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Show IdV REV'ORT OF THE COMMISBIONEE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. During the season of 1883-'84 the operations mere on a more ex-tended scale, eightyeight contrwts, just double the number in the previous season, having been entered into and approved, independently of some cases, where, notwithstanding the vigilance of the agent, logs had been prepared for market by the Indians without the fornlalit~ of a contract. The returns show that dunng that season over 48,000,000 of feet of timber were cut and banked, ready for delivery by the In. dians, representing a money value of over $350,000. The result of these operations showing the net amount cleared by t11e 111diau owners of the logs may be sum~narizeda s follow8: Lac Court d'oreillea Reserve: Cash balances paid to Indians sfter deducting suppliea fi~roishedb y can-traotars.. ........................................................... $32,460 40 Oxeu on hand-value.. ................................................ 2,585 00 Horses on hand-value ................................................. 2,950 00 Camp outfits-value ................................................... 4,640 00 Leaving (as the net result of the controots tnarle by 46 Indians).. .... 42,641 40 -- Red Cliff Reserve: Cash balances paid to Indians after deducting aupplies ................. 1,190 13 Horses, wagons. &o., on hand .......................................... 918 00 One house and lot.. .................................................... 1,000 00 One bollre and lot-value not given .............................................. (Leaving (as the net resl~lto f the contracts made by 5 Iudiana). ...... 3,108 13 ---- Bad River Reserve: Cash balances paid to Iudisnsafter deducting supplies (idis being thenet result of contracts made by 25 Indians) ............................... 18,448 52 This, it will be observed, is independent of supplies with which t,he i Indians were furnished and charged by the contractors during the pro-gress of the work. The figures above give11 represent only the net gain , of the Indians wl~o made the contracts, while, as a matter of fact, all i the available male adult population of the reserves were engagedin the ~ work anti derived their principal means of. support therefrom. In his ' report accompanying these statistics, t,he agent remarks that the log- i ging operations 11ave generally been satisfactory to him, and 11e be-lieves profitable to the Indians, both pecuniarily :md as a matter of education, and although ha considers that to sell the stumpage directly to buyers with autl~orityto put in the pine with white crews would realize more money for the individual Indian owners, he still deems the present method, with 8ome modifications, the best. By selling the stumpage, the Indian owners would get their money without labor; the remaiuder of the 111dians would be left idle; in H, short t,ime the timber would be cut off and the Indians 11ot having acquired the habit of labor, and naturally improvide116, with money easily acquired, would be poorer and more dependent than ever. Omiug to the want of knowledge of logging operations,caring for aud handling teams, &c., |