economic distress of which some people always, and most people sometimes, complain. The remarkable progress made by many of the Indians in handling their possessions so as to make definite gains each year, not only as to material and industrial conditions, but in the elevation of home life which nearly always follows, is evidence of a thrifty spirit which should be awakened and extended as widely as possible because of the truth as old as human nature that the man in a community who does well and gets ahead arouses emulation and becomes an educational example of practical value.

It seemed to me most desirable to make use of the further sale of War Savings Stamps as an opportunity for spreading the gospel of thrift among the Indians in the hope of forming, especially among the young, the beginnings of provident and progressive habits that will bring to them, besides personal success, the right sort of influence upon others. The circular appearing below was, therefore, sent to the field service and portions of it widely distributed among the Indians. The reports received seem fully to have justified this campaign, and although the year has been one in which the increased cost of nearly every necessary of life has greatly reduced the normal savings of all earning classes, returns indicate that the Indians have continued the purchase of War Savings Stamps until their total investments therein now exceed $1,000,000.

INDIAN SERVICE THRIFT CAMPAIGN, 1919.

To superintendents:

"For age and want save while you may,

No morning sun lasts the whole day.”—Franklin.

I wish to urge very special cooperation throughout the Indian Service this year with the Government's plan of continuing the sale of War Savings Stamps. I know of no way that we can better serve our country and ourselves, now that the call to arms is ended. There are great reconstructive expenses that no patriot would evade. No greater privilege ever came to the rank and file of our people than these investments of small savings on the easy terms provided. They should teach us the individual thrift we have long needed. They should create among the masses of our many millions the habits of forethought that would fashion us into a traditionally provident people. The opportunities coming to an uncrowded population amidst incomparable gifts of nature have saved us thus far from the dangers of lavish living. But there must come a revision of past standards of personal economy. We shall have to know more about saving. We can not afford to have students of foreign conditions saying that the average French peasant would amass a fortune out of the back-door waste of the average American family. If we get nothing from this war but the saving habit, it will be worth more than the billions expended.

"If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.

"-Franklin.

But the thing I now urge upon every Indian Service employee is to bring home to the Indians, especially the young and middle aged, the immediate and lasting benefit of savings made with a right purpose. This practice must have a worthy aim as its economic virtue, and when boys and girls are thus properly started their little income

investments commit them concretely to that aim and by repetition develop the elements of manly and womanly character. Our lives on this earth are inseparable from material things. The way we handle and the use we make of physical or tangible property enters largely into the fabric of industrial and social well-being and gives stability to civilization. Our young Indians should get the meaning and worth of this truth. They should be aided to see the importance of money as a measure of values, as a means to high attainments and to personal independence. I have found no better barometer of a boy's successful future than his disposition to save his earnings rather than to spend them foolishly. The ambition to accumulate leads, through the feeling of personal ownership, to thoughtful judgment, good conduct, and habits of safe economy. Contentment with mere well-doing is destructive of energy and frequently invites dissipation. A growing ownership of property strengthens the boy, dignifies the man, and awakens like purposes in others. The fact that a man more than exists, that he owns a home and has a share in the material welfare of his community, intensifies his interest in public affairs, increases his feeling of responsibility, magnifies his concern not only for his own fireside but for his country and his country

men.

"Without industry and frugality nothing will do and with them everything."— Franklin.

I feel most earnestly that our new policy to hasten the competency of the Indian for the management of his own affairs correlates intimately with the Thrift Stamp movement, and I desire an active and constant endeavor to convince the Indians that whatever may be their choice, the day is coming as rapidly as we can bring it when their relation as dependents and wards of the Government will cease, and that they can make no better preparation for that time and do themselves no greater credit or honor than to begin now a faithful and rigid saving system, such as the purchase of these stamps affords. I should like the Indian atmosphere to be surcharged with the idea that they must eventually, and not remotely, stand on their own feet, make their own way, pay taxes, and feed, clothe, and educate themselves the same as the white To this end, there should be no failure to furnish the simple lessons of all experience that to provide for the future is the essential law of intelligent life; that when times are good and conditions favorable provision must be made for misfortune or sickness or bad times; that in fruitful days a store must be laid by against possible adversity and want. We should see that the Indian gets the true meaning of thrift; that it is not a saving of money alone and for itself; that it does not foster avarice or greed, but means the wise use instead of the abuse of money; that thrift of the right sort tries to make the most and best of labor and its product; that it is the spirit of order, attention to details, and carefulness in all our daily affairs; and that industrious earning and saving becomes the best source of all capital which provides opportunity and prosperity to the rapidly increasing number of wage workers.

man.

