During the summer just passed the water in the Yukon River reached a very low stage, preventing the usual steamer transportation along the mining towns on the upper courses of that river. Large quantities of provisions were landed by the ocean steamers at St. Michael, but owing to the inability of the river steamers to ascend the river these supplies could not be distributed to the points where they were needed; consequently as the close of navigation approached it was found that the miners were facing the long arctic winter without sufficient supplies of food. The destitution was so great that a call was made upon the Government to organize relief. Many plans were suggested to the Government. After weighing these plans it was found that the only possible solution was to take the reindeer trained to harness that were in the neighborhood of St. Michael and with them freight provisions to the settlements on the Yukon. Hence on the 22d of September you sent to William A. Kjellmann, superintendent of the Government herds in Alaska, the following telegram:

"By direction of the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Kjellmann will assemble at once all of the available reindeer trained for harness, teamsters, and sleds, and report at St. Michael to Colonel Randall to transport supplies to Dawson City if necessary. Obtain all deer trained to harness that can be spared from Cape Prince of Wales, Golovin Bay, and Cape Nome, together with apprentices trained as teamsters and willing to go. Promise wages to all teamsters. Deer borrowed from other stations will be replaced. Also consult the United States commissioner at St. Michael.

“W. T. HARRIS, Commissioner.“

Upon receiving the dispatch, which was carried by way of ship to St. Michael, Mr. Kjellmann at once secured a boat and crew of Eskimos, which he sent with a copy of the dispatch to Dr. A. N. Kittilsen, in charge at the Teller Reindeer Station. Dr. Kittilsen was directed to drive the herd as soon as possible to the new station established on the Unalaklik River, and upon his arrival there placed himself in communication with Lieut. Col. G. M. Randall, U. S. A., commanding United States military post at St. Michael. Mr. Kjellmann also ordered the building of a sufficient number of sleds, to be ready upon the arrival of the deer trained to harness. These deer, operated by the War Department from St. Michael, will be able to relieve the destitution as far up the river as Rampart City (1,075 miles from St. Michael by the mouth of the river).

These arrangements were no sooner consummated than tidings came from the Arctic coast of Alaska that eight whaling vessels, carrying crews aggregating about 400 men, had been unexpectedly caught in the ice and the men were in danger of starvation. Many plans were proposed for a relief expedition, but, as in the former case, it was found that no plan was practicable that was not based upon the use of the reindeer. Accordingly the Government, on the 16th of November, issued orders for the revenue cutter Bear to proceed north until stopped by ice, then to make a determined effort to send Lieut. D. H. Jarvis and two or three men over the ice to the mainland. Having effected a landing, the party are to proceed to Cape Prince of Wales, secure the services of W. T. Lopp, a Congregational missionary, borrow his reindeer herd and also the herd belonging to a native Eskimo by the name of Antisarlook, and with these two herds proceed overland 500 or 600 miles in December and January to Point Barrow, or until the whalers are found and relief afforded.

As the season advanced the accounts of the shortage of food in the Yukon Valley became more and more alarming, and on the 18th of December Congress voted to be expended, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of $200,000, to be used for the taking of relief into the region of the Upper Yukon Valley. As the reindeer in the neighborhood of St. Michael can not be reached at this season of the year on account of ice, and fresh importations can not be made from Siberia on the same account, it is planned to send to Lapland, procure from 500 to 600 reindeer trained to harness and 50 or 60 experienced drivers, transport them across the Atlantic to New York, thence across the continent to Seattle, and from Seattle to Dyea, near the Chilkoot Pass in southeast Alaska. At this point arrangements will be made by means of these trained deer to carry provisions to the mining camps in the Upper Yukon Valley.

Thus when an exigency arose in which hundreds of men were threatened with starvation it was found that the reindeer furnished the only reasonable plan for the relief of the miners. The reindeer are a necessity for the development of the new mines and the supply of sufficient food for the miners. The more rapidly domestic reindeer can be introduced into that country the more rapidly new sections can be visited and developed.

In conclusion, I desire to acknowledge the many courtesies received from the honorable Secretary of the Treasury; Capt. C. F. Shoemaker, chief of RevenueCutter Service; Capt. Francis Tuttle, commanding cutter Bear; Capt. W. J. Herring, commanding the Corwin, together with officers and crews of both vessels; also the North American Commercial Company, their agents in Alaska, and Capt. J. C. Barr, commanding the river steamer J. J. Kelly, and Captain Kidtlson, commanding the steamer Portland.

1896.

1897

Cost per head of 1,295 reindeer

7,500 3,811.83 1,767.26||||683.80
7,500 3,177.62 1,348.43

$1,450.71 $100 00 236.84 $127.50 1,050.00 7.491.10 12,000 4,065.28 2,610.542, 982. 20 1,738.50 200.00 267.22 5.10 Total...33.00013, 338.88 8,199.644, 206.58 3, 189.21 300.00 654.06 132.60 2.831.50 32, 852. 47 147.53 Value station property, barter goods, and supplies on hand June 30, 1897..........

Total cost of reindeer in Alaska to June 30, 1897.

6,817.49

26.034.98

d 20.10;

$150.00

$700.00 $5,998.14 $1.86 1,081 50 7, 494.39 5.61

8.90 11, 868.84 131. 16

a Supplies at station consist of provisions for herders, material for herders' clothing, coal, lumber, hardware, furniture, tools, guns, ammunition, boats, tents, medicines, surgical implements, medical books.

Barter goods in stock at Teller Reindeer Station were transferred to new reindeer purchasing station at St. Lawrence Bay, Siberia, August, 1897.

