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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. l a Reservation indicate that a similar polic can be adopted on other reservations to the decided benefit of the fndians. Under this polic the Indians of several of the reservations are, now forming stoc $. associations which have for their object the improvement of the grade of their live stock. The dourine eradication work carried on,in cooperation with the Bureau of Animal Industry to rid the various reservations of dis-eased horses has been practical1 com leted, with the exception of the reservations in Arizona and Kew dxico, where proper handling of the work for one or two years longer would insure complet!: extermination of the disease. Considerable attention has been given to the improvement of >he dairy stock belonging to the Indians and the schools on the vanous reservations. Some of the schools now have the best dairy herds in their locality; from which the Indians desiring to engage in the dairy industr can be furnished first-class stock. The %dians; in common with others engaged in the live-stock industry, are'now facing the period of liquidation and adjustment in a manner indicating that their, interests will be placed on a sound, permanent basis at an early date. REIMBURSABLE FUNDS. The small appropriation of $100,000 available for this purpose during the year has. been of great benefit to the Indians. Under this plan Indians having no funds of their own have been provided with farming implements, seed, stock, and other articles, by the use of which they are assisted toward self-support. In the Northwest, larger acreages have been laced in cultivation by the Indians this year than ever before. ?Phis is possible quite largely by the use of reimbursable funds. In the Southwest con-siderable like expenditure has been made for sheep and cattle. The following extracts from the reports of field officials will indicate the benefit which the Indians have already derived from the use of such funds and su gest the need of future expenditures of this nature. ' , SHOSH$~. ESEER VATION, WYO.-" On Tuesday I visited one Egan Bonatsie, of the. Crow Heart district, who was once putterin around on 5 acres of ground but who now farms and farms well 5: 5 acres. He has about $800 worth of alfalfa this year and $200 or $300 worth of oats, in addition to potatoes and other vegetables for home use. He has been a liberal buyer under the reimbursable plan and is now fully self-supporting and is paying his n, eements off by partial payments each fall when his crops are sol? I feel that reimburs-able issues have gone a long way toward making this man self-suppdrtin and comfortable when it could not well have been ac-complishes in the same length of time in any other manner." TONGUREI VER RESERVATIOMNO,N T.-" These Indians have no indi-vidual Indian money except the comparatively small amount derived from sale of their cattle. Allotments have not been made and they must-have some help in order to procure the farming equipment they neecl. Reimbursable funds exP ended here for farming equip- ment and for the mill have been o great benefit to them. Young men are maturing each year and the aid given in the past does not fill their needs. Many of those now able to farm are reasonably well equipped, but the need for reimbursaljle issues is not past. |