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Show i j t By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ; (Drawings by Ray Walters) fS EVERY child knows. Santa Claus makes his rounds on Christmas eve In a sleigh drawn by "eight tiny reindeer and their names are "Daslter." "Dancer," "Prancer." "Vlx en," "Comet," "Cupid," "Ponder" and "Blluen." "Donder" and "Blluen." The eight-reindeer team, however, was not always Krlss Krlngle's motive mo-tive power. Time was when he made his visits mounted on a snowy white horse. That was when he was known as Slnterklass, the pet name of the little Dutch children for their friend. Bishop St Nicholas, who, they be lleved, brought thera gifts on St. Nicholas eve, December 6. When Sinterklass came to New Amsterdam Am-sterdam and became Americanbd, his name was changed to Santa Claui nd he began using a little wa?on drawn by a fat pony, for bis vNts oa New Tear's eve Instead of December De-cember 8. Then In 1822 Clement Clark Moore wrote the famous poem Which be called "A Visit From St. Nicholas," but which later became famous as "The Nljjht Before Christ mas." In this poem Santa's eoulnafie was the "miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer" and the sleigh and reindeer It has been ever since. Just as Santa Clous Is an "Imml-rrant" "Imml-rrant" and a "naturalized American," o are the steeds which he drives. No doubt It will be a surprise to oiany Americans to learn Just how ninny of these "Immigrants" there ire In America now as well as to know that the reindeer Is not only a part of the symbolism of Christmas but In one part of this continent he Is in Important economic factor. Up In Alaska there are more than 700,000 f these animals grazing on the frozen froz-en tundra of the North and their rapid Increase,-despite the fact that Its. nuiket them the casieat to handle of all domestic animals. The roundup I simplified by the fact that the mot qultoea In summer drive the deer to the sea coast, where they are protected protect-ed by ocean breezes. Herding Is made easy by their attachment to their grafting graft-ing ground.- A reindeer turned loose many days' Journey from the pasture of Its own herd will find Its way surely sure-ly and quIoKly home. Reindeer were Introduced to Alaska In 1191. In that year sixteen were brought from Siberia at the Instigation of Dr Sheldon lackson. When Doctor Jackson Jack-son was sent to Alaska by the government gov-ernment to establish schools among the natives, he found his wards threatened threat-ened with starvation as a result of the slaughter by white men of the game animals on which ths natives had depended de-pended for 'ood He conceived the Idea of replacing the fast disappearing game with reindeer, the principal do-meftttr do-meftttr animal of Lapland and 8lberla, the climate and vegetation of which resembled that of Alaska. Returning to tha states and unable to Interest congress In the venture, Doctor Jackson sought contributions from the public He obtained $2,148 with which the first animals were procured pro-cured In Siberia. At the same time Siberian Si-berian herdsmen were broueht over to care for them. In 189! 160 more reindeer were Imported Im-ported Congress then became mildly interested and small appropriations made possible Importations through the next ten years until, In 1902, when the Russian government put an embargo on further exportatlons from 8lberla, 1,280 animals bad been taken Into Alaska. The Siberian herdsmen proved Incompetent In-competent as teachers for the Eskimos, Eski-mos, and for a time the venture was threatened with failure. It was then that Doctor Jackson went for advice results of the enterprise. Within less than a generation tha reindeer Industry Indus-try has advanced tha natlvea of Alaska through one entire stage of civilisation civilisa-tion from the primitive to tha pastoral, pastor-al, from nomadic hunters to civilized men. Independent, responsible, assured of support for themselves and an opportunity op-portunity to itcquire wealth. They have bank accounts, purchase American clothing and food, have adopted Improved Im-proved methods of aanitatlon and. In soma instances, have built frame houses from Imported lumber. Between 1918 and 1925 mora than 1.875.000 pounds of reindeer meat whs ' shipped to the United States from Alaska. Alas-ka. Two hundred thousand pounds was shipped In 1923, while by 1925. tha export had Increased to 680.000 pounds. The export for 1927 wan expected almost al-most to double that of 1925, tha amount depending on shipping facilities. Reindeer Rein-deer meat sells In Nome for 15 to 20 centa