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Show BEPORT OF THE COMPdISSlONER OF INDIAN AFLFFAIES. 45 the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and in the case of the Five Civilized Tribes, the approval of the President. In refusing, generally, to sanction such contracts, except as above mentioned, I have felt that I was following a course which was not only best for the Indians themselves but in accord with the dignity and honor of the United States Government as guardian and trustee. METHODS DIVISION. The work of this division is divided into Indian Office and General Service. Three sections of the office are attached to the Methods Division, viz, statistics, stenographic, and mails and files. These sections, as the name8 imply, render service to all the other sections .and divisions, and the efficiency of the methods employed contributes largely to the successful administration of the office. The numerous removals of Indian records during the past year have caused considerable confusion in the files for the period from 1800 to 1860. The efforts of the office to secure expert assistants for the work of classifying and arranging these records have met with success, as Congress, during the last session, appropriated $5,000 for this purpose. Several months wer'e spent in an exhaustive study of the Menomi-nee situation, both at Washington and in the field, in search of in-formation as to what is the present condition, the outlook for the future, and best business methods in organization. Two and onshalf months were spent in the field in making a test installation of an entirely new system of accounting for property, a matter of much importance to the service and in great need of im-provement. The new system will be installed during the coming year. A new method of handling the fiscal affairs of the service is seri-ously needed. There are over 200 disbursing officers receiving and disbursing funds and rendering accounts. This system is cumbersome and inefficient. After much study the plan of having a receiving and paying officer at some central point in the Indian country was de-cided on, and a bill providing the necessary legislation was forwarded to the department. A committee appointed by the Secretary is now making a study of the fiscal affairs of the service, with a view to determining what changes are advisable. A plan has been devised for apportioning the funds provided by Congress so that an officer in charge will know exactly at the begin-ning of the year the funds that will be at his disposal. Heretofore he has never known definitely at the beginning of the %cal year the amount that would be available. It is expected that this change will he of p a t benefit to the service. |