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Show 8a BEPORT OF COMMISSIONEB OP INDIAN AFFAIRS. handling of money belonging to t h e i ~ch ildren and wards were p l a d on a "roll of honor," and the children's shares of the proceeds of the sale of the Gregory County lands, instead of being returned to the Treasury to be held until the minom should reach maturity, was turned over to these parents and guardians. The experiment seemed to have so beneficial an effect on the Rose-bud Sioux, in teaching them that good conduct was financially profitable, that the same policy with regard to the funds of minors has been extended to other reservations. In the cases of minors whose parents or guardians are not compe-tent and trustworthy, another plan has been adopted. When it is shown that a child's money is really needed for his support, it is withdrawn from the Treasury and placed in bank to his credit, sub-ject to the check of his parent or guardian when approved by the agent or superintendent in charge, never exceeding $10 a month ex-cept by special authority from this office. In some instances, too, the agent or superintendent is instructed to place the money in bank to the credit of the minors or the persons responsible for their support, who are permitted to run accoulrts and to draw checks, to be counter-signed by the agent; but all expenditures must be made on the agent's itemized order. The funds of the minors of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa band in North Dakota are now disposed of in this manner. Of course, agents and superintendents are directed to exercise the utmost care in the selection of pkrsons to whom the custody of minors' money may he directly or indirectly committed, and to impress up011 these persons that they are the trustees and not the owners of the money, which must be expended solely for the benefit of the children. The funds are used for clothing, food, building or repairing houses, and in some cases &re invested, in the names of the minors, in lands or cattle. Thus the children's interests are believed to be properly safe-guarded, and they receive a present benefit which in most cases will prove of more value to them than the money itself would if paid them in gross on their reaching maturity. BUPPRESBION OF LIQUOR TRAFFIC. The work of suppressing the liquor traffic among Indians, to which considerable attention was devoted in my annual report for 1907, has continued with unabated vigor and a large degree of success. The special service which has been organized for this purpose originated in the Indian appropriation act for the fiscal year 1907 (34 Stat. L., 328), whicb placed at my disposal $25,000, to be em-ployed, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in sup-pressing the iiquor tra5c among Indians, $15,000 being reserved ex-clusively for use in the Indian Territory and Oklahoma. The In-dian appropriation act for the next year (34 Stat. L., 1017), pro- |
