The Kusko times., 1929-11-16
COMMISSIONER OF EDUCA- TON NO LONGER ACTS AS
 VALET TO SANTA CLAUS

WASHINGTON. - "The Commis- sioner of Education is uo longer valet to Santa Claus"
 In these words, William John Cooper United States Commissioner fEducation, informed his staff that the Secretary of the Interior. Ray Lyman Wilbur, had acted favorahly upon the Commissioners recent xec- ommendation that other officials of the Interior Department assume re- sponsibility for the reindeer of Alaska
 On and after November the bmm
 0n November 1 the Governor of Alaska assumed supervision of this herd of a. million reindeer.
 This work has been responsibil- ity of the United States Office of Ed ucation for nearly forty years, and is often cited as an example of the curious duties assigned to certain off, cials in Washington and an indication of the need of governmental reorgan- izatin!
 In his annual report to the See1e- tary, Doctor Cooper summarizes he early beginnings of the reindeer in- dustry in Alaska and explains why the Office of Education has had su- pervision of it. In the early '90s of last century, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, he Offices General agent of education in Alaska urged that the Urited States Government undertake to in- troduce the Siberian domestic rein to get funds had failed in Congress, an appeal was made to the peop.e di- rectly through the press of Boston, Chicago New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. From this appeal came S2,146. With this money Dr. Jack son, in the face of great difficulties, secured 16 reindeer in Siberia, and, accomplishing what appeared to be the impossible, he transported them 1000 miles through stormy sea to one of the islands of Alaska. From this humble start in 1891, some mill lion reindeer nnow graze on the tun- dra of this far northern Territory, and bringto the fore new problems which resulted in Commissioner Cooper's recommendation and Sec retary Wilbur's transfer order-
 Rarely has a government undertake ing worked out so ideally as this in troduction into Alaska of an animal not native to it, to take the place of 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 transportation for a whole people which, half century ago, did not know of it's existence.
 The reindeer are, in fact, increas- ing in such numbers that it has be- come necessary to find an outl at for buS Pi OouSto WHiSh eHCy y iSie+ l i1S vast areas of Alaska that are e little use otherwise are capable of seoport- ing even greater numbers Of them, and of making an important eonttri- button to the meat supply # the world. So great has been the success of the reindeer develop eatt of Alaska that this year Canad'2 have purchased 5000 head, which hey are taking into that vast region s >ng the Arctic east of the Macken 2 river, where, it is believed, the A'aska ex- pertinent can be repeated.
 As the numbers of the re 1deer in Alaska have increased, new roblems of administration have presented themselves. The time is co ng when range control must be estais shed. AL ready the problem of marls ing rein deer meat has become an acute one. There are scientific proble ], such as T IL Il. Y