I believe the Bureau of Education can render very valuable service in this connection, and for that purpose it should have a group of competent specialists and assistants to study the various phases of the problem; bring together and digest the work and reports of societies, committees, and commissions; help toward the formulation of fundamental principles; and assist State, city, and county boards of supervisors in working out their practical application.

Twenty million or more children and young people in the United States spend a good portion of their time in school every year. The indoor sedentary life required by the work and discipline of the school is more or less unnatural for childhood and youth, and unless the conditions under which the school work is done are intelligently controlled there is constant danger that the health of the pupils may be injured, their vitality lowered, and their happiness and their value as citizens diminished. The country is fundamentally concerned in the health of its future citizens and should give to it no less attention than it gives to its live stock. To this end the Division of School Hygiene and Sanitation recently established in the Bureau of Education should be strengthened by the addition of a sufficient number of competent assistants and clerks to enable it to do its work effectively, studying principles of school sanitation, working out plans for their application, awakening interest in the subject among school officers, teachers, and patrons throughout the country, and assisting them in the care and health of the children in the schools.

The increase of the interest throughout the country in secondary and higher education has been greater even than in elementary education. Appropriations for colleges, universities, technical schools, and normal schools for the training of teachers have increased nearly 200 per cent in the past decade, and the increase in appropriations for the agricultural and mechanical colleges has been still larger. With this increase in interest and expenditures has come an increase in demands on the Division of Higher Education in this Bureau, and it should be strengthened immediately by the addition of specialists in normal-school education for the training of teachers. There is particular need for a specialist in agricultural education, who may give his time to the agricultural and mechanical colleges for negroes in the Southern States and help them to a better use of the funds they receive from the Government. Because of lack of some such intelligent supervision and help many of these schools are failing to accomplish the full purpose for which the Federal funds are appropriated.

Because of the peculiar nature of the work which this Bureau has to do it is especially important that the Commissioner of Education and the heads of the various divisions should be enabled to visit schools in all parts of the country, attend meetings of educational associations, confer with school officers and teachers, and make the Bureau more directly useful. For this purpose there should be liberal

appropriations for traveling expenses, and an assistant commissioner should be provided to carry on the routine duties of the office during the absences of the commissioner.

The Bureau should be able to gather full and accurate statistics in regard to education and to publish them promptly. The recent increase in the number, size, and kinds of schools makes this a very difficult task and there is need of radical revision in the method of doing it. This can be done, it is believed, with little additional cost if the recommended enlargements in the Bureau are made.

The Bureau of Education now has one of the most valuable and complete libraries on education in the world, and it should be made more serviceable not only to the Bureau itself but also to students of education everywhere. To students and investigators in all phases of education it should become a chief source of information, and all of its material should be made easily accessible to them. For this purpose there should be employed a man well versed in the theory and practice of education, whose services would be at the disposal of such students and who might assist them in their studies and investigations.

During the year ended June 30, 1911, there were maintained 81 public schools for natives of Alaska, with an enrollment of 3,810 and an average daily attendance of 1,692. This average attendance is much lower than it should be. There is need of a law requiring the children of natives of Alaska between the ages of 6 and 15 to attend school at all times when the families of such children are in a village having a school. The appropriation for their education should be increased from $200,000 to $248,000, so that more attention may be given to instruction in sanitation and industries.

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. During the summer of 1911 Dr. Milton H. Foster, detailed from the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, made a thorough investigation of the sanitary conditions among the natives of southern Alaska. As the result of his investigations, Dr. Foster recommended 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.

The reindeer in Alaska are being gradually turned over to the natives and they now own about 55 per cent of the total number, while the Government now owns only 14 per cent. Of the 42 herds,

36 are cared for entirely by natives, whose net income therefrom during the year 1909-10 was $24,656.09. During the past year 40 reindeer were delivered to the Department of Commerce and Labor for use in stocking St. Paul and St. George Islands in Bering Sea.

TERRITORIES.

For the purpose of centralizing information regarding the Territories, and, in so far as the law permits, to place their administration under the Department of the Interior, an order was issued by the President May 11, 1907, and subsequently amended to read as follows:

It is hereby ordered that on and after May 1, 1909, all official communications or reports from and to executive officers of the Territories and territorial possessions of the United States, viz, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, Porto Rico, Alaska, Samoa, and Guam, and all official communications or reports relating to territorial matters from and to all executive officers of the United States stationed in such Territories and territorial possessions shall be transmitted directly to the heads of the departments of the Government as provided by law, and in all cases where the acts of Congress do not specifically designate the department to which reports shall be transmitted the same shall be forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior in such manner and under such regulations as he may prescribe.

By Executive order dated July 15, 1909, Porto Rico was transferred to the Insular Bureau of the War Department.

ALASKA.

Conditions in Alaska call for immediate action by Congress. Its proper administration and development can not be accomplished under existing laws. These laws neither promote development nor protect the public interest. After a careful examination of official reports and other publications, and a personal visit to the Territory during the past summer, I had occasion to present the opinions thus formed before the American Mining Congress at Chicago on September 27, 1911. The general policy outlined in that address had been discussed with you and you have since given public approval to its specific recommendations. With some modifications and with a map of Alaska indicating its present mineral development this address has been reprinted as Bulletin 36 of the Bureau of Mines and has received such general publicity that I do not deem it necessary to restate in detail the views therein expressed. It is available for all those who are interested in its suggestions. I do wish, however, to urge with great earnestness the importance of immediate relief for Alaska in the following particulars:

First. The construction by the Federal Government of a central trunk-line railroad from tidewater to the Tanana and the Yukon. Second. The passage of a liberal but carefully guarded leasing law for the development of its mineral resources, and especially of its coal lands.

