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Show 12 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIFS. In addition to the educational work it is planned that field offi-cials shall frequently visit the homes of the Indians under their jurisdiction and give them such practical~instructiona nd assistance as is possible. I. BLACKFEET RESERVATION. ' One of the outstandinv accomplishments of the year was on the Blaokfeet Reservation, aont. The Indians of this reservation had reached a very low industrial and economic status, which made it necessary during the winter of 1920-21 to issue free rations to over 2,000, or about two-thirds of the entire population. A systematic program was inaugurated, having in view the industrial rehabilita-tlon of the Indians. Every Indian family in the Heart Butte dis-trict, where most of the full bloods reside, had a garden last spring, and 90 per cent of the Indians residing on their allotments over the reservation generally engaged in small farming activities. Last winter free rations were issued to only 1,250 Indians. Seed and machinery were provided; a sawmill and flour mill were erected; and the entire reservation organized into an industrial association, with community chapters in each distriot. The Fourth of July celebration, which formerly lasted 10 days, to the detriment of the Indians' farm and industrial interests, was voluntarily ahancloned by the Indians themselves this year, in place of which they had a one-day celebration on the Fourth of July simi-lar to the whites. I t is the intention to provide each Indian with sufficient wire to fence his allotment, and furnish poultry, milch cows, sheep, and pigs as rapidly as the Indians shorn willingness and ability to care for them. I INDIAN EMPLOYMENT. The self-support of many Indians working at home is a vital economic factor. The supply stores and tourists with useful and esthetic specimens of azoriginal art, such as pottery, rugs, and silver-ware, beadwork, basketry, etc.; they fish, hunt, and gather medicinal plants, fruits, and nuts which sell readily. The pifion nut, wild rice, and the maple sugar crops realized hundreds of thousands of dol- Jars last year. Indians work in shops, families, schools, and hos-pitals, ,and as laborers on farms, public highways, in mines, irriga-tion dltches, ,and are in the air, land, and naval forces of their country. Railroads employ them for scenic advertising and as laborers. Film corporations engage them for picturization. Indian students earn thousands of dollars during vacation in beet fields, orchards, and other outing employment. Indians of broader contact with life are acquiring vital relation-ship with the business interests of communities and are found in about every line of self-supporting activity followed by people of other races. LEASlNii OF TRIBAL LANDS. On many of the reservations where there is surplus land not utilized by the Indians it is rented to outside parties for farming or grazing, but chiefly for the latter purpose. A large revenue is thus derived to the credit of the tribe and used under congres- |