pal should be provided at once, as well as a gymnasium where the children can assemble and play in bad weather, such a building being probably more needed here than at any other agency owing to the intensity of the winters and the crowded condition of the children's quarters, a number of children being compelled to sleep two in a bed.

"During the past school year the attendance of the reservation children in schools numbered 305. Only 19 children were reported as not in school on account of ill health and other reasons. It was noted at the agency boarding school that the school farm is improving, and it affords vegetables and sufficient milk for the children.

"The Assiniboins and Gros Ventres are very poor and are likely to remain so. They raise a good deal of hay, for which there is a market at a low price along the railroad, but the crops raised around the Little Rocky Mountains, 45 miles from rail facilities, have a narrow market. At this remote section the mission schools and neighboring Indians use up a portion of the wheat raised, ground at the Hays mill, but the surplus is far from a market. Here there is practically one customer for the hay, the Matador Cattle Co.

"The superintendent, Mr. John T. Marshall, reports that the five-year industrial program is in process of installation and has shown visible results. The Indians of this reservation are generally poorly housed and backward from an economic standpoint, and under the climatic and other conditions in which they must live there is little prospect of improvement. The greatest needs of this agency at present are a new building for the school principal and a gymnasium for the children."

BLACKFEET INDIAN AGENCY, MONT.

Commissioner SCOTT

Commissioner Scott, while visiting the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., in August and September, 1924, attended a meeting there of reservation superintendents and physicians who had been brought together to study the "five-year industrial program" which Supt. Fred C. Campbell, of the agency, had initiated, and to attend a trachoma clinic held by Dr. L. Webster Fox, of Philadelphia. The following are quotations from his report:

"Three years ago Superintendent Campbell conceived a plan for a five-year industrial program for the Blackfeet under his care, At the time he became superintendent here the Indians were very much discouraged. There had been three years of severe drought, during which most of the cattle and horses had died, leaving little motive power for farming purposes. There had been seven superintendents at the agency in three years' time, and under such a system there could be no continuity of policy.

"Mr. Campbell had known the Blackfeet previously and was familiar with their conditions. He began immediately a house-to-house survey of the whole reservation, taking with him the farmer and Doctor Yates, one of the most earnest, hardworking, and devoted physicians in the Indian Service, who has won the respect and affection of these Indians.

"The superintendent then began his efforts to supply the needs of the Indians. With reimbursable funds he obtained plows, horses and wagons, seeds, etc., and urged the breaking up of land and the planting of crops, many people insisting that this could not be profitably done because of the scanty rainfall and the danger from early frost. He found a large proportion of the Indians on the ration roll and their pride and initiative at a low ebb. He was urged to cut the Indians off the ration roll in the spring, but with great common sense he kept them on until their crops could furnish them with food.

"When I visited this reservation in 1922 I found Mr. Campbell constantly traveling over the country visiting each family personally, stimulating their pride, urging them to greater efforts.

"The task of seeing each person so frequently was a superhuman one on that vast area, and it occurred to Mr. Campbell that he could lighten that work and accomplish more by organizing the whole population into chapters or groups and dealing mainly with those selected as their heads. The principal men of each district, men of stamina, influence, and force of character, were chosen by the Indians themselves. These chosen leaders exerted their influence for the good of the chapter as has never been done before.

"He procured a flour mill and installed it among the full bloods at Heart Butte. This mill ground up all the wheat that was raised, so that each man with the grain not only obtained his year's supply of flour but had a little

to sell. The chapters were soon struggling to make their 'flour meet'-that is, have the flour of one crop last until the grinding of the wheat of the next season.

"Efforts were made through the chapters to cause root houses to be made for the preservation of potatoes and other vegetables. One president told his chapter that his vegetables always lasted longer if he kept them in his own root house than if stored in any other man's cellar. The result has been that 90 per cent of the Indians now have root houses built. The amount of wheat that has been raised has increased from 1,000 to approximately 100,000 bushels this year.

"The chapters meet and encourage each other to make more strenuous efforts. The president goes about and sees that the farming implements and seed of his chapter are ready before the time they are needed, that the implements are housed for the winter, and looks into the many things that any Centerprising farmer should be taking an interest in.

"The Indian Bureau is supporting this movement by the use of reimbursable funds, without which it would not be possible to make much progress. The bureau has furnished another and larger flour mill to grind the increasing wheat crops. This is located at Browning but is for the benefit of all parts of the agency.

