quickened humanities of world-wide relief, have bequeathed to us an inspiration to cure and prevent disease, to build up and make strong, and unless we act upon it, we are disloyal to the war's greatest spiritual triumph. We must be instant to grasp the miraculous things done to prevent disease in vast bodies of men. We must appropriate and practically apply the marvelous reduction of war deaths from infectious conditions. We must practice scrupulously the object lessons given by military camps in all matters of health precautions which have so successfully maneuvered against communicable disease through the common essentials of water, air, food, clothing, sewage, exercise, and inoculation. Typhoid and many germ diseases are no longer more destructive than the enemy's guns and gas. These are negligible foes through persistent sanitation and other prevention practicable for every community. We have learned that military morale is chiefly another name for health, for the healthy are seldom downhearted or deficient in courage.

Morale is a good watchword under which to rally all our service personnel, all our pupils, all our returned students, and progressive Indians for a new drive against disease of every description. Health is almost wholly a matter of education, of organization, of cooperative enthusiasm. The health leagues started in many schools should become nation-wide. Hygienic living costs little beyond such actual necessities as food, clothing, water, air, fuel, shelter, work, play. Never before has there been such full and reliable guidance to good health as comes now from the Public Health Service, the State boards of health, and the copious literature on right living from medical and trustworthy sources. To-day there would be no wit or logic in the eloquent agnostic's suggestion for improving the Almighty's plan by making good health catching instead of disease, because the contagion of good health is a fact, and is being demonstrated wherever intelligent effort correlates with nature.

I do not see how our service can be anywhere but in the vanguard of this great health movement which has awakened such serious interest, and to be there our Indian schools must reorganize for more effective results. Many of our school periodicals contain in nearly every issue the essential rules for practical hygiene and sanitation. What we probably need is a more systematic plan for creating interest in, and the performance of, what we know ought to be done. The element of a proper incentive is very important with children until practice develops habit, or the joy of health becomes a conscious reward of obedience to instruction. I also regard as of special value such supervision of exercise or athletics as will bring individual benefits to all pupils. The competitive game is a great and wholesome thing, under right control, but every pupil should get into it. All should be actors, and not mostly spectators. But enveloping all our efforts, should be the stirring influence of a health atmosphere, even breezy in its expression of the zeal and confidence of every employee that health must come first and that everybody must have it. I can not believe that many forms of disease can stand against such cooperation inspired by the Superintendent, counseled by the physician, administered by the faithful nurses and matrons, and assisted by the encouragement and sympathy of all.

In this appeal, I have somewhat especially in mind the duties of field matrons and desire to awaken a revival of interest in their work which is so needful to all health and home welfare on the reservations, and to secure for it the support its importance demands.

We must continue more resolutely our contest against disease and insanitation in the family life of adult Indians. Emphasis is given to my earlier declaration, that every Indian hospital bed not necessarily occupied by a sufferer from disease or injury should be available for the mother in childbirth. No baby should be born in the midst of infectious conditions. There must be no neglect of any woman approaching the sacred period of motherhood, and in all this work of home uplift and purification the responsibility rests heavily upon the field matron, who under the direction of the superintendent is entitled to his sincerest aid and council.

The position of field matron is much more than a job. It is an opportunity for service to others; an opportunity for self-sacrifice in the interest of humanity; and for the exercise of the highest attributes of mind and soul in a preeminent cause. The position should be filled only by women who have the desire and the aptitude to teach the things that influence human lives for good and fill them with higher aspirations. No woman should seek or hold the position of field matron who is not endowed with physical strength, with strong moral and mental force, and with the real missionary spirit—a spirit of helpfulness that finds expression in a fervent desire to better the condition of a worthy race that is struggling upward to a realm of higher life, for without these qualifications, the duties will be uncongenial and success can not be attained. The material remuneration is not large and the discouragements and adversities are many. The rewards are chiefly in the sacrifices.

While varied circumstances and conditions are responsible to a great extent for failure, success depends, in a large measure, upon the field matron herself; upon her spirit of helpfulness and sacrifice; upon her fitness for her calling; and upon her moral force.

A field matron, to be successful, must have a profound personal interest in the Indian people and an abiding faith in their possibilities and in the ultimate success of her work. She must labor for the general welfare of all, regardless of their attitude, their status, their character, their reputation, or their condition. If any distinction is made, it should be in favor of those who are farthest down in the scale of life, because their needs are the greatest.

Because of the great importance I attach to the mission of the field matron, I am inclosing herewith a more specific outline of her responsibilities and duties and shall expect every such employee to acknowledge the receipt thereof.