"He that hath a trade hath an estate, and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor. "-Franklin.

It seems especially appropriate that the 1919 Savings Stamp shows the picture of Benjamin Franklin, who is so generally known as our country's most distinguished apostle of thrift in its best sense; who learned a trade and supported himself by it; who was a saver of time and knowledge and all that builds up true manliness; who worked for character as much as wages and whose breadth of thrift earned him prosperity, the confidence of men, public recognition, and statesmanship within and beyond his own nation. I feel that our work among the Indians and particularly in all the schools may now be turned to a very practical advantage by the example of this great man who loaned from his private funds to the Government in its days of early stress; who taught us that there are no better tests of common sense and sound judgment than the making, saving, and spending of money; that to make money

honestly and industriously, to save it without being sordid, and to spend it without waste or extravagance are fundamental in character building and will bring to any young man or woman a useful education of great value.

I ask you, therefore, to push the sale of these stamps vigorously as an educational and economic matter no less than a patriotic one, and to do everything practicable to get Indians, young and old, in the way of earning money and saving some part of it for thrift investment, and that you discourage cashing such stamps prior to maturity, except in the case of extreme need.

Herewith are inclosed instructions as to the method of accounting for stamp purchases, the funds that may be used therefor, and the reports you will be expected to make to this office.

Sincerely yours,

CATO SELLS, Commissioner.

EDUCATION.

Last year I presented at some length certain basic principles involved in educating the Indian, mentioning the purposes of the tentative course of study, and giving an outline of the methods adopted and believed to be especially applicable to the education of the Indian pupils.

Under this theory and system of education the Indian schools, although not always fulfilling the ideals of our curriculum, have maintained their usual standards remarkably well against unavoidable odds that prevailed during the closing months of the war and have continued since the armistice in a steadily increasing cost of supplies and operation that made economy a paramount necessity.

It may not be widely understood that the Government Indian boarding school, in many respects, is in a class by itself. It provides for those in attendance lodging, subsistence, clothing, medical attention, and transportation, as well as academic and industrial instruction. For the last fiscal year the law permitted an expenditure of $200 per pupil, except that where the attendance was less than 100, a per capita expense of $225 was provided for. Formerly the maximum expense authorized was even less, though perhaps not more restrictive of good results, if the wide difference in the cost of all supplies be considered. Discerning observers have commented in terms of surprise that an Indian boarding school can accomplish work of the scope outlined within the cost limit stated above, for it is generally known that industrial schools for other than Indian students expend approximately twice as much, or more, per pupil; and this will hold true with reference to the more liberal provision fortunately made for the coming year, which allows $225 per capita for Indian schools having an attendance of 200 or more, and $250 per pupil for the schools of less than 200. Thus, whatever deficiencies appear in Indian education, or whatever failure to accomplish the fullest results, must be charged rather to insufficient provision of moneys than to other causes. An instance of adverse conditions is exemplified in the vast amount of daily routine work which must be done in an Indian school

of whatever size or capacity. It has not always been possible to employ sufficient labor to perform this institutional work, much of which is without value as instruction, but it has been done by Indian pupils who have thus given more of their time to it than is consistent with the best educational results. Of course, much of the work is of value to them for training and experience when properly correlated with systematic class instruction. This is true in connection with the shops, repair work about the plant, the labor devoted to agricultural activities, and for those duties of the girls which concern cooking, sewing, or housekeeping.

Notwithstanding the limitations mentioned, I am expecting for the coming year a more stable and effective organization in our instruction service, and a resumption of conditions that will place the schools upon a more workable basis, and I have lately brought to the attention of all superintendents and school workers matters of special importance with a view of strengthening educational activities.