In all traffic in the arctic region barter goods are used in lieu of money. Money is useful only where there are markets and shops with stores of goods on sale. Neither Russian money nor the money of any other nations is used among the tribes in northeastern Siberia, nor on the Alaskan coasts opposite.

d This does not include the cost of the 171 reindeer bought with barter goods purchased with the fund of $2,156 contributed by benevolent individuals in 1893.

Number and distribution of domestic reindeer in Alaska June 30, 1897.

Number of reindeer that have been lent by the Government to missionary societies and natives, the Government reserving the right after a term of not less than three years to call upon the mission station or individual for the same number of deer as composed the herd loaned: Deer.

August, 1894, to the Congregational Missionary Society's Station at Cape Prince of Wales. 11
February, 1895, to Eskimo Charlie and 3 native assistants.
January 16, 1896, to the Swedish Mission Station at Golovin Bay,
January 16, 1896, to the St. James Episcopal Mission Station, Yukon River.

112

50

50

Total.

330

WITHDRAWN FOR RELIEF EXPEDITIONS.

October, 1897, withdrawn from the Government herd at Teller Station and from the herds at Golovin Bay from 100 to 200 deer trained to harness for use, if necessary, in drawing food from St. Michael to Dawson, under directions of Lieutenent-Colonel Randall at St. Michael.

December, 1897, for the relief of the whalers in the Arctic Sea, the Cape Nome herd, numbering 278, and the Cape Prince of Wales herd, numbering 367, to be under the direction of Lieut. D. H. Jarvis, U. S. revenue cutter Bear, promising to make good those borrowed by a transfer from the Government herd during the summer of 1898.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
SHELDON JACKSON.

Hon. W. T. HARRIS, LL. D.,

Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C.

PART III.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION.

STATISTICAL REVIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION, 1896-97.

The scholastic year 1896-97 has witnessed a decrease in the attendance of students at a large number of institutions for higher education, as well as a decrease in the number of such institutions. This office has been notified during the year of the suspension of the following-named institutions: Little Rock University, Little Rock, Ark.; Pierce Christian College, College City, Cal.; San Joaquin Valley College, Woodbridge, Cal.; Hartsville College, Hartsville, Ind.; Northwestern Christian College, Excelsior, Minn.; Ozark College, Greenfield, Mo.: Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio; Monongahela College, Jefferson, Pa.; St. James College, Vancouver, Wash.: Jones College for Young Ladies, Gadsden, Ala.; Winchester Female College, Winchester, Ky., and Wesleyan Female Institute, Staunton, Va. A further decrease in the list of institutions for higher education was caused by the transfer to the list of secondary schools of four institutions. Also, St. Mary's College, Oakland, Cal.; Calvin College, Cleveland, Ohio, and Redfield College, Redfield, S. Dak., have not been heard from for several years, and therefore are not included in the list of colleges.

One of the most discouraging features in our system of higher education is the lack of any definite, or, in fact, in a large number of States, the lack of any requirements or conditions exacted of institutions when they are chartered and authorized to confer degrees. This condition of affairs is largely, if not entirely, responsible for the large number of weak so-called colleges and universities scattered throughout our country, institutions that are no better than high schools, and in a large number of cases do not furnish as good an education as may be obtained in good secondary schools. Nevertheless, these institutions are chartered and granted authority to confer all degrees usually granted by universities and colleges in the United States. The chartering of such institutions has been rendered impossible in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, and the subject of restricting to well-equipped institutions the authority to confer degrees is being agitated in several other States. That such action is desirable, if not absolutely necessary, may be seen from the fact, as stated in the report of the State superintendent of public instruction of Pennsylvania for 1896, that more than 120 institutions in that State have been empowered to confer degrees.

Students.-The total number of students reported in the collegiate, graduate, and professional departments of institutions for higher education and in professional schools for the year 1896-97 is 140,133, of which number 42,999 were enrolled as professional students pursuing studies in law, medicine, and theology, leaving 97.134 students reported as pursuing what are generally known as liberal studies. This is a decrease of 255 students from the number reported in the preceding year, the loss being in the institutions classed as universities and colleges for men and for both sexes. An examination of Table 2 of this chapter shows that the number of undergraduate and graduate students reported by public institutions is 27,654, being an increase of 1,358 students, thus proving that the decrease was in the institutions not under the control of the State or municipality.

Table 3 gives the number of collegiate and graduate students from the several States and Territories in universities and colleges for men and for both sexes, colleges for women, Division A, and in schools of technology, the estimated population of each State, and the number of people to each college student. In this compilation the colleges for women, Division B (Table 39), are not included, owing to the fact that in a large number of these institutions the students are not classified in such manner as to enable one to separate the primary and preparatory

from the collegiate students, while in other cases the residence of students is not given in the catalogues of the institutions. The drawing power of the institutions of the several States, as shown by the number and proportion of students drawn from the various sections of the country, is shown in Tables 4, 5, and 6. From Table 6 it is seen that 803 students from foreign countries are receiving collegiate and graduate instruction in the United States.

The number of students who remain at college pursuing advanced studies after having completed courses of study leading to a bachelor's degree is constantly increasing. The total number of such students reported in 1896-97 by all classes of institutions is 4,919, of which number 1,413 were women. These numbers do not include the students who remain at college for the purpose of pursuing professional studies in law, medicine, theology, etc. The following tabular statement gives the number of resident graduate students in the several departments of some of the principal universities and colleges of the country:

According to the report of President Gilman of Johns Hopkins University for the year 1896-97, 2,103 persons have pursued graduate studies at that institution since its establishment, of which number 436 have been given the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.