"In addition to the chapters of the men the superintendent started auxiliary chapters of a similar character for the women. The women were encouraged in raising and canning vegetables, raising chickens and sheep, carding wool, weaving blankets, cooking, improving sanitary conditions in the homes, and nursing children.

"It is most affecting to note the enthusiasm of both men and women, the pride with which they show their stock and products, the happiness and satisfaction over their ability to take care of their families, and the respect and affection they hold for Superintendent Campbell and his wife, who also is wrapped up in the project.

"During the meeting of the superintendents and doctors at Browning, the Blackfeet agency headquarters, a clinic on trachoma was held by Dr. L. Webster Fox, of Philadelphia, and it was most inspiring. Doctor Fox operated on many Indians. He does away with the old blue-stone treatment, which covers a year or more for extreme cases and is attended by great pain and suffering, and often with but small result in the end. The Fox method effects a cure at one operation, and the patient only requires from 10 days to two weeks to recuperate.

"About 100 cases were operated upon by Doctor Fox and others with excellent results, giving hope, if followed up by the Indian Bureau, of extirpating this disease, which has been one of the main scourges of the Indian race. Doctor Fox gave his time and valuable services free to the Indian with a philanthropy of the highest order.

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Superintendent Campbell took me up to Alberta, Canada, and we visited the Sarcee, Blood, Blackfoot, and North Piegan Indian agencies, and were most kindly treated by the Canadian officials. The main differences from the American system of Indian administration which I observed are as follows: "First. The Canadian agency superintendent is thrown upon his own initiative and responsibility without the necessity for constant reference to the main office for permission to accomplish the simplest acts. In other words, the system is decentralized, as all large administrative operations should be, rather than centralized as in the United States. The superintendent has his course of action outlined in a small pamphlet about one-quarter of an inch thick.

"Second. The superintendent is an officer with civil powers permitting him to give a summary trial to all persons, red or white, who violate the 'Indian act,' and he has power to award punishment in case of conviction up to two years' imprisonment, less one day. This has a most salutary effect on the commission of crime on and near the reservation, a great contrast to our reservations where the laws have usually been most difficult of enforcement, often impossible.

"Third. Another difference is found in the Canadian treatment of Indian schools. The Government does not manage any boarding schools for Indian children on reservations, but it usually has buildings, land, etc., which it turns over to a Church of England or a Roman Catholic mission to run, while the Government pays the expenses. The Roman Catholic mission for the Blackfeet proper at Gleichen was a model of neatness and efficiency, a neater

and better-appearing agency boarding school than I have seen on this side of the British line. This was the only boarding school that we inspected.

"Fourth. Another difference in the treatment is the fact that all the land is common property and turned over for temporary use to an Indian as long as he will farm it. If it is neglected, it is taken away from him and given to another. Thus no land can be sold without permission of the Government, and the Indian is always certain of a home if he can take care of it, and there are no land sharks lying in wait about the agency.

"Fifth. The last salient difference noted during the short time available for observation was the fact that the marriage of a white man into the tribe gives him no rights to property or other interests, and his wife becomes in effect a white woman. This eliminates a large number of white adventurers such as we see about all our agencies.

"As shown by my report of 1920 on the Blackfeet Reservation of Montana this agency was one of the most neglected and run-down places in the Indian Service. Its plant has since been put in better condition; a water system, better sanitary equipment, and new buildings have been added at the agency headquarters. This jurisdiction under Mr. Campbell, with its five-year industrial program and its Fox method of treating trachoma, is the most encourag ing of all the Indian agencies I have visited. I shall watch the progress here and elsewhere with the deepest interest. Both deserve the utmost support from the Indian Bureau and from Congress. Sufficient money should be appropriated by Congress to support the five-year program with reimbursable funds wherever conditions will justify, and enough money should be provided to stamp out trachoma in the entire service in one year.”

SHOSHONE INDIAN AGENCY, WYO.

