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Show 14 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. I I a special officer was commissioned and sent to Oklahoma, that he and his subordinates might, through detective operations, supplement tbe I efforts of superintendents in charge of reservations. In the fiscal pear 1909, when the appropriation had grown to $40,000, this service began to operate throughout all States where Indians needed protec-tion. In 1911 the service had grown until it had an appropriation of $70,000 and an organization including 1 chief special officer, 1 assistant chief, 2 constables, 12 special officers, and 143 local depu-ties stationed in 21 States. The increasing success of the service appears in the fact that in 1909 561 cases which the service secured came to issue in court, resulting in 548 convictions, whereas in 1911 1,202 cases came to issue, 1,168 defendants were convicted, and but 34 defendants were acquitted by juries. In 1911 fines imposed amounted to $80,463, or more than the appropriation for the service. The activities which I have outlined as incident to the attack at every point upon the "Indian problem" would have been impos-sible without changes in business methods withii the Indian Office itself. In 1907 and 1908 the office was completely reorganized, the most modern methods of filing were installed, new systems of book-keeping were instituted, and in every part of the routine economies I were enforced. As a result the heavy and intricate correspondence of the office, in spite of its increase by threefold within 10 years, is handled with a directness and a dispatch which were unknown be-fore. Simplication of o5ce methods has enabled clerks to devote less time to mere routine and a great deal more time to the significance of the subjects with which they deal. Accordingly the employees of the office are not only more efficient, but as a body they show genuine interest in the part they have in considering problems of admiiis-tration. From reorganization the intangible but none the less per-ceptible gains quite equal the statistical increase in the amount of work each clerk performs. PRESENT DEFECTS. The burden of any statement of Indian affairs during the last 10 years is individualization. As yet, however, individualization has progressed rapidly only in tenure of lands. As tribes Indians have in the Treasury of the United States $41,800,000, interest on which in the sum of $1,900,000 accrued in 1911. Part of this interest was distributed in per capita payments to members of the tribesa sys-tem of petty doles which is the most considerable surviving portion of the policies of 30 and 40 years ago, and those policies helplessly and frankly contemplated dependence and pauperism. In 1911 per capita payments amounted to a total of $3,700,000; of this sum $333,000 was distributed in shares which were less than $12. |