ferred under section 59 of the copyright act of March 4, 1909. These transfers are expected eventually to prove an important source of book supply.

ALASKA SCHOOL SERVICE.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, the field force of the Alaska school service consisted of 5 superintendents, 101 teachers, 8 physicians (4 of whom also filled other positions), 4 nurses, 4 contract physicians, and 2 hospital attendants. Eighty-one public schools were maintained, with an enrollment of 3,810 and an average attendance of 1,692.

In addition to providing schools for the native population, the Bureau of Education has continued its endeavor to furnish medical and sanitary relief to the natives and to care for destitute natives.

In November, 1910, the medical work in southeast Alaska was rendered more efficient by the establishment in Juneau of a hospital for natives, and during the present summer a hospital for natives was established at Nushagak, in western Alaska; in addition the Bureau of Education has a contract with the Holy Cross Hospital at Nome for the treatment of diseased natives upon the request of a superintendent or teacher.

The experience of the Bureau of Education in endeavoring, through its employees, to furnish medical relief to the natives of Alaska, demonstrated the desirability of authoritative study of the prevalence of disease among the natives of Alaska and of the means for its prevention. Accordingly, upon the request of the Secretary of the Interior, the Surgeon General of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service detailed Passed Asst. Surg. Milton H. Foster for duty, under the direction of the Commissioner of Education, for the purpose of supervising all measures relative to the medical and surgical relief and sanitation of the natives of southern Alaska, and for the purpose of making studies of the prevalence of disease in Alaska and of the conditions which favor its spread, with a view to inaugurating adequate methods of prevention. In accordance with said instructions, during the summer of 1911 Dr. Foster made a thorough investigation of the sanitary conditions among the natives of southern Alaska. As the result of his investigations, Dr. Foster recommends the following measures, which require action on the part of Congress: (1) The establishment of a sanitarium for cases of pulmonary tuberculosis requiring hospital treatment; (2) the establishment of a home for destitute blind and crippled natives; (3) authority for the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service to appoint one of the officers of that service to act as commissioner of public health for Alaska. Dr. Foster also recommends the extension of the medical work in connection with the Alaska school service.

The expenditures for the relief of destitute natives during the fiscal year 1911 amounted approximately to $2,500, as against $4,000 in 1910 and $7,000 in 1909. Arrangements were made with the Bureau of Fisheries for the distribution of seal meat from the islands of St. Paul and St. George to destitute natives of the Aleutian Islands; also with the Revenue-Cutter Service for the distribution of medical supplies and rations to destitute natives in remote villages where the Bureau of Education has no representatives.

Upon the request of the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the sphere of usefulness of the teachers of the schools on the coast north of Nome has been extended so as to include the securing of information regarding the tides and currents of the Arctic Ocean, the annual cruise of the U. S. S. Bear being utilized as a means of communication and instruction.

I respectfully recommend the enactment of legislation (1) requiring the attendance at school of every child between the ages of 5 and 15 during such time as the family of said child is in the village, except in case of mental or physical incapacity or when the services of the child are needed to support the family or himself; (2) placing all measures instituted by the Government for the medical and surgical relief of the natives under the general charge of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service.

The following is a summary of expenditures from the fund for education of natives of Alaska:

Expenditure from appropriation for education of natives of Alaska.

THE ALASKA REINDEER SERVICE.

The latest available statistics regarding the Alaska reindeer service are those of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, according to which the total number of domestic reindeer in Alaska was 27,325, distributed among 42 herds. Of the 27,325 reindeer 14,993, or 55 per cent, were owned by natives; 3,730, or 14 per cent, were owned by the United States; 4,194, or 15 per cent, were owned by missions; and 4,407, or 16 per cent, were owned by Lapps. Of the 42 herds 36 are cared for entirely by natives.

The total income of the Eskimos from the reindeer industry during the year 1909-10, including salaries earned by service in connection with the herds and the proceeds from the sale of meat and skins, was $24,656.09.

The most notable extension in the reindeer enterprise during the present year was the delivery to the Department of Commerce and Labor of reindeer from the herds in Alaska for use in stocking St. Paul and St. George Islands, in Bering Sea.

The following is a summary of expenditures from the fund "Reindeer for Alaska, 1911":

NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION.

