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Show 14: REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONEB OF INDIAN AFFAIES. WINES BOR SACRAXlBNTAL FWRPOSES. In order to overcome a hardship s$ecting the various chirches on: the reservations, Congress (37 Stat. L., 519) has provided that wines used solely for sacramental purposes under church authority could be introduced at any place within the Indian country, or any Indian reservation, including the Pueblo reservations in New Mexico.. DENVER CONFERZINCE. On December 30 and 31, 1912, and January 1, 1913, a conference ' of all the special officers and a representative of the office was held at Denver for the purpose of arriving at a better understanding as to the needs of the service and the manner of operating and conducting the work. The conference was a profitable one, resulting in a better understanding of the work and a closer cooperation of the offi~erso f 'this special service and other field employees of this bureau. PEYOTE. Very careful consideration is being,given to the question of the use of peyote. Much information has been submitted both by Indians who were members of so-called mescal organizations and who have pressed their petitions for permission to use it, and by: . missionaries, physicians in the Government service, and others inter-' eated in both sides of the question. The bureau has taken a firm stand against the introduction and use of peyote in the Indisn country, and directed its liquor officers to obtain evidence of the use of this drug with a view to prosecution, on the ground that the data in the liles of the bureiu:fuUy warrant the classXcition of peyote .. as an intoxicant. A full discussion of peyote was incorporated in the annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1911. FORESTRY. , The systematic attempt to ascertain the amount and value of the timber on Indian lands, begun in 1910, has been continued. Wbn, consideration isgiven to the extent of the areas embraced, to the unde-veloped condition of these areas, and to the very large part of these landsstill unsurveyed, the magnitude of the undertaking will be readily appreciated. The timber growth varies from the scrubby mesquite-agd pinon on the arid'platea~sof Arizona and New Mexico to the giant redwood of the Hoopa Valley region in California, and from the scattered red cedar and cottonwood of the subhnmid plains and their water courses to the dense virgin stands of spruce, fir, and cedar in the Puget Sound region.. The best information available places the total amount of timber on both tribal lands and allotments at approximately 40,000,000,000 feet, with a value of about $84,000,000 |