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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF

INDIAN AFFAIRS

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,

Washington, D. C., September 30, 1919.

SIR: I have the honor to submit this, the eighty-eighth annual report of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1919.

RELEASING INDIANS FROM GOVERNMENT

SUPERVISION.

COMPETENCY.-For several years I have recognized as of urgent administrative importance the separation of competent Indians from the incompetent and their release from Government control. The main agencies in the accomplishment of this end are the work of field competency commissions, and a consistent practice of the general policy of declaring competent all Indians of one-half or less Indian blood who are able-bodied, 21 years of age, and not mentally deficient. The result of these activities shows that during the fiscal years 1917, 1918, and 1919, 10,956 Indians have been declared competent. The effect of the new policy on the issuance of fee patents is clearly shown by reason of the fact that under the acts of Congress approved May 8, 1906 (34 Stats. L., 182), and June 25, 1910 (36 Stats. L., 855), 9,894 fee patents were issued to Indians from 1906 to 1916, a period of 10 years, while during the past 3 years there have been issued 10,956 fee simple patents. Consequently, there have been issued more fee simple patents to Indians under the new policy within a period of 3 years than during the preceding 10 years.

There is no longer any doubt that with adequate provision for the expense of proper inquiry as to competency and with faithful adherence to the broadened declaration of policy we shall speedily sift the Indian who should stand on his own merits, pay taxes, discharge the service and exercise the freedom of citizenship, from those who will require the protection of the Government for some time before taking on such responsibilities.

Of the large number of Indians still under the supervision of this bureau, it should be understood that fully 75,000 are situated practically the same as the reservation Navajo, Hualapai, Hopi, and

Apache in Arizona, whose property can not now, nor for many years to come, be wisely allotted. There are thousands of fullbloods, and near full-bloods, whose landed interests and whose personal possessions and prospects are suggestive of a capacity for independent self-support, but who are not qualified to withstand the competitive tests that would follow a withdrawal of federal guidance. To abandon these at the point in their progress where elementary acquirements are shaping into self-reliance and a comprehension of practical methods, would be to leave them a prey to every kind of unscrupulous trickery that masks itself in the conventions of civilization.

I shall not be outdone by anyone who would hasten Indian progress by the extension of freedom and obligation to those who are ready for this status, nor shall I be swerved from what I believe to be a course of just aid and protection to the less fortunate and less progressive Indian.

PATENTS IN FEE.-Within the year 4,679 applications for fee patents were received, of which 344 were denied and 4,376 approved, involving an area of 778,698 acres.

In the declaration of policy, issued April 17, 1917, I announced that greater liberalism would thenceforth prevail in Indian administration, to the end that every Indian as soon as he had been determined to be competent to transact his own business affairs would be given full control of his property and have all his lands and moneys turned over to him, after which he would no longer be a ward of the Government.

This movement brought justifying results and on March 7, 1919, I addressed the following letter to the superintendents of various Indian reservations:

You are requested to submit to this office, at the earliest practicable date, a list of all Indians of one-half or less Indian blood, who are able-bodied and mentally competent, 21 years of age or over, together with a description of the land allotted to said Indians, and the number of the allotment. It is intended to issue patents in fee simple to such Indians. Advise the office at once the approximate date when this list can be furnished.

This order was mailed to all superintendents having jurisdiction over Indians holding land under trust patents, and from the lists that have been submitted it is apparent that approximately 4,500 fee patents will be issued to Indian allottees under this order.

The attention of the Indian Office is now being directed to the clearing up of inherited estates. Many of these allotments were made 35 years ago and the 25-year trust period has been extended for an additional 10 years on many Indian reservations. Of all the Indian land that has been allotted approximately 50 per cent of it is now held by heirs. In many cases there are twenty or more heirs

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