CATO SELLS, Commissioner.

SUPPRESSION OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

The task of suppressing the liquor traffic among Indians is one which requires constant watchfulness, vigilance, and resourcefulness, in the apprehension and prosecution of offenders. This branch of our service is kept moving all the time to protect our Indians from the evils resulting from the use of liquor, and while substantial progress has been made during the past year, the liquor forces continue to violate the law wherever it seems possible to acquire huge profits, taking great chances and becoming desperate and dangerous when interfered with.

The year has been an active one notwithstanding the war restrictions imposed upon the manufacture and sale of liquors. There were 1,516 new cases instituted during the year; 2,135 cases disposed of; 33,924 gallons of various kinds of intoxicating liquors seized and destroyed; and 112 automobiles engaged in the illegal traffic libeled and sold for $42,869. Fines were assessed in the amount of $82,460. Operations during the fiscal year covered 27 different States and include prosecutions for violations of State, Federal, and municipal laws.

The legislation contained in the act of May 25, 1918, making posses. sion of intoxicating liquor within Indian country an offense was

strengthened by the following provision contained in the act of June 30, 1919:

Provided, That on and after July 1, 1919, possession by a person of intoxicating liquors in the Indian country or where the introduction is or was prohibited by treaty or Federal statute shall be an offense and punished in accordance with the provisions of the acts of July 23, 1892 (Twenty-seventh Statutes at Large, p. 260), and January 30, 1897 (Twenty-ninth Statutes at Large, p. 506).

The act of June 30 also provided for a continuation of the protection of the Nez Perce Indians by extending for ten years the provisions of Article IX of the agreement with said Indians dated May 1, 1893.

In my last report I referred to the necessity of invoking the authority of section 2087 which provides that no annuities or moneys or goods shall be paid or distributed to Indians while they are under the influence of intoxicating liquor, nor while there are good and sufficient reasons for those whose duty it may be to make such payments or distribution to believe that there is any species of intoxicating liquor within convenient reach of the Indians. The lesson has been a good one, so that there was no occasion during the year again to invoke its provision.

Several complaints reached me to the effect that a Minnesota concern was shipping California grapes to consumers in Minnesota territory for use in making grape juice and that Indian Service liquor suppression officers were destroying unfermented grape juice in large quantities. On investigation it was discovered that many carloads of California grapes were being shipped into the territory covered by the Indian treaty containing the prohibition against intoxicating liquors, but that they were not being used for making "grape juice in the ordinary sense of the word. Thousands of gallons of wine in the various stages of the making were destroyed, but where grapes were legitimately being used for ordinary unfermented grape juice, no action was taken against any person.

Indicative of the benefits to the La Pointe Indians by reason of the city of Ashland, Wis., going dry, beginning with July 1, 1918, the local press of that city printed a statement showing the arrests for the last six wet months (January to June, inclusive, 1918) were 1,366, while the total arrests in the first six months under the dry law (July 1 to Dec. 31, 1918) were 236. It is also said that the arrests in May (374) and June (347), 1918, dropped to 36 in July and grew less thereafter.

FARMING.

It seemed to me quite clear that post-war conditions would require a continuance of increased production in all farming activities, in order to satisfy the pressing demands of many foreign countries for

the necessaries of life, and to supply domestic consumption with as little soaring of prices as possible. With a view, therefore, to maintaining vigorously the previous year's agricultural campaign, I sent on January 25, 1919, to all superintendents the following letter of instructions:

Our farming operations last year were largely successful. We fulfilled the slogan: "Food will win the war." Now that the war is won, we find that food is essential to peace. The vast areas ravaged by the enemy will not soon be normally productive. Much of northern France is a picture of devastation. Russian agriculture is under the blight of bolshevism. Expert statisticians declare that the world, outside of the United States, will need 15,000,000 tons of foodstuffs above present supplies to carry it to the next crop. Whatever shall be written into international pacts or covenants, we face the old truth that peace and starvation are not friendly partners: that famine breeds disorder and insurrection. It is generally conceded that aid for underfed populations is an acute and alarming need, and it behooves this great country of ours which turned the world's forlorn hope into victory, to help supply the markets of hungry millions who were not responsible for their misfortune. It should be ours to lead in making secure the arts of peace in a world emancipated from the lust of war. Our soldiers from the battle front have set us this task, and I urge you to carry as an inspiration to every employee and to all Indians the fact that we are at the entrance of a new industrial era which will demand not only greater and more varied domestic supplies but vastly larger exports than ever before.

