54 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



have descended from the 1280 which were brought 

 from Siberia between 1892 and 1902. 



The solution of the reindeer problem is of 

 course a market. The meat is used extensively in 

 the cities of the Northwest, but has not been offered 

 persistently enough elsewhere to tempt departure 

 from meats to which the public is accustomed. 

 Alaska must develop a permanent population of its 

 own sufficient to create its own markets for all its 

 products before prosperity and growth will come 

 into view. 



Home sites not exceeding five acres may now 

 be bought by Alaskan citizens engaged in trade ei- 

 ther as principals or employees. Grazing districts 

 may be established by the Secretary of the Interior 

 everywhere except on the Aleutian Islands. 



In several of our island territories, laws in ex- 

 istence when they passed under our flag continue to 

 enable citizens to become possessed of homesteads 

 and acquire rights in other kinds to land. Upon 

 these our own system has not yet been imposed. 



Ill 

 PROBLEMS OF CONSERVATION 



Conservation of natural resources is commonly 

 said to have begun with Roosevelt, and this is in a 

 real sense true. The strong hand and the big stick 

 helped. Nevertheless it is a development, not an in- 



