ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. For the past three or four years, the wisdom of encouraging attendance of Indian children in State public schools by payment of tuition for them has been strongly emphasized and Congress has made specific appropriations for such purpose. There has been a steady increase in the number of children accepted by the public schools and in the number of contracts made for the payment of tuition. There seems to have been no prejudice against the Indian as such by the white members of the school district in most localities, and such feeling as has existed against this coeducation of the Indians with the whites is rapidly disappearing.

It is my intention to push actively the policy of reserving the Indian schools for children who are not provided with adequate free school facilities and to pay tuition for those who have access to public schools but whose parents are wards of the Government. Underlying this purpose is the firm conviction that the great common school system of our country so wisely planned in colonial times is of vital value to our free institutions and should establish the elementary principles of our citizenship. The statistics essential to military conscription startlingly revealed the need of greater mass enlightenment and the special need of a uniform language. More potent than any other constructive force in our civilization is, or should be, the free public schools as a nursery of one American speech and of the simpler but fundamental lessons of civic virtue, social purity, and moral integrity. The hope of our Democracy, now set up as a model for the world, lies in the successful teaching of these things to all classes and races of our polyglot population by a system of instruction such as the State public schools make possible. I hold, therefore, that the Indian child can have no better fortune than to enter these schools and become a learner of the knowledge and an absorber of the influences that tend to make us a unified people in all great purposes and ideals. Moreover, an important benefit to Indian children in the public schools will be the operation of compulsory attendance laws which with a single exception prevail in some form in all of the States. As a rule the Indian child will not fall behind the progress of the white pupil under regulations affecting both alike, but the parent of the former is apt to be too lenient in requiring regular attendance at school. Practically all States of the Indian country have compulsory laws covering the full school year which are, of course, applicable to citizen Indians, and I should strongly favor such legislation as would extend their control over children who are wards enrolled in public schools.

CLOSING OF CERTAIN BOARDING SCHOOLS.-In carrying out the policies which have heretofore been indicated and which are in part embodied in the amendments to the school rules previously explained, it has been found advisable to discontinue certain boarding schools

and to use the funds to better advantage elsewhere. In Wisconsin, the Oneida Indians have reached a stage of advancement which seemed to justify the withdrawal of Federal school privileges and therefore the Oneida boarding school has been closed. Public schools will in the future provide largely for the children and it may be anticipated that additional public school districts will be organized. At Sisseton, S. Dak., public schools are numerous and easily accessible to these children. The community has become settled and developed and the boarding school there, being no longer necessary, was discontinued within the year.

For substantially the same reasons the Nevada boarding school, Nevada, and the Umatilla boarding school, Oregon, have been abandoned. A day school will be conducted at the Nevada School plant for those children of the immediate neighborhood, and at Umatilla two day schools have been provided for those who cannot attend the public schools. The Martin Kenel School at Standing Rock, N. Dak., has been discontinued because it was expensive to operate, the plant was not in good condition, and all of the pupils could be accommodated at the Standing Rock Agency boarding schools.

Under the amended school rules the end of the fiscal year virtually marked the close of the Yankton boarding school, South Dakota, and in Oklahoma of the Ponca, the Otoe, and the Shawnee boarding schools, the conditions as to citizenship and the accessibility of public schools being such as reasonably to justify this action.

It should be said that in all the jurisdictions where schools are thus discontinued special attention will be given to any exceptional cases and their enrollment in other Government schools effected; also Indian students of some degree of achievement who are ambitious for further advancement will be considered for admission to nonreservation schools.

These educational readjustments are in line with the settled policy of securing public school instruction for the Indian children. whenever practicable, of requiring citizen and other Indians of sufficient resources to share in the cost of education, and of extending needed school facilities to those less fortunately situated. In the far Southwest are still many Indian children for whom no schooling is provided and among them are many of the poorer classes. The claims of these are most urgent and public funds which can be released with no injustice elsewhere should be used as far as applicable to discharge the Government's obligations to the many who are still its wards and are as helpless as they are deserving.

CONSTRUCTION.-The abnormally high cost of labor and material necessarily impeded construction work in the service during the past fiscal year, and considerably reduced the volume of both open market and contract projects, but few awards being made for the latter,

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as the bids submitted for them were almost invariably much in excess of the funds appropriated or apportioned. As a return of the cost of labor and material to the prewar status, or even close to it, can hardly be expected in the near future, it is the intention to carry on the construction projects as far as possible in the open market, for the results obtained by that method during the past year have been satisfactory. A practical and important demonstration of this appears in the construction of the Ute Mountain boarding school, Colorado, consisting of 10 buildings, with a central power, heating and electric lighting plant, and water and sewer system. It is expected to complete the school within the year at a saving of 40 per cent over contract work.

