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Show 38 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. the eroction of a modest, cheap school building, on the Navajo Reser-vation; received no bids, and was obliged to abandon the enterprise; so that to-day, for 3,000 Navajo. children of school age there are ac-commodatiol~ so n the reservation for only about 100. I have urged raising the limit of the cost of a building to $20,000, but so -far my recommendations have not been adopted. The present law fixes it it $15,000, which is still too sma,ll for the accomplishment of the purpose. A very good illustration is furnished in the history of the scl~ool at Pierre, 5. Dak., which was inaugurated by Congress prior to the beginning of my administration, but which has been completed only recently, and isnow in successful operation. It has accommodations for about 176 pupils, and the plant has thus far cost $70,000. Some addi-tional improvements are still required in order to make it adequate for the accotomodatiou of that number of pupils. It will be seen from this that when the office is restricted to $15,000 for the erection of a school ljuilding on a remote reservation it is sometimes tanta-mount to a prohibition of the work. The limit of $600 placed upon the cost of a day-school building also amounts, in many cases, to prohibition. Where I know that a suitable building can not be erected for that sum I make no at.tcmpt to build one. When discussing the question of the cost of Indian school buildings, it has frequently been suggested to me that inasmuch as these school buildings axe only temporary they should be plain and cheap. Ny reply is that at best the buildings erected are plain to barrenr~ess and cheap in some instances to worthlessness. Any school building any-nhere should be so built as to resist the elements and to be at least fairly safe. Cheap workmanship means poor workmanship, and acheap buildmg means, of necessity, almost, a poor building. Onelarge build-ing which I have in mind I found, on my visit to the reservation, un-safe, and it is now rendered habitable only by dint of iron supports. Another that I recall is liable at any time to collapse. Many of these buildings are exposed to very severe winds, and are apt, unless strongly built, to be destroyed by tornadoes and entail great loss of life., Even at Carlisle, Pa., I was greatly distressed myself personally by the furious wind that tested the strength of the school building during the closing exercises. Had it notbeen well constructed there would have been fearful destruction of life. Special pains need to be taken in construction to avoid danger from fire. During the past twelve monthsfour school buildings (Fort Peck, Mont., Elamath, Oregon, Winnebago, Nebr., a.nd Fort Puma, Gal.) have been destroyed by fire, and several others are so poorly constructed and so greatly exposed that I have been in constant dread lest they might beburned, together with their inmates. One school building that I have inmind now is heated by sixty stoves, which are sixty opportunities for fire, and it has a very inadequate water supply. Then, again, many schools in the extreme north, in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, are in regions where the temperature |