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Show REPORTS OF AGENTS IN COLORADO. many instsnoes, practiced the grosseat frauds in the pnyment of their wages. In some instances goods of one kind ar other were given them in lieu of money, at such prices as to mske the price of a day's labor to the employer not excned ten cents. In-stances were related me in which they received their wsgesin intoxicating liquor, whioh of course, resalted in a drunken debauch, from which they recovered only when the aupply was exhausted, to find themselves without the necessaries of life for their des-titute families. Everywhere liquor was being sold to them in defiance of law. And, althongh fre-quent arrests were madeaf the guilty parties, under State authority, few, if my, were aver convicted of their crimes because of the advert* popular sentiment which obtains in this locality in regard to this form of t,he liquor trafic. Not a few have gained a competency by the traffic with these Indians, while the sentiment prevails to great extent, that LLt h e ~ enoi sm ore harm in selling liquor toao Indian than to awhite man." My first work in assunling the duties of this sgencyayear ago was to secure just and honorable dealing towards these Indians on the part of employers, and to broak up thedemoralizing trsffio in liquor among them. By close and diligent inquiry aa to the Wag08 they reoeived, and the methodof peymeot,I discovered the dislionest tricksters, and by enforcing just and honest payment, when it was refused, ss well as by publish. ing the rascalities practiced by certain parties who employed them. in oouaiderable numbers, I have succeeded in a great measure in securing just and fair dealing, so mnchso that fen complaints of this character come to me now. By a no less closeand vigilant effort in ferreting oot liquor-selling, and by a vigorous proseontion before the United Ststea authorities of all parties engaged in the traffic, a reformation has been aronght in this partioolar thst is very marked. I t has nov come to be regarded as a dangerous business to sell or furnish liquor to Indians. Many abuses and wrongs of this kind must necessarily go undetected, and the high-est efficiency in the serrioe at thie egoncy will not be attained until these Indians are more directly under the eye and control of the agent. Scattered over such a lwge extent of country as they now are, many of them remote from the agency, they are a common prey to the rapacity of designing white men. The agent cannot know every-thing tbat is transpiring within the limita of his jurisdiction. Withal, in looking over the year that ia past, and oonsidering the disadvautagesaf thesituation at this agenoyp I oongratulate myself upon the sneeess whioh has attended my efforts in the only direo-tion in whioh I could find anything to do. I t is doe, in this connection, to speak of the most excellent snbehief,Captain John, who ia my interpreter and efficient fellow-helper st the ngenoy; without him'I doubt whether the same results would have been attained. His value to the service cannot be estimated by dollars and ceota; while a nobler speoimen of the possibilities of oiv-. i.l iaation upon those of his race, nnder proper influences, is nowhere to be found. He 1s indebted for what he i8 to the wholesome influences of a just and honorable gcntle-man in this vicinity in whose employ he labored for same years. The sanitwy oondition of the tribes is not wbat it should be. Venereal as well aa other farms of disease are oomnlon among them,and in the absenceof a, physician they have always been left to snoh remedies as are follnd only in their own system of doc-toring. The cOn8equenCe is many die who might otherwise have been restored to health. I have been notified, however, that aphysioiau will be allowedat ttbisageney, god havesent thenameof one, whose appointment I trust will soon follow. Tomakehis servioesavaileble in the more distant settlements, it will be necessary for the physician ' to accompany the agent in his visits to them. There are alwars sick and suffering onwa ta be fonnd to whom t,he ooming of a. physician would prove avery godsend, sndwith whom medicines oan he left. with directions for their use. Under the peoulisr eiroumstauces of their situation, i t is difficult to ~ t d ceor rectly the present population of t,he tribes, sinoe no actual oouut is possible. With certsin data, at nly command, I estiulate their number at 3,0UO,whioh is 1,400 less than the eatimats last reported. Very respeotfully, your obedient aervant, S. 8. LAWEON, h i r e d States Indian Ayevt. The CorMlssron~xO F 1nuI.m Avl.nms. LO8 PIxoS INDIAN AGENCYC, OLORADO, At'ouat 18,1879. SIR:I n com~lianoew ith iustruotioos. I have the honor to submit the followins a* I ~~ -- my firah anuuai report of affairs p e r t a i n ;~t~o this agency. I arrived here on the evening of the 5th of July ultimo and on the 0th entered opon the duties of Indien agent, relieving my predecessor, Leverett M. Kelley. Owing to the fact, perhaps, tbat my predecessor expected to he relieved at an early day, togethef with the employds ondar him, I found the affairs of the agenoy in aslip- I |