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Show BEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF IXDIAN AFFAIRS. 7 unusual prosperity during the last eighteen months. There has been a great deal of rain, their crops have done well, their live stock has prospered, and prices have been good; on these accounts many In-dians found it better worth their while--or thought they did-to stay at home than go employment-hunting at a distance. So strong is the Indian2 home-keeping instinct that they will accept work for lower wages and under unfavorable conditions in a neighborhood to which they are accustomed rather than go into an unfamiliar region and do better according to our standards. It is also necessary to educate them in the need of staying with their task till it is hished. A mouth is about as long as under ordinary conditions they feel satis-fied in absenting themselves from home. On works where the trans. portatiou of the laborers is an important item, as on the Government dam at Yuma, Ariz., and on some of the railroad work for the Santa Fe Syste,m, they are employed with the understanding that they . must stay at least thirty days in order to obtain free transportation to their homes, unless there are some circumstances justifying a modi-fication of the rule., By degrees, of course, they will come to realize that their course in such matters must not be governed-by whims, : and some are already learning this. Another point on which they need educhtiotion is the importance of regular and often prolonged hours of labor. At home they are accustomed to work when they feel like it and rest whenever they f-1 like it, usually devoting only the most favorable part of the day to their tasks; and as their work away from home requiresthat they shall begin and end each day's labor at the sound of a whistle, and adapt themselves to the hours which .are most convenient for their employers rather than themselves, they have been willing only to follow this unaccustomed practise for a certain period and then take a vacation. It must be said for them, however, that for such time as they do stay under contract without cessation they are the steadikt and most conscientious' workers known in their part of the country. Their employers universally give them credit for this, and put up with many of their oddities because of the excellent spirit they show in carrying out their agreements. Altho every encouragement is given to those Fdians who are willing to go out on their own responsibility and find work as indi-viduals on farms or elsewhere, the largest measure of effort put forth by the Government has been in the erhployment of groups of Indians in gangs, separate from laborers of other races. p e n Indians are sent out thus to build a railroad embankment or dig a 'canal, it is important for the interests of both employers and em- . ployed that a trustworthy overseer should be placed in charge of e ~ h |
