The Wrangell sentinel., 1929-10-31
Governor Assumes Supervision Million
 Reindeer in Alaska

Cooper, United States Commission CT of Education, informed his staff that the Secretary of the Interior, Ray Lyman Wilbur. had acted fa- vorably upon the Commissioner recent recommendation that other officers in the Interior Department assume responsibility for the rein deer of Alaska.
 On and after November first, the Governor of Alaska will assume the supervision of this herd of million reindeer.
 This work has been a responsi- bility of the United States Bureau of Education for nearly forty years, and is often cited as an example of the curious duties assigned to cer- tain officials in Washington and an indication of the need of govern mental reorganization.
 In his annual report to the Sec retary, Dr. Cooper summarizes the early beginnings of the reindeer in dustry in Alaska and explains why the Bureau of Education has had supervision of it. In the early nineties of last century, Dr. Shell don Jackson, the Bureaus General Agent of Education in Alaska, urged that the United States gov ernment undertake to introduce the Siberian domestic reindeer into AL aska. After two efforts to get funds had failed in Congress, an appeal was made to the people directly through the press of Boston, Chi cago, New York. Philadelphia and Washington. From this appeal came s2,146. With this money Dr. Jackson, in the face of great diff culties, secured It reindeer in Si- beria and, accomplishing what ap- peared to be the impossible, he transported them 1000 miles through a stormy sea to one of the islands of Alaska. From this hum ble start in 1891, some million reindeer now graZe on the tundra of this northern territory, and bring to the fore new problems which result in Commissioner Coop CTS recommendation and Secretary Wilbur's transfer order.
 Rarely has Government under taking worked out so ideally as this introduction into Alaska of an animal not native to it, to take the place of a food supply of whale and walrus which was being cut off by hunters from the outside world. The reindeer has been developed to the point where it supplies much of the food. clothing and transpor- tation for the Eskimos, who half a century ago. did not know of its existence.
 The reindeer are, in fact, in creasing in such numbers that it has become necessary to find an outlet for the products which they yield. The vast areas of Alaska that are of little use otherwise are capable of supporting even greater numbers of them. and of making an important contribution to the meat supply of the world. So great has been the success of the reindeer development of Alaska that this year Canadians have purchased 5000 head which they are taking into that vast region along the Arc tic east of the Mackenzie River, where, it is believed, the Alaska experiment can be repeated.
 As the numbers of the reindeer in Alaska have increased, new problems of administration have presented themselves. The time IS coming when range control must be established. Already the problem of marketing reindeer meat has be- come an acute one. There are scien- tific problems, such as the control of the warble fly which lays its eggs on the backs of the reindeer from which grubs emerge, leaving holes which spoil the skins. There are also the problems of cross breeding with caribou which the Biological Survey are conducting on Nunivak Island.
 These problems, it is held, are not properly in the province of the Office of Education, which is re- search educational agency. It IS thought that they may be more ad- vantageously handled by admins tratfve officers on the ground than from Washington. The Governor of Alaska under the law of Febru- ary 10, 1927, is the ex-officio Com missioner of the Department of the Interior. He is on the ground and