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Show COM~ISSIONEB OF INDIAN UPAIM. 29 Indian problem. We may now say with certainty, as demonstrated in this campaign, that the Indian is an asset and not a liability. ,~ An incident worthy of mention happened at Lower Bmle during the year. An Indian, after starting his crop, was taken ill and had to go to the hospital, when seven of his neighbors voluntarily gathered st his place and put in five acres of oats, besides breaking ten acres of new land, on which they planted corn, entirely without sugges-tion from the superintendent or anyone else. This is a spirit of ; initiative and community responsibility, which is an indication of Indian competency to shoulder the duties of citizenship and stand on their own feet as independent members of society. Evidence of substantial progress was found on the recently astab-lished Papago Reservation in Arizona, where an inspector found comfortable homes at remote Papago villages, with adobe walls, glass windows, chimneys, shingle roofs, and floors, about which he states in part as follows: Sa fsr ae my information goee, this advance in home building among the P's~BB" does not ~mceedfm m anv definite tsnn- ible -~ hof mcertad action emansting from $he empkyees, but in &er the mere material expression of the spirit of p~ogrem dominating this tribe of Indium, which spirit mong them in doubtlese gratly stimu-lated by the good work of practical education that bas been done by superintendent and aubordinste employeea. " L~~smo.-Realizing that with ow utmost efforts it is beyond the ' physical capacity .of the Indians to bring under cultivation all the surplus land on the different reservations, aggressive steps have been taken with the view of leasing as much of this surplus land as possible, on liberal terms, special regulations having been promul-gated for this purpose which will permit of long term leases. Al-though final arrangements have not yet been made, it is estimated that more than 200,000 acres of additional land have been or will be leased by the next crop season, thus insuring a further addition to the country's food supply by the utilization of land which would - i otherwise remain uncultivated. Special efforts are being made to lease hitherto unused irrigable land on the large projects in the west, including Crow, Blackfeet, Flathead, Fort Hall, Fort Peck, Gila River, Colorado River and others. F~ms.-The spirit of rivalry and competition is a strong incen-tive to success among the Indians as well as the whites, and the agricultural fair has proved one of the most effective meana of stimu-lating the enthusiasm of the Indiana along industrial lies. At these faira the Indians display their agricultural products, live stock, etc., in competition with each other. Suitable prizes are awarded on the best exbibits. The && fair of this nature was held on the Crow Reservation in 1906, the number being gradually increased each year until in 1916, fifty-seven such fairs were held, most of which |