Therefore, last year's campaign, good as it was, must be renewed and stimulated to greater results. Preparation for the seed time can not begin too early. Forethought should be the watchword of every farmer and gardener. War gardens have convinced us of the necessity for peace gardens. Last year thousands of families supplied their tables chiefly from their gardens, had better health, and released more nonperishable supplies for shipment. No man, Indian or white, is justified in buying vegetables if he has land that will produce them. The root cellar should be reckoned as indispensable. I desire that our schools everywhere give increased attention to gardening, canning, drying, and the proper storing of vegetables as a dietary and economic gain. Some schools have thus taken a long step toward self-support. Others can do equally well. All Indians on allotments should be especially urged to have gardens and get in the way of using more vegetables as food. Wherever potatoes can be grown there should be little need for shipping them in. In these small, as well as the larger agricultural activities, you can hardly overdo efforts to have the Indians look ahead for the next season's tillage and harvest by timely preparation. The tendency of hand-to-mouth living is thus largely overcome.

In the more extensive lines of farming you should give prompt attention this year to the considerable area of agricultural land still unused on many of the reservations and have the Indians, themselves, bring it under cultivation, so far as available facilities, funds, and good business judgment will justify. If there is a balance they can not handle, it should be leased to the best advantage under existing laws and regula tions. For Indians desiring to farm, but are not properly equipped to do so, the matter of seeds and implements should be given careful and active attention, so that supplies may be on hand when needed. It is preferable, of course, for the Indians to purchase their own seed and implements from individual funds when available, but if not, the supplies may be furnished in return for labor, or in the case of seed, to be returned in kind at harvest, provided you have applicable and available funds in your allotment which you care to utilize therefor, as it is unlikely that any additional allotments can be made for this purpose. In previous years it has been customary to furnish considerable supplies of this nature on the reimbursable plan, either from the regular re

imbursable appropriation or from tribal funds subject to expenditure in this manner. However, there is a very small balance in the regular reimbursable appropriation which will be entirely insufficient to permit the purchase of seed and implements therefrom on the same scale as in previous years, although if you have any unhypothecated balance in your allotments of tribal funds available for support and civilization purposes within the limitation imposed by the Indian act for the current fiscal year, such as "Indian moneys, proceeds of labor, Indians' support, 1919," it can be utilized for the purchase of seed and implements for Indians on the reimbursable plan if not. required for other necessary purposes. I especially desire that you move early and definitely in these very essential preparatory matters and keep continually before the Indians the necessity of complete readiness for spring work and for bumper results.

The replies indicate a full recognition of their responsibility along this line on the part of the superintendents, employees, and the Indians, and a considerable increase in crop acreage on many of the reservations over that cultivated during the war. There are quoted below extracts from several reports, which will serve to show the attitude of our field service and something of the results it is hoped to accomplish.

Last year we cultivated every foot of available land. We raised an excellent garden, had quantities of early vegetables for canning, and our large root cellar was filled to the brim with winter vegetables. From an acre of alfalfa five tons of excellent hay was raised, and about one hundred bushels of corn from two and one-half acres of thin land.

Our farmers are now arranging to secure seed oats and potatoes. Gardens are now being ploughed and ground is being prepared for seeding oats. Prospects for a large wheat crop are excellent. Many reports reaching this office indicate that our restricted Indians are showing unusual interest in preparing for aggressive farm work. Considerable new ground is being cleared, the soil is full of moisture, and the season is in many respects opening under very favorable conditions.

The matter of having every available foot of agricultural land within this jurisdiction placed in cultivation has been kept in mind, and it is believed that the increase for the coming season over last season is approximately 8 per cent. Every allotment suitable for agricultural purposes has either been leased or is being farmed by the Indians themselves.

An effort has been made to induce each family to have a garden, with very satisfactory results. An increase of about 200 per cent was made two years ago, which was maintained the past year. The coming year will probably make an equally good showing, although the demand for labor and high wages paid has taken many of our Indians from their home work.

We began our farm operations last fall as soon as the crops were removed. We have prepared and have ready as much of the land as was possible and we are still continuing the preparation. We saved from our crops last year seed corn, seed wheat, and other seeds and have already invited bids and placed orders for those required and not raised for the coming season. We will have a larger acreage this year than last and believe the production will be greater per acre.

The necessary steps have already been taken under this jurisdiction in the way of securing seeds for the Indians of this reservation to be used in connection with their farming operations. We are also endeavoring to secure a goodly supply of various kinds of garden seeds for issue to Indians to interest and encourage them in raising a large amount of vegetables for their own consumption. Everything in our power is being done to have all raw lands subdued and placed under cultivation during the