A RADICAL DEPARTURE AS TO ENROLLMENT.-The work which the Indian Bureau has undertaken during the past half century toward the civilization and education of the various Indian tribes has brought encouraging results, especially within recent years. There has been a rapidly increasing number of those who speak and use the English language, who have adopted citizen's apparel, are in customary daily intercourse with their white neighbors, and are breaking away from tribal ties. An admixture of blood has occurred to such an extent that many Indians are hardly distinguishable from whites, and there has been in the Government schools too many of this class who properly belong to State public schools, although their number has of late been materially diminished. Again, the public school of the State is the place for the children of those Indians who have been released from guardianship. The combined capacity of Government schools is not sufficient for all and the real Indian should be given the preference as to educational opportunity.

In order to eliminate those toward whom the Government's duty has been fulfilled and who with the assistance of the States should now depend upon their own resources, and to reserve the privileges of the Indian Schools for children of a greater degree of Indian blood who are still wards and without advantages, I have believed it wise and expedient to prescribe certain amendments to the Indian school rules.

These amendments define the classes which should be eliminated from Government schools. Although they bear date of July 29, and of course concern the future more than the past, they are given in full as follows:

To all superintendents:

JULY 29, 1919.

The rules for the Indian school service, approved July 14, 1913, are hereby amended by adding thereto, following paragraph 9, page 4, the following provisions:

"9a. There shall not be enrolled in Government nonreservation schools any Indian children who are not under Federal supervision, without prior authority from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

"96. There shall not be enrolled in any Indian reservation boarding or day schools any Indian children not under Federal supervision, except such as are entitled to share in the benefits of treaty or trust funds from which the school is maintained without prior authority from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

"9c. Except as to reservation schools supported from tribal funds or under specific treaty stipulations, Indian pupils who have ample financial resources or whose parents have such resources sufficient for the payment of all or part of the expenses of the pupils' education, whether or not the parents are wards of the Government, shall be required to pay their transportation, and all or part of the actual cost of their support and education, not to exceed $200 a year, or at the rate of $20 a month or a fraction of a year. Superintendents will enforce this regulation.

"9d. All pupils above the sixth grade entering a vocational school shall be enrolled for four years or for a sufficient term to complete the vocational course provided by the school.

"9e. Pupils thus enrolled for the vocational course shall be permitted to return home for vacation once only during such term of enrollment, at their own expense ordinarily unless in exceptional cases the superintendent finds it just or advisable to pay their transportation; otherwise the pupils shall remain at the school during the vacation months, or, if allowed to depart, shall pay a charge of $25 per month for each month's absence, unless in especially meritorious cases the superintendent shall grant not to exceed 30 days leave."

The scope and purpose of the amendments were explained in a letter of instructions accompanying the same, which appears below:

To all superintendents:

JULY 29, 1919.

The accompanying amendments to the school rules restricting enrollment of pupils to those who are under Federal supervision demand more than passing notice. For several years attempts have been made to eliminate from the Indian schools pupils whose parents are citizens, particularly those possessing only a small degree of Indian blood. Notwithstanding past efforts in this respect, there are still enrolled in many of our Indian schools a large number of near-whites. In many cases, these pupils live in towns or in communities where there are at least average public school facilities. The justification usually given for the enrollment of such pupils in Government Indian schools is that they wish to have the benefit of the vocational training offered or that the parents are poor and in need of assistance. Superintendents frequently accepted such explanation as satisfactory, provided the applicant possessed as much as one-fourth Indian blood. Superintendents of nonreservation schools contend that they must rely on the statements made by the reservation superintendent as to eligibility of the pupil, but sometimes pupils are first enrolled and the justification for their enrollment supplied at a later date. This is particularly true as respects the enrollment of pupils who are not living under the jurisdiction of a superintendent or agency. Greater care must be exercised in this matter in the future than has been practiced in the past.

In order to carry out the requirements of these rules, there must be the closest cooperation between the superintendents of reservations and superintendents of nonreservation schools. Reservation superintendents should not approve applications