OCR Text |
Show COMMISSIONBB OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 64 THE PURCHASE OF GOODS AND SUPPLIES. To maintain its schools, its industrial activities: its agricultural and stock-raising program for nearly '300,000 Indians required the Indian Office annually to purchase about $4,500,000 worth of supplies. , . of a most varied nature. These supplies are almost entirely bought. by contract after advertising and notice to prospective bid-. ders. The hulk of these, other than live stock, are contracted for at the annual lettings, held during the last fiscal year in Chicago, San b Francisco, and St. Louis. To give some idea of the variety of supplies essential to the Indian. . Service, the following statement is given to show appi.oximately the amounts expended annually lor various purposes and activities: subsistence _-___2_-1 _.-.--..---- llllllllllllllllll.l.llll..llll $1,123,000. Dry goods and clothing__-.__.-._~__.--.-.------------.---.--.--- 418,000. I Forn pe-----____-_--i --.-...-.-.------.--..----------2-----.--2.6 9,0003 n e l 365,000 Stationery p i 49,000, Educational supplies- __----.L-- _-..-.---.-.---.--43 ,- M-X), --.---- M i c a supplies . . 61,000. Live stock, equipment, and miscellnueous supplies_ ____2,75_7,000. ____-..-- Supplies are bought under two general classifications-general contracts and specific advertisementsand bids received from time to, time to meet the immediate needs of the particular point in 6he service where the supplies are required. During the last fiscal year there were maintained warehouses at Chicago, St. Louis, and San Fran-cisco, and a large bulk of our supplies passed through.these ware-. houses on their way to their separate destinations Close inspection is made of all deliveries and articles checked with! awarded samples. In making its purchases, the Indian Service prac-. tically copers every section of the country from coast to coast an& from the Gulf to the Great Lakes. No vendorh so remote from the Indian country as to bar him from competition with other dealers in the.sale of^ goods and supplies.~ The revised system of handling the purchase of supplies in this office by assigning certain clerks to a particular class of goods hes evolved a superior system and one which educates the clerk along a line of work similar to that of the buyers of specialties in the: ordinary business trade marts. NEW SYSTEM OF BOOKKEEPING. The bookkeeping system of the Iadian Office for years has con-sisted of a number of separate and unrelated records which had been designed and instituted from t i e to time to suit special needs as they arose. Although each unie of the system served the particular pur- |