The secretary of the National Education Association reports for the year ended June 30, 1911, the value of the total personal property of the association as $11,300; permanent invested fund, $180,000; net revenue from invested fund, $6,797.71; total receipts for current expenses, $48,909.08; total expenses, $34,978.95; balance June 30, 1911, $4,030.13. The chief sources of revenue are membership fees, proceeds of sale of volumes and reports, and revenue from invested funds. The chief sources of expense are printing and distribution of the volumes of proceedings, maintenance of the secretary's office and clerical force at Winona, Minn., and the expenses in connection with the annual convention.

The total registration at the annual meeting held in Boston, Mass., July, 1911, was 11,480, including associate members. There are now about 7,000 active members enrolled.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

It is very important that all statistical reports of this bureau be issued within a short time after the date or period for which the information is collected, and these reports should be accurate and exhaustive for the subjects covered. Under the present plan of collecting statistics neither of these ends is attainable, since for all statistical data the bureau must, for promptness, accuracy, and thoroughness, depend alone on the good will and interest of many thousands of school officers of various grades in all parts of the country, without having authority to enforce compliance with any request of the commissioner, and without funds with which to remunerate anyone for filling the blanks of the schedules prepared and sent out by the bureau or for furnishing any other information. I am undertaking to arrange with the chief school officers of the several States a plan by which this bureau and the State departments of education may cooperate to secure promptly complete and reliable statistics in all educational agencies and activities, this bureau assisting State officers in the collection and preparation of material, and receiving in return from them all or most of the data needed for its use. From all of these school officers with whom I have had an opportunity to confer, I have assurance of the heartiest cooperation. If the plan proposed can be carried out the State reports in most of the States as well as reports in this bureau will be much improved. If the appropriations asked for other purposes are made, it will be possible to so reorganize the present force of the bureau as to make it possible to carry out this plan of cooperation at a cost little greater than that of the present inadequate plan. To make it entirely effective some additional legislation may be necessary in some States. This can be had, I think, within a reasonable time.

That the work of the bureau may be brought to the attention of teachers and school officers in the most effective way, and that the Commissioner of Education may have first-hand knowledge of conditions and needs which will enable him to direct the work of the bureau most effectively, he should spend much of his time in the field, attending conventions of teachers, school officers, and others interested directly and indirectly in the problems of education, visiting and inspecting typical schools of all kinds and grades, and conferring with such people as can be helpful to the bureau in carrying on any part of its work. The commissioner should also, as far as possible, be relieved from the routine and details of office duty, to the end that he may have more time to plan and direct more effectively the larger work of the bureau. I therefore recommend that the position of assistant commissioner of education be created, and that sufficient traveling expenses be allowed for both the commis

sioner and the assistant commissioner. The assistant commissioner should be a specialist in secondary education and serve also as chief of a division of high-school education in the bureau.

The division of higher education in the bureau, with a specialist in higher education at its head, should be strengthened by the addition of a specialist in normal-school education and the training of teachers, a specialist in agricultural education to have general supervision of the expenditure of the large amount of money given annually by the Federal Government for the support of agricultural and mechanical colleges, and a specialist in agricultural education to give his time to the agricultural and mechanical colleges for negroes in the Southern States, helping them to a better use of the funds they receive from the Federal Government. The salary of the specialist in higher education should be so increased as to enable the bureau to retain the services of a competent man in that position. This division should have at least three additional clerks.

Much more than half the children in the United States live under rural conditions in small towns, villages, and open country. All their education must come through rural schools. The rural school problem is admitted to be the most difficult of all school problems. This bureau has in the past been able to give very little direct help. toward its solution. There should be in the bureau a comparatively large group of competent men and women giving their entire time. and energies to this problem, with freedom, under the direction of the commissioner, to study it directly as well as indirectly wherever it can be studied to best advantage, to prepare bulletins on this subject for the general information of the people, and to go to any part of the country to give direct and specific assistance whenever needed.

Over all the world the demand for industrial, or vocational, education is growing. In our own country teachers and laymen in urban and rural communities alike are demanding that the schools shall do something to prepare the masses of boys and girls for effective service in some industrial occupation, fit them to make a living and to contribute their part to the commonwealth. How this shall be done and in what kind of schools no one seems to know certainly and fully. Experiments of many kinds are tried in many places. Much money is being spent for it and much more will be spent, more or less wisely. Commissions are sent abroad to study the efforts of other countries to solve this problem. Committees have been appointed by many societies in this country to investigate and report upon it. Education conventions devote their programs to it. A national society for the promotion of this kind of education has done much valuable work. There is great need in this bureau for a group of competent specialists and assistants to study the various phases of this problem;