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Show 30 REPORTR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Until protective legislation shall be secured this Office and its agents must do whatever may be practicable to save these remains of a vanished race from being destroyed or from being so scattered as to be of little eclentific or educa-tive value. Much Of the sale of such articles is made through licensed Indian traders, to whom the Indians bring their "finds." It seems necessary, therefore, to cur-tall such trfic upon the reservations, and you wlll please Inform ail the traders nuder your jurisdiction that thirty days after your notice to them traffic in such artlclea wlll be considered contraband. You will of course notify the Indians also, as far as practicable. This thirty days' notice is given in order that a trader may have a fair opportunity to make sales of stock which he has pur-chased and which he has on hand; hut all purchases of such articles from Indians must cease upon receipt of your order. A failure to comply with these lnstructlona will he considered suJ3cient ground for revocation of license. Theae restrictions do not apply to artlclea of present-day manufacture by the Indians. All manufacturing industries among them, such as blanket weaving. leather and silver work, pottery, and so forth, are to be fostered if they tend toward self-support, and the Indians should be helped to obtain as good a market as possible for their wares. But tra5c in prehistoric relics, which have llttle intrinsic though great scientific value, will enrich the Indian but slightly and will ause serious loss to the scbolarsbip of this country. It is doubtful, however, if much of the spoliation of mins can justly be laid to the charge of Indians. They will pick up bits of pottery or other relics which have been washed out of ruins and which they find in arroyos and offer these for sale; but their respect for tradition and antiquity, or their superstition, or both, deters them from disturbing places of sepulture or prehistoric abodes. It is the predatory instinct of our own race which must be guarded against by legislation and by constant watchfulness if these wonderfully interesting monuments of the past/ are to be preserved for study in the future. INHEBITED-LAND SALES AND TBEIR PROCEEDS. By reference to a table on page 61 of this report, under the title "Inherited lands," and also to one on page 66 of the report of this O5ce for 1904, it will be seen that there has been received from the sale of inherited lands during a period of but a little more than two years the large sum of $3,450,596.02. Of this the heir^ of deceased Indians at the Yankton Agency, S. Dak., are beneficiaries to the extent of $620,603.80, or nearly one-fifth; $1,438,607.48 represents the sales at the tsn agencies in Oklahoma, and $533,682.53 the sales at the three agencies in Nebraska. The distribution of such large sums of money to a people for the most part inexperienced in the use of money could not, of course. fail to be accompanied by serious evils, and it has bean my aim to devise means to reduce these to a mkhum. Up to September 19, 1904, when the rules governing the sales of inherited lands were amended, it was the practice to turn over to the beneficiaries the whole amount derived from such |