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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 5 tional Tuberculosis Association, the American Red Cross, State boards of health, and State and county health officers; also of co-operation from numerous philanthropic organizations and indi-viduals interested in the welfare of the Indians. Without such , cooperation from these various sources our burdens would ha?e been 1 heavier and our achievements less. Special acknowledgment 1s made of the help received from Dr. L. Webster Fox, ?f the postgraduate medical school of the University of Pennsylvaula, for valuable as- , sistance and advice given in our trachoma work, and to Doctors White and White, of Tulsa, for their voluntary work among Okla-homa Indians. EDUCATION ATPENI)ANCE.-SfOar as data is available at this time, it ul~pears that hoth enrollment and attendanct- of Indian rhil<.lrcn in all <cl~ools has shown improvement over the figures for the preceding year. Attendance has, however, been diminished in a number of schools by rather serious epidemics of communicable diseases, such as influenza, measles, and mumps. It is increasingly difficult to secure an enroll-ment or maintain an attendance equal to capacity during the first and second years following the establishment of a new school. In any case, securing attendance of Indian children in the schools at the time of opening in September has always and will continue to offer one of the g1;eatest difficulties with which the service has lo contend. With few exceptions it is believed that further increases in capacity or establishmdnt of new schools are inadvisable at the present time. Efficient administration of the school service has suffered consider-ably in the endeavor to keep pace with increases of this kind, and the undivided efforts of the servlce should be directed toward increased efficiency, better attendance, and more rapid educational progr:!s in the operation of the schools which it now has. Moreover, facili-ties and equipment are not yet sufficient in many schools. The yearly increase of attendance of Indian children in the State public schools is an added factor which is of material significance in its bearing upon the future of the Government schools. Also it can readily be understood that it is difficult to adjust financial require-ments to changing capacities and varying conditions. EDUCATIAONND ENROLLMENT w~nx.-The week beginning August 31 was designated as Education and Enrollment Week and all school and agency employees were instmcted to utilize every possible op-portunity to interest Indian parents in the education of their chil-dren. Missionaries, traders, and in fact every one in touch with Indian communities, were invited to espouse the cause of " Educa-tion " during the week prior to the opening of the scllool year. This same policy has been followed for several years and has become recognized as an important feature of the educational program. Each year interest in the activities of the week seems to increase. As a result enrollment, which only a few years ago was an enormous task, is now becoming a more pleasant one, except in a few isolated sections of the country where the Indians do not yet appreciate the value of education. During Education Week, last fall, the slogan 3 adopted was: "Indian citizenship demands increased educational activity." Involved in this thought are four essentials: . |