Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-03
WINDING UP BUREAU
Indian Commissioner Leupp
Looks to Last Days.
HAS WORKED TO THAT END
Preparing the Whole Establishment
to Go Out of Business.
METHODS NEARLY PERFECTED
Suppression Of Liquor Traffic in
Oklahoma and Indian Territory
Made Difficult.
METHODS NEARLY PERFECTED

Commissioner Leupp Of the bureau of
Indian affairs in his annual report. issued
today. says his general aim is to reor-
ganize the Indian service along lines
which will prepare it for going out of
business at no distant date.
During the last year" he says, 1.-The
improvements in office methods some of
which i have spoken of in earlier reports.
have in the process of natural evolution
resulted in an almost complete reorgani-
cation. l am glad that it has been posi-
BILE to effect the change in this slower but
more orderly way, because the Indian
service. handling more than 1000 appro-
priations and funds hedged about with
some hundreds of statutes. might have
been actually wrecked by having even a
better organization thrust violently upon
it.
LAS all my work is guided by my gen
eral aim of preparing the whole Indian
establishment for going out of business
at no very distant date, such an OrganiZa-
ton as has taken place of late in grow
ing bureaus like the reclamation service
in our own department and those of the
Department of Commerce and Labor
would have been largely unadapted to our
purpose. Yet. in anOthe rsenSe, improved
organization is almost more important in
a diminishing than in growing bureau.
High-Class Men in Demand.
mo greater help can come to the In
dams or to the neighborhood in which
they live than through having this serv-
Ice pass out of existence in just the right
way; and as for the next few years it is
going to take more men and higher class
of men to wind up the affairs of the Indian
service. I am hoping to obtain some time
from the Congress an increase, aggregat-
ing little more than 5000. in the sal
aries of the employees who are going to
guide the Indian office in it's decline
This will be more than made up by a
saving of hundreds Of thousands of dol
lars to the government and the Indians.
Again, the rapid change in legislation
and administration which has led to
treating with the Indians as individuals
rather than as tribes will for a while
greatly increase the work of the Indian
office both at Washington and in the field.
and more men will be imperatively need
ed even barely to carry out the orders Of
the Congress, to say nothing Of carrying
them out in the best and speediest way.
This is why l am asking for three new
Observation-Disclosures positions for our
accounts division; and to meet similar
exigencies l shall ask for certain new
positions in other divisions. the reasons
tail on demand. The total proposed in
crease for new positions amounts to about
$4,000.
Suppression of Liquor Traffic.
1.-The work." he says, "of suppressing
the liquor traffic among Indians, to which
considerable attention was devoted in my
annual report for 1907, has continued with
undated vigor and a large degree of
success.
The special service which has been or
Indian appropriation act for the fiscal
year 1907. which placed at my disposal
$4,000. to be employed, under the direc-
ton of the Secretary of the Interior. in
suppressing the liquor traffic among In
dams. S15 600 being reserved exclusively
for use in the Indian Territory and Okla
homa. The Indian appropriation act for
the next year provided the same amount
of money but without any restriction as
to the locality in which it should be used.
'On account of the acute situation in
the Indian Territory with the near ap-
proach of statehood it was deemed best
to concentrate attention there and on
Oklahoma, and the period between July
and November 16. 1907. was one of ex
traordinary activity. On the part of the
government there was determination to
suppress this illegal traffic and turn the
two territories. as far at least as the In
dian parts We're concerned. over to the
new state In as clean condition as pos
sible. On the other hand the whisky
peddlers. gamblers and outlaws general
ly were determined to take advantage of
the confusion attending the transition
process TO force forbidden liquors into the
territories"
Pupils Enrolled.
The number of Indian pupils enrolled
and the average attendance of Indian
schools of all kinds. exclusive of four
public schools in which Indians are
taught. was as follows: Enrolled, 3O.b39,
an increase of 1916 over 1907; average at
tendance 1892 an increase of 1872 over
the preceding year.
The total appropriation for the Indian
service for the fiscal year ended June 30.
1909. was $1,000. 7s2. or a net decrease
over 1908 of 1,5J1 1855.