The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-01-20
COMMISSIONERS
ANNUAL REPORT
Valentine Declares Every Effort is
Being Made to Place indian Wards
on Self Sustaining Plane.

Washington, d. c., Jan. 1S.-In at
tempting to put Uncle Sans Indian
wards on a self-sustaining basis, the
bureau of Indian affairs, during the
fiscal year ended June 80, 1910, bent
every effort to bring about that end,
according to the annual report of Com
missioner Robert G. Valentine to the
secretary of the interior, made public
Tuesday Through efforts of it's edu-
cational, farming and employment
branches the bureau has been we'll re-
warded in it's efforts to make the In
dian a competent citizen of the United
States.
Wonderful progress was made dur
ing the year covered by the report in
teaching the Indians how to work their
own lands, says the commissioner.
Speaking on the farming problem,
Commissioner Valentine says: "The
Indian service realizes that instruc-
tion in farming is an essential basic
part of its present educational policy
and is, therefore, making use of every
possible resource in order to promote
farming among the Indians" During
the year a number of expert farmers
were employed to teach the Indian the
rf np a0rioT.1ft1rn DnnIar rtno thaf 70
agricultural fair has been convincing
lily proved a means Of stimulating in
terest in farming among the Indians
by its success among the Crows, Com
missioner Valentine continues: THE
fair promotes healthy rivalry among
Indians and furnishes rational basis
for meeting together which ought
Eventually to take the place of the in
discriminate gatherings of Indians,
which are usually productive of con.
siderable harm"
Reporting that two large railway
systems have offered to provide op-
portunities for school boys who are
learning trades or who are mechanical
| ly inclined, the commissioner says
that "the systematic connecting of the
industrial education of the schools
with the real work of the world will
mean the dawning of new day in
Indian education, and from the human
side, the bridging over of that critical
period in boys life when he leaves
school and starts to work, is a service
| of far-reaching Importance Sympa-
thetic direction during those two or
three critical years." the commissioner
goes on to say, will mean the econo-
mic and moral salvation of many boys
and young men"
In declaring that the health work of
the bureau is not merely to care for
and cure those who are sick nor the
reduction of the death rate, but
rather to increase the vitality of the
Indian race and to establish for it a
new standard of physical well-being,"
) the commissioner says that one of the
principal features of the attack is "An
Intensive attack upon the two diseases
that most seriously menace the health
of the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and tuber-
oulosis.
AS result of the increased appro-
priation for the suppression of the
liquor traffic, the report says, unusual
| ly extensive operations were con-
Quoted covering practically every state
in the Union in which Indians reside"
During the year" the commissioner
says, 1857 new cases were placed on
the dockets, 1867 arrests were made,
TAT indictments secured, and 1,155 con-
victions obtained. Cases against 2S0
persons were dismissed and % persons
were acquitted"
The commissioner says that the bu-
reau has been aided in it's efforts in
this line by the cooperation of the
state officials, and continues:
1T is gratifying to find in a few
cases that the Indians themselves
have circulated petitions addressed to |
the home city or town councils ask
ing that saloon licenses be revoked
and the places closed.
Progress, says the commissioner, is
being made in the work of connecting
the Indian schools with the public
schools, and the association of Indian
children with white children will be
a definite means of promoting the as
similation of the Indians into Ameri- |
can life.
"A comprehensive survey of the
condition of the schools throughout
the service was made during the last
year" reports the commissioner. Out |
of school population of about 40 900 |
(this does not include the Five CfviIiz-
ed Tribes), there are in school 29,185 |