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Show 20 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS the splendid work they performed during the two months they. were here. F o r your infonuationnot one word of complaint was received against their work from over 200 growers for whom they performed labor.'' Indians are an. increasing factor in the constructive development of the West,' where they are employed not only as day laborers in 1 cotton fields, mines, and on railroad, irrigation, and other construc-tion, but are. filling responsible posts in business and professional lines. The fleet of tucks started in 1924 has recently been doubled \, and Passenger facilities, with information concerning availahle em-ployment, are; placed on various reservations for transporting workers to different points at a minimum charge. Headquarters , for the trucks in charge of the employment official have been estah-lished at a central point, with reconditioning shops which will con- ! stitute an automobile school for Indians, where they may learn prac-tical repair work, driving, and handling of motor-driven vehicles. PRINCIPAL IRRIGATION ACTIVITIES ! Perplexing economic problems confronting the farmers, particu-larly the irrigationies, are resulting in concentrated thought and effort being given to the complete scope of the irrigation subject to permit of a more successful program to include not only those problems dealing with the construction features of irrigation systems but to ~rovidec omfortable homes and make successful farmers of our ~nciians. Con~ressi n the enabling act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. L. 475), author~zingt he constniction of the Coolidge Dam across the canyon of the Gila River near San Carlos, Ariz., for the purpose of pro-viding irrigation for lands allotted to the Pima Indians and for irrigation of such other lands in public and private ownership as may be feasibly irrigated from the waters impounded by the dam, imposed obligations not previously contained in legislation applying to the reclamation of Indian lands with a view of takin.g, advantag.*e of past experience along these lines. On deferred t~avrnonts an intt~rest charrrc of 4 vcr cent uer annuln is made and n6 money can be expendeg on account ofAanY lands in private ownership comlng within the project until appropriate repayment contracts coverin such lands shall have been executed with a district organized un f er State law, confirmed by decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, the form of such contract to be approvgd by the Secretary of the Interior. Individual holdings within the project are restricted to 160 acres with a view to making the project economically sound. The interior appropriation act for the fiscal year 1926 made im-mediately available $450,000 for beginning work provided for in the act of June 7, 1924. The provisions of the basic act, as above indi-cated, are numerous,. and in add'ition to the foregoing it is necessary to perfect and negotiate a basic contract with the board of governor3 of the Florence-Casa Grande project, after which the individual landowners' signatures thereto must be secured. This is due to the fact that the department now has eonttacts~coueringt he distribution of the natural flow of the Gila River to 27,000 acres of private lands, |