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Show COhtMI8SIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 9 Hospitals have recently been completed or are now in course of con-struction at Carson, Pima, Mescalero, Navajo, Cheyenne and Arap-' aha, Turtle Mountain, Blackfeet, Choctaw-Chickasaw, Crow Creek, , Hoopa Valley, Jicarilla, Spokane, Cherokee, San Juan, Tohatchi, - and additions at Gerioa and Crow. constantly increasing correspondence concerning health matters shaws the very great interest which has been aroused. Educational and publicity measures to keep up and increase interest in sanitation have been t4ken. Press dispatches from the Public Health Service and the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuber-culosis are made use of in the Indian school journals. Individual letters are written to tubercular cases urging them to take advantage of the means offered for their relief, and all employees of the service are urged to lose no opportunity to exploit the value of preventive a measures. Medical journals have been supplied to physicians, and special medical pamphlets have been widely distributed. At all of the institutes held during the summer health matters were especially emphasized. Practically all of the reservation and school superintendents attended these meetings apd there carefully prepared reports on vital statistics developing the startling fact that on nearly all of the reservations there had been more births than deaths during the last year. These institute reports are not available for this publication, but they have come to me in such way as to be dependable. EDUCATION. The preparation and introduction of a new and uniform course of study for all Indian schools marks a forward step in the educational system of the Indian Service. For many years the general country has recognized a vital deficiency in its system of education. There has been a chasm, often impassable, between the completion of a course in school and the selection of a vocation in life. The Indian Service has recognized a similar deficiency, although partially over-come in its system. The new vocational course of study for Jndian schools is believed to provide a safe and substantial passage from school life to success in real life. Great care has been exercised in the preparation of this course. In the fall of 1915 a committee of eight of the experienced and strong men of the service, representing the various classes of schools and reservations, were called to Washing-ton for the purpose of preparing a course of study which could and should be adapted to the demands of all Indian schools through-out the United States. For a year or more much thought and time had been put upon gathering material to ba utilized in connection with the development of the new course. Co u l r ;~of study were ob- |