Commissioner SCOTT

The Shoshone, or Wind River, Reservation is located in central western Wyoming, with its agency headquarters at Fort Washakie. This jurisdiction was visited by Commissioner Scott in September of 1924, and the following are parts of his report:

"The Indian population of the reservation is over 1,800, being divided about equally between the Arapaho and Shoshone Tribes. Nearly three-fourths of the Arapaho are reported as full bloods, while only a little less than half of the Shoshone tribe is of full blood. This reservation originally contained an area of about 2,100,000 acres, but the diminished area now consists of about 800,000. About 2,400 allotments have been made to the Indians, and over 2,000 of these are located in the present diminished section of the reserve. "The Shoshone and Arapaho are a backward people and are poorly housed. The superintendent is providing four new houses for Indians this year. Special efforts should be made to get these tribes properly housed. It was the consensus of opinion of the Indian Service superintendents who met at the Blackfeet Agency this summer that the hospitality of the Indian is boundless, and he will overcrowd his one-room house with guests in the wintertime to the limits of its floor space, many of them being afflicted with tuberculosis. In designing Indian houses to get adequate air space it is necessary to restrict the amount of floor area and increase the height of the ceiling and install suitable ventilators which will allow the air from the lower part of the rooms to escape through the roof.

"There is a great plenty of timber in the mountains and a flour and saw mill at the agency, and every effort should be made to get both tribes properly housed. There is plenty of land served by irrigation ditches, and there is no reason why these Indians can not become a highly prosperous and comfortable people.

"The reservation boarding school, which has a capacity of 135, is located about a mile and a half from the agency headquarters. It is a pleasure to see such a school, as it is both comfortable and adequate for its purpose. The children are from the Shoshone Tribe.

"The Episcopal mission of St. Michaels is about 6 miles down the Little Wind River and cares for about 100 Arapaho children. It is much improved since my last visit of four years ago, particularly in respect to its farm, stock, and chickens. The latter have taken prizes wherever shown in competition. The broadminded tolerant attitude toward the Indian's religion as shown by this mission is now bearing fruit.

"Last summer the Arapaho requested the missionary, Rev. Royal Balcom, to pray at their sun dance, showing that the Indians are gradually giving up their old beliefs willingly. There is small doubt but that such tactful treatment as is in effect here will soon lead the Indians away from their old ideas, with the full consent of the Indians themselves. This will create a much better condition than if attempts are made to drive these people away from their old ideas against their own will and with resultant resentment.

"A visit was also made to the St. Stephens Catholic mission about 25 miles below the agency on the Little Wind River near the junction with the Popo Agie. Here some devoted Jesuit fathers have a boarding school for 100 Arapaho children and work a farm that helps support it. The mission farm is irrigated, and we saw a remarkably fine garden, where samples of melons and other products were being selected for the fair at Riverton, Wyo. The Fathers seemed devoted to their calling, their plant is adequate to its purpose, and they showed us about with much hospitality.

"The five-year industrial program has been started on this reservation, but it has not progressed far. This jurisdiction would seem to be a fine place for it to be developed, and I look forward to seeing results here in another year."

MISSION INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA

Chairman VAUX

In April and May of 1925 Chairman Vaux conducted an inquiry into the conditions of the Mission Indians of California, who are under the supervisory care of Mr. Charles L. Ellis, superintendent of the Mission Indian Agency, with headquarters at Riverside. In all there are about 30 reservations in this jurisdiction, of which Chairman Vaux visited the following: Santa Ynez, San Manuel, Morongo, Agua Calientes (Palm Springs), Augustine Cabezon, Torres-Martinez, Soboba, Pechanga, Pala, Pauma, Rincon, LaJolla, Los Coyotes, Volcan Mountain, Mesa Grande, and Capitan Grande. These reservations vary not only in size but in the number of Indians on the rolls. The extreme differences in these respects make the census figures of the Mission Indians exceedingly misleading. Commenting on this phase of the survey Chairman Vaux, in his report, writes as follows:

"First, the census figures give both resident and nonresident Indians, and oftentimes there are but three or four families on a reserve making a total population, perhaps, of less then 20 people. The balance of the enrolled population, because of their employment, are living in towns or other places where there are various kinds of work which yield them good wages.

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Second, the total acreage of some of the reservations include many square miles of the roughest kind of mountain lands, which are not available even for grazing. The actual cultivated acreage will be confined, perhaps, to but 2 or 3 per cent of the total area. In addition much of the usable land is available only in case it can be irrigated, and the supply of water is by no means unlimited."

