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From this exhibit it appears that there were in the year 1898 295 schools, with an enrollment of 24,004 and an average attendance of 19,671, an increase over the previous year of 1,040 in enrollment and 995 in average attendance. For the support of the 242 Government schools and 34 contract schools Congress appropriated $2,631,771.35 for the fiscal year 1898, and for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 1899, the appropriation is $2,638,390. Adding the amount provided by treaty stipulations-about $600,000-the total sum available for education is $3,238,390. With such means at his disposal, the Commissioner hopes not simply to maintain the existing school system but to make material advance during the current year. Improvement and enlargement of school buildings will furnish accommodations for many additional pupils, and new schools will be opened among the tribes of Arizona and New Mexico, where there are thousands of children without any school facilities. We trust these wise and wide plans may be fully carried out.

The possibility of civilizing and educating our Indians is no longer a matter of question or doubt. Indians are men, and with the same mental, industrial, and moral training that all other races receive they will take their place among us as useful citizens. Results already achieved are full of encouragement. Thousands have gone out from the schools and are exerting an influence for good upon the people among whom they live. Many through the "outing system," in practice at Carlisle, Hampton, and other schools, have learned the value of civilized home life and the dignity and worth of labor. These new ideas they carry to their people. Some fail to put them in practice, but a large majority have stood firm and have proved the value of the education they have received. From data obtained and collated by the Indian Office it is found that 76 per cent of returned pupils have a good report. As Commissioner Jones says—

The ratio of the good to the bad is remarkable from any standpoint, but it is emphasized particularly as showing the value of an educational system which can in a generation develop from savages 76 per cent of good average men and women, capable of dealing with the ordinary problems of life and taking their places in the great body politic of our country.

The contract and mission schools are continued by the various church missionary societies, though with a slight reduction of attendance, since the most of them no longer receive Government aid. We trust that this work may go on and increase. For, as we have often said, our deep and abiding conviction is that what the Indian needs above all things is moral and Christian training. Our Christian civilization is by no means perfect, but it is for our age and country the only civilization worth having; and it is by making Christ his pattern, and accepting His teachings, that the Indian can reach the best standard of manhood.

ALLOTMENTS AND PATENTS.

During the year 1,943 patents have been issued and delivered, 873 allotments have been approved for which patents are being prepared, and schedules of 979 received but not finally acted upon. In addition to the above, 272 allotments have been made and approved to nonreservation Indians. Adding these to the number heretofore reported, we find that more than 60,000 individual Indians have received allotments. As women and children are included it appears that about 12,000 families have now the opportunity to make for themselves homes inalienable for at least one generation. How far they are occupying and making use of their lands is a question often asked, and we have endeavored to

ascertain the results of the allotment policy under the act of February 8, 1887, called the general allotment bill. Last spring the following letter was addressed to the Indian agents on reservations where allotments have been made:

United States Indian Agent:

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS,
Washington, D. C., April 5, 1898.

We have been requested to report the results of the policy of allotting lands in severalty to Indians. To do this intelligently and accurately we need information from agents who are on the ground and familiar with the facts. Please, therefore, favor us with replies to the following questions:

1. How many allotments have been made to Indians of your agency?

2. How many patents have been issued?

3. How many Indians are living on their allotted lands?

4. To what extent are they cultivating their lands?

5. To what extent are their lands leased and with what results?

6. What in your opinion are the benefits or the evils of the allotment policy? By replying, when convenient, and making such suggestions as you may deem fit, you will greatly oblige.

Yours, respectfully,

E. WHITTLESEY, Secretary.

Replies have been received from twenty agents, covering about 25,000 allotments and patents. These letters we publish with this report, and they will be read with interest, as they give the opinions and conclusions of intelligent and competent men on the ground.

A careful collation of the figures given shows that at least 80 per cent of the allottees are occupying their lands and cultivating them to some extent. These results are agreeably surprising, and they warrant the hope that with the oversight and instruction of farmers and assistant farmers a large number of Indians will gain a comfortable support by their own labor from the products of the soil, and with the valuable help of field matrons the Indian women will learn domestic arts and acquire for themselves and their families the comforts of civilized homes.

It is conceded by all that the industry upon which the Indians must mainly depend for their future support is agriculture. A few may push their way into professional life, but the great majority must win their living by manual labor. To succeed in this they must have instruction and help by farmers competent to teach them the use and care of farming implements and the best methods of planting and saving their crops. The Government agricultural colleges are now graduating every year men who are capable of filling these positions, and we suggest that it would be good policy to give them appointments.

