REINDEER IN ALASKA 107 
in the annual reports of the superintendents of the herds 
shows that there were, June 30, 1913, 47,266 Reindeer in the 
62 Alaskan herds, or a net increase of 23 per cent during the 
fiscal year. This is considered a fair rate of increase, especially 
since nearly 5,000 Reindeer were killed for food and skins 
during the year. Only 3,853 of the Reindeer are owned by 
the Government; 5,047 are owned by missions; 7,834 by 
Lapps; and the remaining 30,532 are owned by 797 Eskimos 
and Indians, whose income from the Reindeer industry during 
the fiscal year was $66,966. The Reindeer belonging to these 
natives have an estimated value of $763,300. The Govern- 
ment is planning to go out of the Reindeer business as fast as it 
can train natives for individual ownership, the policy being to 
encourage independence and initiative among the native pop- 
ulation. Distribution of Reindeer is in charge of the United 
States school-teachers, and it is expected that the Govern- 
ment will dispose of all its Reindeer within the next four 
years. (U.S. Bureau of Education, 1914.) 
On the whole, the systematic introduction of Reindeer 
along the northwest coast of Alaska—now almost barren of 
wild life fit for human food—is one of the most humane and 
sensible measures ever undertaken for the children of the 
cold. If this industry is further fostered and diligently pur- 
sued, its ultimate value in the promotion of the moral and 
material welfare of the Eskimo is beyond calculation. The 
multiplication of the herds in the hands of private owners 
means a great increase in the animal food supply, less depend- 
ence upon the foods of civilization, a greater measure of gen- 
eral prosperity and contentment, and, in the end, far less 