Third. The reservation of a sufficient amount of these coal lands to provide for the future needs of the Navy, and the mining of this coal by the Government for this purpose.

Fourth. More liberal appropriations for aids to navigation, such as lights and buoys.

Fifth. More liberal appropriations for the construction of roads and trails.

Sixth. The adoption of a form of territorial government better adapted to its remote situation and peculiar local conditions.

In the address to which reference has been made the advantages of and the justification for a Government railroad in Alaska were fully discussed, and the opinion was expressed that the Government should take over and complete the construction of the so-called Alaska Central or Alaska Northern Railroad, leading from Seward, on Resurrection Bay, through the Matanuska coal field to the Tanana and the Yukon. Since then the official representatives of the present owners of this railroad have definitely stated their willingness to turn it over to the Federal Government at a fair valuation to be appropriately determined. The Department of Agriculture has also furnished a statement of the results of its experimental work at Rampart and at Fairbanks, showing the agricultural probabilities of these northerly portions of the Yukon and the Tanana Valleys. The letter containing this statement is reprinted as an exhibit to this report. The following quotation conservatively states the general conclusion reached:

As a result of 10 years' active work this Department believes in the possibility of developing an agriculture for Alaska that will be comparable with that of northern Europe, where conditions are somewhat similar, such as in parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It is believed that agriculture will supplement any other industry that may be developed in Alaska, and it is possible that ultimately oats and barley can be grown in sufficient quantity to supply not only local demands but a surplus for exportation. It is probable that stock raising can be made a success and dairying become profitable, as the period of winter feeding and protection is not much, if any, longer than is now required in many other regions where these industries are carried on.

The Secretary of the Navy states that there should be reserved in Alaska for the uses of the Navy for the next 50 years sufficient highgrade coal to supply an average of 400,000 tons a year. There are portions of both the Bering River and Matanuska fields from which the Geological Survey believes the high-grade coal needed for Navy use can be obtained. It is estimated that not less than 2,500 acres of this land should be reserved for this purpose, to be carefully selected after systematic prospecting and drilling.

Careful consideration of the provisions of an appropriate leasing law for the coal lands of Alaska is being continued through the Director of the Bureau of Mines, who is receiving the cordial and

helpful cooperation of men of wide practical experience in the business of mining coal, with the view of suggesting such changes in or substitutes for bills on this subject which are now pending in Congress as may be found desirable. In this connection I invite attention to the following paragraph from Bulletin 36 of the Bureau of Mines:

The statutes of Colorado, Montana, and Idaho provide for leasing State lands containing, stone, coal, coal oil, gas, or other mineral. Colorado and Montana require a minimum royalty of 10 cents a ton for coal mined on such land. Montana prohibits the sale of its coal lands but authorizes the lease of the surface for agricultural or grazing purposes. It also requires the locator of a mining claim for gold, silver, and other metals, at the expiration of one year from the date of the location, either to purchase the claim at $10 per acre or take a lease thereof at such price and upon such terms as may be agreed upon between him and the State Board of Land Commissioners. Idaho also authorizes leases of State land containing precious metals. Minnesota authorizes leases of State land containing iron ore. North Dakota provides for the leasing of coal lands at a royalty of 10 cents per ton. Oregon and Washington provide for leasing State lands containing gold, silver, lead, cinnabar, or other valuable minerals. Wyoming authorizes the State Land Board to lease on a royalty basis State or school lands supposed to contain coal, oil, or minerals, the royalty not to exceed 10 per cent of the gross output of mineral or oil, and not exceed 10 cents per ton for coal. Some of the States above noted limit the leases to five years with provision for renewal, some to 50 years, and some to a period to be fixed in the discretion of the State land officials.

The whole subject of the encouragement and regulation of ocean transportation between Alaska and the rest of the United States should be given careful consideration with a view to the prompt enactment of needed legislation and the appropriation of the necessary money. All doubt as to the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission over this traffic, as well as over the railroads of Alaska, should be removed and the necessary steps should be taken to ensure adequate terminal facilities and the prevention of discrimination in their use. I call attention especially to the following quotation from the annual report of the governor of Alaska:

Although more aids to navigation have been installed on the Alaska coast in the last few months than in the whole history of the Territory heretofore, the number of these aids, relatively to the great expanse of the coast line, is still woefully small. Since April, 1910, there have been installed 41 lights, 1 fog signal, and 18 buoys. The first number given, however, includes 4 oil lights which were converted from oil burners to acetylene gas burners. The adaptation of the acetylene light in recent years to the purpose of lighting waterways has proved to be a great boon and has revolutionized the estimates of cost for aids to navigation in Alaska. In many situations among the tortuous channels of the inland passages on the Alaska coast an acetylene lens lantern, which is inexpensive to build and to maintain, serves a better purpose than a costly lighthouse, requiring the constant services of resident keepers. No very large appropriation of money has been made for aids to navigation in Alaska, but the development of the acetylene apparatus has made it possible to accomplish a great deal in the last year and a half.

There is a crying need, however, for several high-order lights to mark dangerous points where minor lights will not serve the purpose, and where it is necessary to have