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Show directed from this Office. A little less than half the number are directly connected with the educational branch. The remainder deal more particularly with the adult Indians, their homes, their tribal re-lations, their lands, and their rights under the law. Substantially the entire corps is in the clasified service, and appointments to it are made by selection from eligible lists prepared by the Civil Service Commission. Of the inelasticity of the system as applied to the Indian field, I spoke in my last report; but now, as then, the Com-mission holds itself always ready to study sympathetically the diffi-culties of the Office in this respect, and endeavors so to adjust its rules as to procure qualified caididates. About half the persons selected and notified decline appointment, usually on account of the inad-equacy of the salaries the Office is able to pay under present appro-priations, when viewed in the light of the everywhere increased cost of living and the scale of pay in private business for similar kinds of work. This is unfortunate, because it means a tendency toward a lower standard for entrance into the Indian Service and our inability to retain long the best material we get. The danger is particularly noticeable in the mechanical departments of the schools and agencies, where the low Government salaries attract, as a rule, a cheaper, and therefore in the end more expensive, class of workmen. The mechan-ical engineering branch is particularly a sufferer, as the Office has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in heating, lighting, pump-ing, and irrigation plants. The remedy must be either a great reduc-tion of the school and agency systems, or an increase of appropria-tions which will insure to the Government. competent employees by offering them salaries equal to those paid by private concerns. APPROPRIATIONS. The combined appropriations for the Indian Service contained in the appropriation act for the current fiscal year make a total of $10,123,188.05. The aggregate of the appropriations for the fiscal year 1907 was $9,428,983.35. The objects of the appropriations for these two years are shown in the following table: Approp+iations in the Indian appropriation acts for the fiscalears 1907 and 1908. Current and oontingent expensea ..................... ?. .............. ~ulfillingtr eaty stipulations ............................................ Mlseellanwus supports (gratmhm). ............................. Incidental expenaes ................................................... Bnpport ef schools ..................................................... Mi80eIlaneous. ......................................................... W89,800. W 2,450 930.43 575:000. w 70,OW. W 3,924,630. W 1,413,6b1.55 8917 8M). W 2,412'278.16 565:fA0. w 74, W0.W 4,039,996. W 2,118.614.89 |
