Pueblo chieftain., 1921-04-03
By Frederic ]. EIaskin.

Washington, D. c., March 31.-With-
in the last few weeks steaks and chops
of reindeer venison have been offered
on the menus of local restaurants, as
they have been or soon will be in other
cities. The prices are not much higher
than for beef, and there is a good
prospect that in few years Alaska
reindeermeat will be in the market in
sufficient quantities materially to af-
feet the prices of beef and mutton.
Scientists here point out that this
advent of new meat on the market
has great significance, which is apt
to be overlooked by the consumer. This
venison is being produced on lands
which 30 years ago produced no meat
except a few seals, and so little food
of any kind that the few Eskimos who
inhabited the region were starving.
Now it is producing meat for export.
And there are tens Of thousands of
square miles of wild land in the Uni
ted States which are now producing
nothing, and which could likewise be
made to produce great quantities of
meat at low cost by the simple cN
pedient of conserving the animal life
natural to them. This has been pointed
out again and again by scientists, but
has made no impression so far upon
the general public.
Consider first the case of the rein
deer In 1899 the Eskimos of tho north
ern coast of Alaska were in starving
condition. The seals and walruses
which had always furnished them with
food had been almost eXterminated by
white hunters. The Bureau of Educa
tion saw that in Lapland, where eli
matte and other conditions are almost
exactly the same as in Alaska, the
reindeer furnished the natives with an
adequate means of subsistence. A few
reindeer were accordingly introduced
nryD In la
tens of thousands of them there, the
Eskimos have been converted into civ
ilized and self-Supporting men by the
| industry OF caring for them, and an
| increasing surplus of reindeer meat is
being shipped to the United States
every year.
This has all been done under the di-
rection OF tho Bureau of Education in
tho Department of the Interior. Mr..
Sheldon jackson being tho individual
who deserves most credit for the sing
ularly successful Undertaking. 1t IL
lustrates the fact thdt the first step
in improving the condition of men is
to solve their economic problem.
Food from, Waste
But the thing We arc now concerned
with is the fact that the barren north
ern waste was turned into food
producing region by the method of in.
4
mails that could survive there, and
carefully bringing them to tho highcs,
state of abundance possible.
| In tho United States tho range lands
that arc suitable for cattle and sheep
have long been supporting az many OF
those animals as they can. Tho popu-
lation of the country grows. but the
meat supply does not. We are there
! FOR forced to import more and more
beef and mutton every year. and the
4 price of meat constantly rises.
Sheep and cattle arc prairie animals.
which can make but little use of wood
land, because they feed on grass. There
are millions OF acres OF woodland in
| the United States They lie In great
bodies in tho Rocky Mountain region
In tho Allerhanics. and in tho north
and In smaller bodies scattered all over
tho country. These woodland regions
produce practically no food at all A
few cattle and sheep range thru them,
browsing In the open places, but that
is all. They are not adapted to the
| raising Of cattlo and sheep.
But they are supcrbly adapted to
| raising OF deer and moose. These ami
mails. you must understand. do not
1.-Two upon grass but upon trees. The
whitehall deer. which is tho best and
| most widely distributed OF tho Amer
/ lean deer. lives wholly on twigs and
! leaves. The moose lives on the bark
OF trees Neither OF them Injuries the
forest for timber purposes. Neither
OF them takes an ounce OF food away
from any cattle and sheep which may