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Show 6 REPORT OF THE SEC~TARY OF THE INTERIOR Indians of their trust lands are attempted.and frequently with suc-cess; individual complaints of sll kinds constantly present themselves. The issuance of trust patents to individual Indians entails the maximum of care andresponsibility for the hureau-until the Indians shall have sold their allotments. Then fee patents issue to the new owners, usually whites. There are many instances of Indians alienating their lands and dissipating the proceeds, who, left on their own resources, have applied themselves to useful pursuits. They have put to use knowl-edge and training of their school days with satisfactory results. This applies especially to those Indians who had manual training in school and are equipped for employment in shops, garages, and like industrial plants. Students of the problems of the Indian quite generally condemn the rationing system, which has encouraged idleness and has deprived the object of the Government's bounty of his independence and manly attributes. It has stimulated the tendency to lease lands for inade-quate rentals to enterprising whites, who permit the soil to be impov-erished and the crude improvements to depreciate. In an endeavor to correct such tendencies of the Indian, the bureau has been using a recent appropriation for the employment of six agri-cultural directors, technically trained as to soils, rotation of crops, breeding of livestock, etc. It is proposed also to assign to each Indian reservation at least one such expert farmer, with duties similar to those of the so-called county agent in agricultural States. Subject to the e5cient execution of a definite program of improve-ment, it is believed that no better use can be made of tribal funds than the establishment of reimbursable appropriations through which members of the tribe can be assisted in farming, livestock raising, home building, and other industrial operations. Such vocations wilF elevate the scale of living of the individuals directly benefited and through example react to the good of the whole tribe. To June 30, 1928, some $1,542,968 of tribal money had been so used, all of which save $96,350 has been repaid. This unpaid balance is secured by agreements. Attention is balled to this significant statement in the letter of transmittal of the report of the Institute for Government Research: The mcmbers of the survev staff wish me to say clearly in this letter that in almost every activity of the Indian Service they fo;nd wide variation between the best and the worst. The beat at times approaches the ideal: frequently the survey staff has been able to take as their standard for comparison the attainments of the Indian Service itself. The worst often falls far below the norml. It may be stated that in certain of the schools visited by the present. . Secretw of the Interior instruction and recitations compared favor-ably with those to be heard in schools for white children. The Bureau |
