla, thus solving the problem in so far as their village is concerned.

REINDEER.

Assuming that there has been the usual net increase of 20 per cent in the number of reindeer during the year, there should be, approximately, 180,0001 reindeer in Alaska June 30, 1920. The magnitude and value of the industry have resulted in the making by Congress of an appropriation to enable the Bureau of Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Bureau of Education, to make investigations, experiments, and demonstrations for the improvement of the reindeer industry in Alaska; the chief of the Biological Survey has proceeded to, Alaska in order to organize this work. The distribution of reindeer among the natives and the use of the enterprise as the form of industrial education best adapted to the races inhabiting the untimbered regions of Alaska will remain under the supervision of the Bureau of Education.

Regulations were adopted making effective the authority granted by Congress for the sale of surplus male reindeer belonging to the Government and the use of the proceeeds of such sales in the extension of the industry. The first sale under these regulations was made at Mountain Village, on the Yukon River, during the autumn of 1919. Under judicious management, the proceeds of such sales might provide the funds necessary for the support and extension of the reindeer industry, independently of appropriations made by Congress. It is very desirable that the reindeer industry be extended into the region tributary to the Government railway in Alaska. The area suitable for pasturage of reindeer in the Broad Pass region, reached by the railway, and extending eastward along the northern and southern slopes of the Alaska range is, approximately, 12,000 square miles. Most of this region is timberless and more than 2,000 feet above sea level. It is therefore swept by mountain breezes which would serve to protect herds against mosquitoes and flies. After the Government has demonstrated the practicability of raising reindeer in that part of Alaska private owners would undoubtedly drive their herds into that region in order to avail themselves of the market afforded by railway transportation.

TRANSPORTATION DIFFICULTIES.

The 67 villages in Alaska in which the work of the Bureau of Education is carried on are scattered along thousands of miles of coast line and on the great rivers. Very many villages are not on the routes of commercial vessels. Some of the settlements can be brought into touch with the outside world only during the short season of open navigation in midsummer. The securing of transportation from Seattle to their remote destinations of teachers, physicians, and nurses, and of the supplies and building materials required in the Alaska School Service, the Alaska Medical Service, and the Alaska Reindeer Service is an undertaking of great difficulty. The problem was acute during the summer of 1919, transportation to and in Alaska being in a chaotic condition as the result of war conditions, and because vessels carrying freight for western and northern Alaska had left Seattle before the passage of the appropriations for the

1 Estimates from other sources place the total number at not less than 200,000 reindeer.

support of the work of the Bureau of Education in Alaska. Even on the established routes rates were excessive and steamers were unable to maintain their time schedules; there were long delays of passengers and freight at transfer points. In several instances excessive emergency transportation of employees and supplies had to be secured. For a long series of years the Coast Guard Service, through its vessels cruising in Alaskan waters, has willingly cooperated with the Bureau of Education, but its vessels are not adapted to the carrying of passengers and freight, and they have numerous other duties to perform. Experience has shown that the work of the Bureau of Education in Alaska can never be administered effectively and economically until the bureau owns and controls its own vessel. Request was therefore made to the Navy Department for a vessel suitable for use by the Bureau of Education in connection with its work in Alaska. Complying with the request, the Navy Department transferred to the Department of the Interior the U. S. S. Boxer, a stánch, wooden vessel with a carrying capacity of about 450 tons and admirably adapted for the purpose contemplated. The endeavor to secure a congressional appropriation to meet the expense of refitting the Boxer for service in Alaskan waters did not meet with success. The vessel is held at the Naval Training Station, Newport, R. I., pending the securing of an appropriation.

The vast extent of the Territory, the remoteness of many of the settlements, and lack of transportation facilities make the taking of the census of Alaska a matter of great difficulty. At the request of the Bureau of the Census, Mr. W. T. Lopp, Superintendent of Education of Natives of Alaska, was placed in charge of the entire work of the Alaska census of 1920, with the bureau's superintendents, physicians, and teachers in all parts of the Territory as special agents and enumerators. This cooperative arrangement while greatly increasing the duties of the bureau's employees during the year proved to be mutually economical and advantageous.

SCHOOLS.

The public schools of Alaska are under the direction of the Territorial board of education with the commissioner of education, Juneau, Alaska, as executive head. They are maintained for white children and for children of mixed blood leading a civilized life, and are administered under both Federal and Territorial laws. The Federal law, known as the "Nelson law," provides for schools outside of incorporated towns or incorporated school districts, and allots for their maintenance 25 per cent of the Alaska fund which is disbursed by authority of the governor. The Territorial laws provide for schools in incorporated towns or districts, one-fourth of the cost of maintenance being borne by the town or district by taxation of real and personal property, and three-fourths by the Territory up to a certain limit. Territorial laws provide for the establishment of citizenship night schools and carry an appropriation for their support.

There are 163 teachers in the schools of Alaska. Seventy per cent of the teachers are normal school or college graduates. Eighty-eight per cent of the high-school teachers are college graduates who have, in addition, had advanced study. The average teaching experience of Alaska teachers is seven and one-half years. Approximately 60 per cent have had previous teaching experience in Alaska, while 50 per cent have had experience both inside and outside Alaska.

Schools in the following towns offer four years of high school work: Anchorage, Douglas, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Nome, and Valdez. Those giving a three-year course are at Cordova, Seward, Skagway, and Wrangell. Petersburg and Sitka give a twoyear course. A few of the one-teacher schools, in which all of the grades are not represented, present high school subjects to advanced