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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIB. 29 The O5ce is not so inexperienced as to suppose that traders open stores among Indians from philanthropic motives. Nevertheless a trader has a great Influence among the Indians with whom he has constant dealings and who are often dependent upon him, and there are not a few instances in which the trader has exerted this influence for the welfare of his customers as well as for his own profit. A well-kept store, tidy in appearance, wbere the goods, especially eatables. are handled in a cleanly way, with due regard to ordinary hygiene, and where exact business methods prevail is a civilizing influence among Indians, while disorder, slovenliness, slipshod wws, and dirt are demorali~ing. You will please examine into the way in which the traders under your snper-vision conduct their stores, how their goods, particularly edible gcmds, are handled, stored, and given out, and see to it that in these respects, as well as in respect of weights, prices, and account keeping, the business is properly con-ducted. If any trader, after due notice, fails to come up to these requirements yon will report him to this O5ce. In connection with this investigation, please give particular attention to the proprietal-g medicines and other compounds which the traders keep in stock, with special reference to the liability of their misuse by Indians on account of the alcohol which they contain. The sale of Peruna, which is on the list8 of several traders, is bereby absolutely prohlbited. As a medicine, something else can be substituted ; as an intoxicant, it has been found too tempting and effective. Anything of the sort under another name which is found to lead to intoxication yon will please report to this O5ce. When a compound of that sort gets a bad name it is liable to be put on the market with same slight change of form and a new name. Jamaica ginger and flavorhg extracts of vanilla, lemon, and so forth, should be kept in only small quantities and in mall bottles and should not be sold to Indians, or at least only sparingly to those who it is known will use them only for legitimate purposes. TRAFFIC IN BELICS FROM INDIAN RUINS. Traders in the Southwest have been directed not to deal in relics obtained from Indian ruins. In October, 1903, in answer to an inquiry, the Navaho superintendent was warned that Indian relics found or dug up on an Indian reservation are not private property to be disposed of at will. On the 6th of last February the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology wrote: It is well known that for some years past Indian traders have greatly encouraged the despoliation of ruins by purchasing from the Indians the relics secured by them fmm the ruined villages, cliff houses, and cemeteries. Pmb-ably no other form of vandalism has accomplished such waste of valuable arche ologieal material, since pottery and other articles dug np by the Indians with-out system are practically devoid of authentic reeord and of little or no value to science. Whereupon the Mae issued the following instructions to the superintendents in charge of the Navaho, Southern Ute and Zuiii Indians, and also to the superintendent of the Fort Lewis school: The reservations have prehistoric ruins of greatest arehswlogical value which have already been sadly plundered and if not quickly and carefully guarded wlll be despoiled |