IRRIGATION.

If the allotment policy is to be successful in the arid regions where many Indians dwell, an abundant supply of water must be furnished by irrigation, and on several reservations work for this purpose has been done as fast as funds appropriated were available. As we recommended last year, a competent engineer has been appointed to superintend the construction and maintenance of irrigation works, and thus greater economy and efficiency will be secured. Mr. W. H. Graves, appointed to the position, has proved his fitness for it by the great work he has done on the Crow Reservation, Mont. Many miles of irrigating ditches have been constructed, which will supply a large body of fertile land with abundant water for cultivation. Unfortunately, the funds set apart for this work are not sufficient for its completion. The Indians have sent an earnest petition to the Indian Office that enough

money be taken from their annuity fund in the United States Treasury to complete these ditches, and the Indian Commissioner requested authority from Congress to do this last spring, but no action was taken. We can conceive no good reason why such a request should not be granted. We heartily join with the Commissioner in renewing the recommendation. A work so costly and important ought not to be left unfinished.

We greatly regret that so little progress has been made toward supplying the Pima and Papago Indians on the Gila Bend Reservation, Ariz., with water for farming purposes, which they so much need. We explained in our last report how their supply has been cut off, and their irrigating ditches constructed by themselves have been left dry. A plan for their relief has been proposed, and we urged Congress to appropriate a sufficient fund to carry it out, but all we could get was a grant of $20,000 for a preliminary survey, and an estimate of the cost of the work, the same to be expended by the Director of the United States Geological Survey. That officer has taken some steps toward making the survey, but we fear his report can not be ready for consideration by Congress this winter.

PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES.

The board was represented at the opening of bids and awarding of contracts for Indian supplies and goods at Chicago, Ill., from April 27 to May 15, and in New York from May 17 to June 8. The total number of bids at the two lettings was 649, and the prices, though higher than the previous year for a few classes of supplies, were, on the whole, considered reasonable. We assisted the Commissioner in the inspection of samples offered, and in the award of contracts, remaining about three weeks in each city. An account more in detail will be found in the report of Commissioner Lyon, the chairman of our purchasing committee, which is as follows:

REPORT OF THE PURCHASING COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

SIR: The purchasing committee have the following to report from January 1 to December 31, 1898:

Bids for Indian supplies and transportation, as per advertisement, were opened April 27, 1898, at the Indian warehouse, No. 1602 State street, Chicago, Ill., in the presence of Hon. W. A. Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the secretary of the board of Indian commissioners, and a large number of bidders.

Three hundred and eighty-eight bids were received and opened, for beef, flour, corn, oats, barley, feed, hardware, school desks, furniture, harness, leather, agricultural implements, medical supplies, paints, oils, and transportation.

Mr. Roger C. Spooner was in charge of the warehouse as superintendent, and the following named persons were appointed as inspectors of the samples of goods offered: Gilbert Montague, for flour and feed; Mark Goode, for agricultural implements; Edward Devlin, for hardware; F. C. Hale, for harness; W. Bodeman, for medical supplies; E. Watson, for paints and oils; L. C. Bartley, for wagons; L. F. Crosby, for furniture.

On May 17 bids for dry goods, clothing, hats and caps, boots and shoes, groceries, crockery, lamps, etc., as per advertisement, were opened at the Government Indian warehouse, No. 77 Wooster street, New York City, in the presence of Hon. W. A. Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, several members of the board of Indian commissioners, and a large number of bidders.

Two hundred and sixty-one bids were opened. Mr. Louis L. Robbins had charge of the warehouse as superintendent, and the following-named persons were appointed as inspectors of the samples of goods offered and to inspect the goods when received: Samuel S. Steward, for dry goods; P. F. Griffin, for clothing; Henry Lilly, for boots and shoes; David Towle, for hats and caps; Silas S. Carpenter, for hosiery

and notions; John N. Chapman, for groceries; Albert F. Cowen, for crockery and lamps; George A. Ferguson, for medical supplies; K. Joseph, for shirts and overalls. Mr. Robbins, superintendent of the warehouse, reports that all the goods awarded to contractors, from bids opened May 17, have been delivered and shipped, with the exception of some table linen; that nearly all the goods delivered were equal to the samples from which the awards were made. In two instances goods were received at an allowance in price, recommended by the inspectors, and that 22,237 packages, weighing 3,201,726 pounds, were shipped from June to December 1. He also reports that the expenses of the warehouse, cost of inspection of goods, salaries, and labor were $1,702.25 less than last year.

