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Show 26 OOMXISSIONEB OF INDIAN -AFFAlBG. For several years past contests haie been held in which all students of the Indian schools have engaged. Prizes have been~awarded and much interest and benefit found. This year the contests were indus-trial, the students submitting articles of their own handiwork. The following interview with the commissioner appeared in the 'Sioux City (1owa) Tribune, where he stopped en route returning to Washington from attendance at the institute meetings held during the suikmer : . . I have just finished a tour of nearly 10,000 miles, during which I have at-tended Indian Service employee institntes held at Lawrence, Kans., Santa Re, N. Mex.. Riverside, Cal., Salem, Oreg.. Tomah, Wis., and Rapid City. S. nak., where I met and conferred with a large part of the 6,000 employees of the Indian Service, including all t h e stiperlntendents of the. reservations and schools, except a ha!f dozen who were neressarlly absent. Each of these institntes was in sessiun two weeks, and I was at each of them two or three days. They were calle&;ior the purpose of discussing administrative problems and 'to work out the introdi~ctlon of a new systenl of vocational education, which is conceded to be the best vocational course in,the United States. While strengthening the Hcadenlic side, vorational education is stressed, the prominent features being a~lculture, stock raising, domestic scienre. aria domestic arts. We nre undertaking to make the Indians successful farmers, stock raisers, and home bnllders, and our accomplishments in thls respert are sr. CrRtifSing as to bc sirnost unhelievnble. If the Indians of the United States progress for the next 10 years as they have durtng the lmt 3, they will practically become self-supporting, wlth a eorrespondlng redue tlon in congressional appropriatlons. It Is our purpose to make them producers rather than altogether consumers, as in the years gone by. The Indians have advancei more rapidly during the last 50 years than has any other race of people u71thin a simflnr perlod in the history of the norid, but 'tf;ere is yet much to be done. It is unreasdnahle to expect the Indian to accom-plish as much in 50 years as the CatleasIan hns achieved in 2,CiM years. I t ' requires time to transform a people from bulPalo hunters into inteilsive farmers. I? I were called upon .to name the most lmportnnt word in connection wlth the ndministration of Indian nffalm, I would unhesitatingly say "patien@'- Gatienre not only on the part of the administrative officers of the Government, but among wy~t ep ?ople whn have . tad0 wlth conditions xffectlng'tile red man. The chief instrument in brin%.ng abont this new relationship has been the Inangnratlon of a policy of cooperative helpfulness and human sympathy, inject-ing red blwd into the admlnistratlon of Indian affairs. The results from such a prored~ireh ave heenmarvelously effective. . I have great pleasure In the announcement that the Indian Is no longer s. ~anisi&~ race. Our dependable census statistics for 1916 disclose the fact that, as a result of the health campaign rmntly inaugurated, there are to-day more Indians In the Ulllted States than there were 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 3 years ago, 1 year ago, and that there is good reason to helleve they will eon-tinne to increase. This is perhaps the most notable achievement of the present administration of Indian af[eirs. While it is,lmportant to educate the children, and to protect the property of the Indian, It is altogether most important that &e save his life and restore hls coustitutlon. - |