THE FIELD PERSONNEL.-I have previously reported the serious loss to the field force of this bureau by transfer to direct or associated war work. The epidemic of last fall further disturbed the regularity of the service, so that it became extremely difficult to maintain throughout the year well organized conditions, and inexperienced, temporary help became a necessity in many jurisdictions. However the results under this unavoidable handicap have been generally all that could be expected. I have had frequent occasion to appreciate the loyality of very many employees whose qualifications and efficiency were attracted to other more remunerative employment, but who remained at their posts and even assumed other responsibilities in the genuinely patriotic spirit demanded by the period of extreme emergency. I am impressed that as a class the Indian Service employees are not adequately paid when qualifications and the character of the work performed are compared with other Government and outside employees. I should be glad to go further than available appropriations permit in rewarding the faithful and often self-sacrificing service of my coworkers.

INDIAN FAIRS. One of the most helpful means of stimulating the agricultural enthusiasm of the Indians has been the Indian fair held each year on most of the reservations, at which the Indians exhibit their farm products, live stock, etc., in competition with each other, suitable prizes being awarded on the best exhibits. Certificates of merit, over the signature of the Commissioner and under the official seal of the Indian Office, are also given in deserving cases. These fairs are generally managed by the Indians themselves, through the medium of organized fair associations with Indian officers, under the supervision of the superintendent, which gives them practical experience in business organization and management.

An important feature of such fairs is "the baby show," where the Indian mothers bring their little ones "in best bib and tucker," cash prizes and certificates being given the winners.

Indian exhibits were also shown at county and State fairs, in conformity with the practice inaugurated several years ago, on a larger scale than formerly, with continued good results, many prizes being awarded the Indians in open competition with other exhibitors. Their success along this line portends the final abolishment of the strictly Indian fairs on the reservations, and universal participation by the Indians in the State and county fairs on the same basis as the whites.

INDIAN EMPLOYMENT.-From his war experience the Indian has gained a wider vision of life, which has quickened his thought, opened his eyes to opportunity, and stimulated him to action, and many Indian soldiers have thus found work through the exercise of their energetic initiative. Indian youths have been working in this country on motors for Army trucks, tractors, and airplanes, and in France as repair men on motor-driven vehicles, and a number from overseas have returned to the factories for electrical engineering and other kinds of mechanical activities. Applications for automobile factory work are coming in steadily, and all worthy Indians so disposed are given a chance to become skilled mechanics in this way.

In that section of the Arkansas Valley between Rocky Ford, Colo., and Garden City, Kans., Indian students from seven schools in the Southwest worked in the sugar-beet fields and factories, over 400 students being thus engaged from the middle of May until the last of December. In the evenings they enjoyed athletic activities, baseball, and band concerts, besides being supplied with magazines and other reading matter. Progress was impeded by the outbreak of Spanish influenza in the camps, three-fourths of the boys being in the hospital at different times with this malady.

Many Indians found lucrative employment in the cotton fields of Arizona, particularly the Papago, who do the best work with Egyptian cotton.

Many Indian girls were employed in clerical work, and as cooks, teachers, and housekeepers in schools, and others as nurses in Army hospitals in this country, besides three in France with the Red Cross.

The extent and the variety of the work in which the Indians have been engaged, and the fact that many from remote districts who have never before shown such interest have asked for employment, presage economic stability and progress.

HEALTH.

If the figures of the epidemic of Spanish influenza could be deleted from the statistical tables and the sorrows of that visitation effaced from memory, the health record of the Indians of the United States for the fiscal year 1919 could be written as normal, notwithstanding

the fact that the facilities of the service were greatly impaired by war conditions. The corps of physicians which at the time of the signing of the armistice was scarcely one-third of its normal numerical strength, has been undergoing rehabilitation, and at the close of the period covered by this report it was gradually approaching its full complement. The nursing corps is still greatly depleted and many positions are being filled temporarily by practical nurses.

During the period of the war on some reservations physicians were required to take over the work of two or three other medical districts; in certain localities no medical service could be maintained other than the supplying of simple remedies.

To relieve the situation incidental to the shortage of physicians and nurses the Civil Service Commission waived the maximum age limits and changed the form of examinations from assembled to nonassembled. Through this courtesy and by aid of employees who were willing to perform extra duty it was possible to preserve in some form the integrity of the different health services even at the most remote stations.

During the epidemic of Spanish influenza a plan of cooperation was effected between the Public Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, by which the emergency was well met, and I desire to expresss appreciation for the timely assistance rendered by the Surgeon General.

The Chilocco School was a notable example of the efficient control of the influenza epidemic, not a single case having developed among the more than 500 Indian students and large corps of employees.

While every employee of the Indian Service, by virtue of his position and duties, is concerned with health, which is not secondary to any other activity, those designated as health supervisors, special physicians, special nurses, agency and school physicians, general nurses, field matrons, and field dentists, are charged with the principal duties and responsibilities pertaining to the physical welfare of the Indian people.

The health supervisors visit the various reservations and schools for the purpose of advising with the other health employees and gathering information for the office; special physicians are employed primarily to combat trachoma, but it is required that they shall be qualified specialists in diseases of the ear, nose and throat, as well as in diseases of the eye. In addition, they must be prepared to act as epidemologists, for they are frequently detailed to take charge of local epidemics of dangerous communicable diseases. Special nurses are attached to the service of special physicians. Agency and school physicians, whether employed under contract or regular appointment, perform the duties indicated by their designations, and general nurses are nurses employed at the various schools and