The report of Chairman Vaux shows that according to the 1924 Indian Service census there are 2,764 mission Indians enrolled and that the total area of all reservations is 247,571 acres; that the estimated area of completed irrigation projects is 7,898 acres, of which 4,616 acres can be supplied with water from constructed works; that in 1924 1,868 irrigated acres were farmed by Indians and 2,450 acres were dry farmed, and that the total cost of all projects amounted to $254,639. The agency census of school children showed there were 663 children of school age in the jurisdiction, of whom 530 were attending Federal, mission, and public schools.

Chil

The five Indian Service day schools had an attendance of 88; Sherman Institute, Riverside, Calif., took care of 83 children; Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kans., had 4; and 4 were enrolled at the Yuma Indian School. dren were transported to the Volcan, Campo, Pala, Rincon, and Mesa Grande day schools by the Government, because many of them live far from the schools. Some of these children had never seen a locomotive or the ocean until they were taken on an "educational picnic." Last year the city officials of San Diego entertained a number of the little Indians by taking them to theaters, up elevators to roofs of skyscrapers, and aboard some of the warships in the harbor.

Concerning the general situation of the Mission Indians Chairman Vaux found that because of the treatment they received from white people they are suspicious of anything that might be suggested for their welfare and that their unfortunate experiences have been used by persons who profess to be their friends and who, many times, believe themselves sincere but who are giving the Indians the worst kind of advice in that they are encouraging them in all sorts of opposition to the Government and its authorities. He showed that the wholesale arrests of mission Indians during the Great War, in connection with the draft, have given the Indians further opportunity to feel aggrieved. In commenting on this situation Chairman Vaux writes:

"It is oftentimes difficult to tell which influence is doing the most harm to the Indians; that of the out-and-out grafters, that of persons who while honest in a monetary sense are continually against the Indians in every possible way, and those sentimentalists who, while sincere in motives, are continuously dwelling on their wrongs and insisting that the Government should do more for them.

"These Mission Indians are suffering from all three of these classes, and it is unfortunate that there has not yet developed in California an acutely aroused public conscience which shall in an effective manner cooperate with the Indian Bureau in endeavors to place these Indians in a much better position than it is possible for them to be in otherwise."

As an illustration of the attitude of some of the white people in regard to Indians the report cites a case where two Indian children were removed by public-school authorities from a district school on a rather flimsy excuse. In regard to this matter the report reads:

"I have since been informed that on the matter being taken up actively the objection to the children was withdrawn, they being furnished with health certificates by Indian Service doctors. The case is none the less interesting as showing an attitude similar to that which has heretofore been reported from various parts of California and which excluded Indians not only from schools but public hospitals as well. If the people in California who are putting a good deal of energy into Indian affairs were to devote more of it to trying to improve the attitude of their own citizens and less to endeavoring to stir up dissatisfaction with the Government among the Indians themselves, I think there is no doubt but what conditions might be improved in many respects from what they now are."

Chairman Vaux is of the opinion that the most vital subject affecting these Indians is that of their allotment. The trouble concerning the allotment largely arose from the fact that they were made many years ago and never approved. Subsequent legislation providing for the inclusion in the list of allottees and after-born children brought about the making of new lists, and more recently the land has been reallotted in proportions much smaller than the original allotments, although in every instance endeavors have been made to conform with the first allotment lines so as to include the holdings formerly given to the same family. Naturally those Indians who found the new allotments had materially reduced their area were dissatisfied.

Chairman Vaux held a meeting at the Rincon Day School on April 17, which was largely attended by Indians from reservations in that vicinity, who expressed their views to him very freely. In connection with this matter he observes:

"It was interesting to find that almost all of the older people were opposed to the allotments and were declining to accept them, their pleas being that the new ones were not of sufficient size and that the old allotments, made five or more years ago, should be adhered to. The younger people, however, were vigorously in favor of having the latter system of allotments approved and made most effective pleas to have some land which they might call their own, even though it were but a small number of acres, in order that they might have an opportunity to earn a living for themselves and their families and demonstrate their ability to use to effective advantage the training given them in Government schools.

"To my mind it would appear that the key to the situation is the securing by the Government of more good land for these people and that care be exercised that it shall be of a kind that can be properly irrigated. If this were done the source of irritation, which is caused by the reduction in the size of the allotments that have been in a measure, at least, accepted by the Indians, would be removed."