of industrial subjects and improving buildings and mms An additional expenditure of about $0.00 The U. S. S. Boxer, a wooden vessel arous Navy in 1920, was used in transporting & E supplies. The first voyage was made to s and Alaska Peninsula points and recur 1 ceeded on the northern voyage to Poin Eur Harbor, where she picked up the cargo del ter T.S. S. Vega for distribution to poison to Seattle early in November with a n il nearly 2,000 tons of freight in add One of the important features ce the community work performed b tabulation has been prepared from "0" Comma Five hospitals were operated during the year ending June 30, 1927, with a staff of 5 full-time physicians, 14 nurses, and 6 other employees. One additional hospital was established at Tanana, quarters being provided by the remodeling of a building on the Fort Gibbon Military Reservation. The hospital at Nulato was discontinued and a nurse stationed at that point. Three thousand two hundred and seventy natives of Alaska received hospitalization and 19,262 treatments were given. In addition, 4,442 visits by natives were recorded at the hospitals and treatments given and 4,035 treatments were given by physicians outside of hospitals. Medical relief was further extended by 3 part-time physicians and 14 nurses stationed at various places throughout the Territory, who made 13,816 visits to homes and gave 37,259 treatments. The U. S. S. Boxer left Seattle on April 10, 1927, with a cargo of freight for southeastern and Gulf points, arriving at Metlakatla April 13, where Physician J. W. Huston, with a staff of nurses, boarded the ship and accompanied it on its voyage, rendering medical relief at the following stations: Metlakatla, Hydeburg, Klawock, Kake, Angoon, Killisnoo, Sitka, Kodiak, Karluk, Kanatak, Perry, Alitak, Belkofski, Old Harbor, Chenega, Cordova, and Hoonah. Many native homes were visited and 330 patients were treated for various diseases, among which were 38 cases of influenza, 38 surgical operations, 29 cases of syphilis, 23 tuberculosis cases, 15 eye infections, and 36 cases of whooping cough. Many dental treatments were given and 171 extractions were made. The voyage ended April 17, 1927. As the trip was incidental to the delivery of freight, the time allotted for the inspection of health conditions and treatment of cases was necessarily limited, and in each village the time was divided as best seemed to suit the peculiar needs of that group. Sometimes this consisted of purely house-to-house calls on those known to be ill, sometimes in dental extractions, sometimes in villages having nurses. to any consultations desired by the nurse, and the remaining time being devoted to removal of tonsils and adenoids. Medical relief was further extended by operating a medical boat on the Yukon River. At the close of the fiscal year nearly every village and fish camp on the steamboat channel of the Yukon had been visited, and a clinic was held on the south mouth of the Yukon at Kwiguk and Akulurak. Following is a classification of the diseases recorded, together with the number treated in each class: This season's cruise, under the direction of Dr. J. H. Huston, while not completed at the close of the fiscal year, is proving highly beneficial by relieving suffering in many native settlements not heretofore reached. A number of deformed children were brought to Seattle and treated successfully in the Orthopedic Hospital and returned to their homes in Alaska. The most serious of the diseases prevalent among the natives is that of tuberculosis. No facilities have been provided to cope with this situation. Immediate action should be taken in establishing a tuberculosis sanitarium at Tanana, where there are ample quarters for a sanitarium, orphanage, industrial school, and a first-class hospital. STATISTICAL REPORT ALASKA NATIVE SCHOOL AND MEDICAL SERVICE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1926-27 Educational statistics for the school year ending June 30, 1927 Total number of days in actual attendance__ Total number of pupils enrolled during the year__. Percentage of attendance_- Average number in schoolroom each day---. Number of schools open 180 days per year or more.. Total number of schoolrooms open-- Average number of days in school year___ During the year there was spent for repairs on the school buildings 372, 702 3,616 2,450.99 89.10 29.16 4 26 29 17 5 4 85 137 147.5 $12, 231. 01 $40, 599. 29 This enterprise began in 1892 with the importation of 171 reindeer from Siberia and the establishment of a colony at Teller, Alaska. The importation continued until 1902, a total of 1,280 reindeer being brought to Alaska from Siberia. From this importation the industry has grown until it covers a vast area, the number of reindeer having increased to over 350.000 head. The original purpose of the service was to distribute reindeer to the natives of Alaska, as rapidly as they could be trained to care for them, as a means of providing sustenance to a race of people who,. it appeared, were rapidly losing the sources of their food supply and clothing. Each year the whales were going farther north, beyond the reach of the natives who had no steamships to pursue them; the walrus, which had formerly been seen in herds of thousands, were disappearing, and the seal were being exterminated through the fact that the modern hunter, with his gas and steam launches and rapid-fire guns, found them easy prey, and he was ruthlessly destroying them. The reindeer are distributed by a system of apprenticeship. Promising young natives are selected for this purpose for a term of four years. An apprentice receives 6, 8, and 10 reindeer at the close of the first, second, and third years, respectively, and 10 more at the close of the fourth year. Upon the satisfactory termination of his apprenticeship he becomes a herder and receives entire charge 1 Many minor ailments; some uncommon and serious. of his herd, subject to prescribed rules and regulations, which provide, among other things, that he must in turn employ and reward apprentices, thus becoming an additional factor in expanding the industry. During the present fiscal year the herds were counted and considerable progress was made in mapping the range. The service was increased by the employment of one additional supervisor, with headquarters at Dillingham, Alaska. Better methods of range management and selective breeding are being emphasized. The mosses and lichens which constitute the chief sustenance of the reindeer occur with frequency and in large quantity, but quickly show the effect of overgrazing. To avoid destruction of natural range resources and also to establish rights to ranges, Congress at its last session passed a law providing for the establishment, and allotting range for livestock in Alaska. With proper administration of the act of Congress and with intelligent breeding and feeding the industry should develop into one of the richest resources of Alaska. Further development is limited only by market possibilities. DISEASED LIVESTOCK A careful inspection of the livestock of the Territory is made each year by a veterinary inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture and good progress is being made toward the eradication of disease among the dairy herds. The number of cattle examined during the fiscal year of 1927 slightly exceeded the number inspected in the year 1926. A total of 709 cattle were tested for tuberculosis with only a trifle over 2 per cent of that number found diseased. All cattle found to be infected are immediately slaughtered and the carcasses destroyed to avoid spreading. The veterinarian in charge of this work reports that he has received excellent cooperation and help from the cattle owners with the marked improvement in the general sanitary conditions and that in time the Territory will no doubt be entirely free from diseased livestock. TERRITORIAL FINANCES The Territory has its own fiscal system, controlled by laws enacted by the Territorial legislature, which is entirely separate and apart from the revenues received by the Federal Government from business and trade licenses and which are covered into and disbursed from the Alaska fund in the Federal Treasury. Territorial revenue acts have been amended from time to time, the act in effect at this time, chapter 31, Session Laws of Alaska, 1921, and amendments thereto, mposing the following license taxes: Doctors, including persons practicing medicine, surgery, or osteopathy, and attorneys at law, $10 per annum; optometrist, $10 per annum: dentists, $10 per annum; undertakers, $10 per annum; automobiles, according to purpose for which operated, a tax of $10 and $15 per annum; bakeries, a graded tax of $5 per annum for each $1.000 worth of business done annually in excess of $3,000; electricight and power plants, one-half of 1 per cent per annum of the gross receipts in excess of $2,500 and of the net profits from supplies |