pound. It ran ba delivered at Seattle for 15 centa a pound, and. with Increased shipments and Improved methods of handling, even tbls price can ba reduced. . While he only reindeer on this continent con-tinent now are In Alaska, and the territory's ter-ritory's production la restricted by pasturage 'o four million head, thera are millions of acres In Canada where ten times as many can be fed. and vast stretches In northern Europe and Asia where reindeer have been raised for centuries, but never on an extensive exten-sive scale, where ten times as many-can many-can ba grazed aa In Canada In all then, 444,000,000. reindeer could ba supported sup-ported nv Alaska, Canada and Eurasia, assuring a aubstantlal contribution to tha world's aupply of food and a utilization uti-lization of what otherwise would ba waste land Tha reindeer roundup rivals aa a scene of picturesque activity tbe eld cattle roundups of tba western states. neinaeer, line came, mill about a common com-mon center, but, unlike cattle, a herd will nvll In one direction only This habit simplifies the work of the brand-era brand-era and tally keepera. Chutes are constructed con-structed at Intervals about the corral, their mouths formed by short wing fencea or "horns" projecting Inside tha corral at an angle opposed to the direction direc-tion of tiie herd's motion. Against these "horns" tha edge of the herd, kept In motion by Eskimo herders, la nllced off and, one at a time, the animala are driven down tha narrow nar-row chute. If the animal la branded, ona of the men at the chute will call out the brand. If unbranded, tha animal ani-mal will ba aelzed aa It emerges from the chute and either a branding Iron applied to !ts hip or a mark snipped in one of Ita ears. Reindeer are prolific. At tha normal rata of Increase, herds double every three years. Even under tha preaent plan of killing off the surplua males, amounting to about 10 per cent of tha herd, each -ear, the animala ara almost doubling In numbers every Ova years. Within fifteen or twenty yeara, at tha present rats of growth, tha berda will have reached the limits of tha territory to feed and It will then ba necessary further to Increase the slaughter of tba animala. more than 2.10,000 have been slough-tered slough-tered for food since they were first Introduced here, Is America's protection protec-tion against 'a meat famine caused by the rapid diminishing of our beef herds. All of which is due to an experiment ex-periment which our far-seeing Uncle Sam embarked npon some thlrty-sev-tn years ago. The story of that er perirnent and the part which a Wisconsin Wis-consin professor had In It Is told by a writer In the Milwaukee Journal is follows: Reindeer ara caribou, domesticated through many centurlea. The average weight of a full-grown animal Is 160 pounds, but by crossing wltb the larger larg-er wools caribou, It la hoped to develop de-velop an animal of 250 pounds. Through the centuries of domestication Its flesh has lost the game flavor until now It Is sa'd to resemble a cross between duck and mutton. Tha animala ara mora docile than cattle. A man a aafa In a milling herd, although ha may appear to a watcher to be In imminent danger of being trampled under the feet or Impaled on tbe horna of the deer. This docility, together wltb knowledge of their hab- to i-ror nnsmus B Anderson of Madison. Mad-ison. Wis., who, while minister to Denmark, Den-mark, had visited the reindeer herds of Lapland. Doctor Jackson's early Interest Inter-est In the animals had been aroused by a report on the Industry there made by the professor. In pursuance of Professor Anderson's Ander-son's advice, Lapp herders were engaged en-gaged to replace the Siberians as Instructors In-structors to the Eskimos. Each was lent 100 animals from the government herd for a period of years, at the end of which an equal number of reindeer were required o be returned to the government. Th Lapps were permitted permit-ted to retain tbe Increase. The Eskimos were apprenticed to tha Lappa for a period of four years At the end of the flrst year each was given giv-en six reindeer, at the end of the second, sec-ond, eight, at the end of the third year, ten, and ten more at the end of hla fourth year of training. With normal nor-mal Increases, each man's herd would be almost 100 head by the time he had completed hla apprenticeship. He was well equipped to start In business for himself. Today, mora than two-thirds of the reindeer of Alaska are owned by natives, of whom some 6.000 have been trained in their care. . The effect of this training on tha Eskimos is one of tha most Important |