Gen. E. WHITTLESEY,

Secretary Board of Indian Commissioners.

MEETINGS.

WM. H. LYON, Chairman Purchasing Committee.

We have held our usual meetings, one in this city, when, besides transacting the business of the annual meeting, we had very satisfactory interviews and consultations with the President, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; another in New York at the time of opening bids and awarding contracts for Indian supplies; and a third at Mohonk Lake, where, by invitation of Commissioner Smiley, a large number of people interested in Indian matters met with us for the discussion of questions relating thereto. This meeting, now well known as "The Mohonk Conference," continued three days and evinced unabated interest in the welfare of Indians. Reports were made by several religious societies of their school and missionary work, and the subject of education, its scope and purpose, received a large share of attention. A somewhat pessimistic tone seemed to prevail on account of the slow progress in the solution of the Indian problem, and some criticism was made of the Government administration of the Indian service. Some basis for such criticism may be found in the history of our dealings with Indians in former times, but during the last twenty-five years we have seen a steady improvement in the service, and its business affairs are now conducted as honestly as those of any department of the Government. Its educational work has been greatly extended and improved, and certainly much progress has been made in teaching Indians the habits and industries of civilized life.

It is by no means true that "the administration of Indian affairs is still largely intrusted to men without knowledge or experience, and in many cases without character." Nor is it true, as a rule, that "drunken men have been appointed to keep the Indians from drinking, lazy men to teach them industry, and corrupt men to teach them morals." Such language may be a fine specimen of antithesis, worthy of a Macauley, but, like many highly wrought figures of speech, it contains more error than truth. It exalts into a rule a rare exception. We have had able and upright men in charge of Indian affairs. We have had many faithful and efficient Indian agents, and the superintendents and teachers of Indian schools have been, with very rare exceptions, earnest, selfsacrificing men and women. We all agree that it is desirable to push forward as fast as possible the work of education and of allotment, and as early as possible to close up the Indian Bureau itself, but a vast amount of work remains to be done. Two-thirds of the Indians are yet to be settled upon individual homesteads and to be supplied with facilities for making a living; and Indian funds, amounting to many millions, must be properly cared for and distributed. So that, even if the schools were transferred to State control or to the Bureau of Education, the Government can not at present, and we fear not for many years, be freed from the expense of an Indian Bureau.

The one thing needed, as we have long felt and have often said, for the improvement of the Indian Service, is a permanent tenure of office by those officials who have proved their honesty and efficiency. No branch of the public service is more harmed than this by frequent changes, and in no branch is experience of greater value. The employees in the school service, and others holding subordinate positions, are now appointed under the merit system of the civil-service rules. But the Commissioner, the superintendent of education, Indian agents and inspectors are still subjected to change with every change of Administration. The agent can be of little use until he has gained the confidence of the Indians, and they are slow in giving such faith. When they find the officer in charge to be honest and efficient, they readily accept his advice and obey his commands. But toward new and untried men their attitude is that of suspicion if not hostility. In the Army and Navy we should have a very inefficient service if the officers were discharged every four years and men without training or experience appointed to command. The absurdity and injury of such frequent changes are equally great in the Indian Service. Dishonest and incapable agents must, of course, be removed. But we wish it might be understood as a rule of executive action that all who fill well their positions shall be retained as long as they are willing to serve, and shall be reappointed when their term of office expires, without regard to their political partisanship. Party politics should have nothing to do with their appointment any more than appointments and promotions in the Army. The Secretary of the Interior informs us that the Indian Bureau is now well manned. Our earnest desire is that no hazardous changes may be made. Our recommendations then are:

1. Permanent tenure of office in the Indian service.

2. The repeal or amendment of the act of Congress approved January 14, 1889, and a better system of managing the Chippewa timber interests adopted.

3. The early passage of the bill (S. 2888) to protect the Seneca Indians of New York from fraud and injustice.

4. The allotment of the New York reservation to individual Indians. 5. The rejection of the bill to restore Annette Island to the public domain, and the passage of an act granting a title in fee of that island to the Metlakahtlans.

6. That authority be granted by Congress to take from the annuity fund of the Crow Indians in Montana a sufficient amount to complete their irrigating canals.

MERRILL E. GATES, Chairman.
E. WHITTLESEY, Secretary.
ALBERT K. SMILEY.

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

PHILIP C. GARRETT.

DARWIN R. JAMES.

WILLIAM H. LYON.

WILLIAM D. WALKER.

JOSEPH T. JACOBS.
HENRY B. WHIPPLE.

WILLIAM M. BEARDSHEAR.

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