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Show Agency has never had one. It is hoped soon to replace one and fulfill the long-delayed promise of the other, and to give to the Sionx of Rose-bud and Pine Ridge industrial schools of such proportions as will be a credit to these large re8ervations. The Southern Utes in Colorado have not yet been supplied with a boarding school of their own. Before attempting that, however, I shall endeavor to induce them to patronize the school at Fort Lewis, which is not far distant. The agent and superintendent have been instructed that, so far as the enrollment of the pupils is wncerned, they will con-sider the Fort Lewis school as a Ute Reservation school. By giving the Utes this privilege I hope to make them feel a proprietary interest in the school and to overcome their prejudices against sending their chil-dren away from home. As I said last year, one of the greatest needs in the Indian school service is better water facilities and sewerage. Several schools have been located with apparently but little regard to the water supply, and to meet that want entails heavy expense. A good deal has been done in this direction, but still more requires to be done. Comparatively few schools report good hygienic conditions so far as the disposal of sewage is concerned, and many deplore their laok of water in case of &re. Good water and plenty of it is a desideratum at every school. In fact, ample bathing facilities, ventilation, sewerage, etc., together with steam heat in the Northern climates, should be wnsidered absolute necessities. Yet for lack of funds there are many schools where such so-called "improvemeuts" are sadly lacking. The matter of lighting schools also needs attention. To light large institutions by kerosene lamps and then give them a scant water supply is to invite fires more costly than would be the ~'improvements" denied. SCHOOL APPROPRIATIONS. The appropriations for school purposes for the fiscal year ending June 30,1896, amount to $2,056,515, a decrease of 2 per cent from last year. The greatest economy is practiced in every branch of the Indian school service, from the smallest salaried position to the building of a large school plant. My school estimates for the next fiscal year are based upon careful wusideratiou of the needs of this branch of the service, and I do not think they can be deereased without materially affeeting its efficienuy. |