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Show An unsuccessful attempt was made during the year to secure the services of an expert bibliographer to classify and index the old records of the office-those dating from 1800 to 1860. In these old files much valuable historical and ethnological-data is buried. The Library of Congress has agreed to take over and properly pre-serve such manuscripts as this office may select from its files as being without any value except from the historical standpoint, but without the services of a bibliographer it is impossible for this matter to be segregated. Renewed efforts will be made during the coming winter to accomplish this work. The effort at modern and businaslike methods in dealing with an intricate sociological problem has not been confined to organization. The inertia said to be characteristic of governmental offices had re-tained in use a system of records appropriate to the days of hand-copied letters. The Indian Office did not possess a service record of its employees other than could be laboriously dug from obsolete files. At an expense of voluntary overtime service rarely equaled in the history of any office, goverpmental or commercial, this anti-quated system has been supplanted with an accurate and smoothly working card system, with a reduced force of clerks, while at the same time a work increasing at the rate of 21 per cent a year has been kept substantially current. The accompanying chart shows the organization of the office. It will be noted that this report conforms to the chart. This will enable future reports to be made in a more systematic manner, assist greatly in preserving a right perspective of the work in the . minds of all in the service, and strengthen the work vastly through each section chief of the office and ~ a c hsu perintendent in the field seeing how one part of the work is related to every other part and that all may be successfully worked out ohly by applying the single fundamental idea of education. LEGISLATION OF THE YEAR. ~.-. - . . . - , The last Indian appropriation act has placed on a permanent basis the forestry work of the office by appropriating $100,000 for general use in forestry work throughout the Indian country. Heretofore only such work could be done as could be paid for out of tribal funds avail-able for the purpose. Authority was also given in the same act for leasing for mining pur-poses the lands of allottees, except members of the Five Tribes and of the Osage Indians in Oklahoma, on such terms as the Secretary of the Interior should deem advisable. There was also a provision enacted authorizing the cancellation of any allotment, except those of Indians in what was forn~erlyt he Indian Territory, which should be found unsuitable for allotment purposes, and for reallotting the I |