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Show -- ~~-~~--p - ~~ ~ - ~ - REPORT OF THE CO~ISSIONEH OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 137 so that the office is now six clarks short of the force which I had hoped it would have for the ensuing year. I earnestly ask your attention to this matter, as it is'one which !n-volves the efficiency of the service in the Indiau Office, and I feel very sure, if the facts as I have here stated them, corroborated and en-forced by many other facts which I could adduce, were fully understood by Congress, they would not withhold from the office the clerical force absolutely necessary for the proper performance of the duties devolv. ing upon it. CRITICISMS ON THE INDIAN BUREAU. It is only fair to the office to ask your attention to the fact that not-withstanding the vast number of cases, many of them matters of the gravest importance, which have been acted upon by this office during the last three years, it has been a rare circumstance indeed when any valid objection or just criticism has been passed upon its action. Most ~f the business which has been transacted here has unchallenged. Some of the ablest clerks in the office, experts in their various posi-tions, have been t-here from twelve to twenty years, and if called upon would testify that there has been no violent breaking with the past, hut a careful regard for law and regulation and a faithful observance of precedent, except where deviation has been necessitated by new conditions. But meanwhile the oEEce 11as been aggressive. The amount of business transacted has been largely increased, great progress has . been made in many vital directions, and it is safe to say that its efficient activity was never greater than to-day. That imperfections and abuses should grow up in a great Bureau like this, having to do its work throngh 3,000 employes so widely scattered, is not to bc wondered at. It is worthy of remark, however, that the I criticisms most frequently point to abuses that occ~~rremda ny years ago, to evils that are incident to the very anomalous coriclition of things, I or to circnmsta~~coesv er which t,he Officeh as no controL The most earnest efforts have been put fort11 to elevate the personnel of the service, to renovate md improve the school system, and to in-stitute reforms of every practicable character. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has absolutely nothtng to do with the appointment of Indian agents, but has not hesitated to ask for the removal of those who have shown tl~embelves unworthy or incompetent for their work. One of the greatest reforms ever introduced into the Indian service was in extending the rules of the civil service over a large portion of it, on his recommendation. Any Commissiouer who tries to administer this office honestly and fearlessly in the interest of the Indiansj who attempts to maintain a fair state of discipline among 3,000 employ6sj to insist that agents shall discharge their duties faithfully; that evii-doers shall be pun-isl~ eda nd the weak and innocent shall be protectedj that incompe- |