oversight of the chief of the Alaska division of the Bureau of Education, acting as a private individual. This philanthropic action, inaugurated as an emergency measure, has received official sanction by the Department of the Interior and has been made part of the official duties of the chief of the Alaska division, who is under bond for faithful performance of the same."

Medical Relief. The medical relief of the natives of Alaska formerly lay (except for missionaries) solely with the school teachers of the territory. It was originally a part of the work in the relief of destitution.

The burdens of such work increased rapidly until they demanded not only a great proportion of the teachers' time and skill beyond their range but also such a large amount of the funds appropriated for educational work that the latter suffered severely. In 1916 we find, therefore, the first separate appropriation for the medical relief of the natives of Alaska. As a result there are at present five hospitals (Juneau, Kanakanak, Akiak, Nulato, and Noorvik) in operation. These are conducted along the same lines as the public or charity hospitals of the United States.

The hospital at Juneau receives native girls for theoretical and practical training as nurses. All hospitals may accept patients who are not indigent and receive such pay for care as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

In a few communities the natives contribute to the support of the medical work, and in one case they have paid the salary of a physician and started a fund for the erection of a hospital. In other districts where funds are insufficient to enable the bureau to assume the entire expense of the medical care of the natives, church missions have taken over entire responsibility for and borne the expense of such work.

These hospitals serve only the more thickly populated districts, and leave vast areas (however thinly settled) unserved. The teachers, locally in touch with natives, still remain the "outposts of the medical and surgical relief work and attend to all minor and many major ailments.

45 The Work of the Bureau of Education for the natives of Alaska. Typed MS. p. 10. Furnished by courtesy of Dr. William Hamilton, Alaska Division.

Tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and such epidemics as influenza demand hospital service, physicians, and trained nursing service, as do the major surgical operations.

Work in the prevention of disease, community sanitation, and hygiene is carried on in connection with the Public Health Service, with the teachers as the active local agents under the district superintendents. These duties involve continual watchfulness and inspection of villages, the stimulation of village pride, and the offering of prizes, in order to combat the natural indolence and carelessness of the natives. Personal and home hygiene are more directly taught and cared for in connection with the schools.

CHAPTER III

ORGANIZATION

The Commissioner. The Commissioner of Education is the executive and technical, or scientific, head of the Bureau of Education. While responsible, and reporting officially, to the Secretary of the Interior, he is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate for an indefinite term, and holds office at the pleasure of the President."

Duties. The Commissioner is charged with carrying out all of the duties which are imposed upon the Bureau of Education, with power to delegate authority. His work involves the supervision of administrative and technical matters in the home office (Washington) and extensive traveling throughout the country, during which he exercises general oversight of work in the field.

The burden of work requiring travel (excepting Alaskan matters) is that of addressing conventions and other gatherings, visiting institutions of learning, attending conferences and meetings, and conferring with educational officers in various parts of the country. The Commissioner is looked to for inspirational leadership in the field of education throughout the United States.

Powers. The law originally establishing the Department of Education provided, in addition to the Commissioner, one chief clerk and two other clerks," which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the Commissioner of Education." Power to appoint to other positions came automatically in subsequent specific salary and other expense appropriations.

Bureau Organization. For administrative convenience the activities of the bureau have been classified under two main heads:

1. Research and Promotion.

2. "Continuing" or "Stated."

In addition to his duties as head of the Bureau of Education he is a member ex-officio of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and of the Board of Maternity and Infant Hygiene.

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Research and Promotion. The research and promotional activities include only those concerned with the prime functions of the bureau, though not all such functions are so included. The divisions set up under this major branch of work are:

1. Higher Education.

2. Rural Schools.

3. City Schools. 4. Service.

Research and promotional activities are directly under the supervision of the Assistant to the Commissioner' who in turn reports directly to the commissioner.

Higher Education Division. The Higher Education Division is concerned with the promotion of better methods in the field of university, college, technical school, and normal school teaching and administration, and research in the same field.' The division is under the direction of a specialist in higher education.*

Rural Schools Division. The work of research and promotion in the field of rural education (primary and secondary) is under the control of the Rural Schools Division, which is headed by a Specialist in Rural Education.

City Schools Division. The City Schools Division supervises the research and promotion program as it concerns city school systems (primary and secondary), including industrial and economic relations and kindergarten matters. The division is conducted by a Specialist in City School Systems.

'There is no organic law or specific appropriation provision for this office. The incumbent is the specialist in industrial education, who is paid as such but performs both duties.

'Research and promotion in this and other divisions include survey work. The specialist in charge of land-grant college statistics, who is in this division, in addition to his duties in the research and promotion field supervises the work of approving disbursement of funds for the colleges of agricultural and mechanic arts. Thus an administrative duty is added to the division, making it in this respect different from the other research and promotion divisions. Strictly speaking, this latter work belongs under the "continuing" or stated" activities.

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Service Division. The Service Division, unlike those previously mentioned, is composed of five sub-divisions termed sections. These are:

I. Industrial Education and Home Economics.

2. Commercial Education.

3. Health Education.

4. Educational Legislation. 5. Foreign Education.

The functions of the division, therefore, become the sum total of its component parts, the sections (with the exception of foreign education) namely, research and promotion in the fields of industrial education, home economics, commercial education, health education, and educational legislation. The division as a whole is

supervised by the Chief of the Service Division."

As the name indicates the Industrial Education and Home Economics Section is concerned with research and promotion in the fields of industrial education and home economics. The section is headed by a Specialist in Industrial Education."

Research and promotion in the field of business or commercial training in all its branches (elementary, secondary, and higher) is included under the Commercial Education Section, which is headed by the Specialist in Commercial Education.

The Health Education Section has charge of the research and promotional activities in the field of school hygiene and sanitation in all types and grades of schools, with especial emphasis on the rural problem. The section is under supervision of the Specialist in School Hygiene and Sanitation.

Legislative activities, including research concerning laws, the drafting of bills and the promotion of needed legislation, are included under the Educational Legislation Section, which is under the Specialist in School Legislation.

'There is no organic law or specific appropriation provision for this office. The incumbent is the specialist in industrial education, who is paid as such but performs both duties.

"The incumbent of this office, paid as such, acts also as Assistant to the Commissioner and Chief of the Service Division. We, therefore, have the technical procedure of the Specialist in Industrial Education reporting to himself as Chief of the Service Division, who in turn again reports to himself as Assistant to the Commissioner.