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Show 10 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN APFAIRS. who have sold him liquor, and the sympathies of the average jury are easily worked upon in behalf of the right of the dram seller, if properly licensed, to sell to whomever he pleases. The sheep industry in the Southwest affords a great deal of em-ployment for Indians off the reservations. It is a kind of work which suits their taste and at which they excel. They are in demand every spring from all the sheep owners, and during ,the lambing season are usually paid from $12 to' $25 a month with board. Many are employed permanently thru the yean as shephe+ds and not a few have flocks of their own, with which, they do very well. Mining, . which is one of the prominent industries of this region,' does not ap-peal strongly to Indians as a rule, and no special pains ate taken to encourage them to go into it, because they have a special rove of out-of- door life and thrive best it callings which keep them in t h i open air. Here is where mining proves unattractive, and for a people as subject as they are to diseases of the lungs it is of doubtful whole-someness. They do find a good deal of employment around the mines, however, in surface work which brings them good'wages. AN ESSAY nu THE NORTH. The hold gained by our employment bureau in the Southwest makes the extension of similar work to other parts of the country almost a matter of course. In its first uncertain stages the experiment seemed hardly to warrant a larger treatment from the Office than it was re-ceiving; but meanwhile other ground was in process of exploration on a modest scale. Of his own accord about three years ago John R. Brennan, United States Indian agent at Pime =dge, S. Dak., made a thoro-going at-tempt to get the zoung, ablebodied, and unattached men among his 6,700 Oglala Sioux at work, singly or in gangs, off the reservation. The Government had already provided work on the reservation at building roads, irrigation ditches, etc., but this the 'agent wisely reserved for ablebodied Indians who had families and were making some slight attempts at permanent home-building on their own soil. In many places on the reservation to-day one sees three cabins close together, marking the stages of these attempts-the small, square, windowless shack, the slightly elongated, cleaner building with one .window, and the pretty good house with corn and potatoes, and occasionally some oats, growing near. To the young men found in such cabins, neither helping nor required €0 help in their' further advance toward civilization, the agent tried to convey a practical measure of salvation by bringing them t o the attention of outside employers needing labor in a rapidly developing country. He caused |