Arizona republican., 1914-03-30
Commissioner Cato Sells, in First Annual Report, Points Out Good Citizen Problem Confronting His Department
THREE HUNDRED
 THOUSAND INDIANS
This Number, Under Jul'is- diction of Indian Office, Has Combined Property Worth Nine Hun dre d Million Dollars
Special to The Renublican.)

WASHINGTON, MATCH -3-1 Hc eighty second annual report of the bu- reau Of Indian Affairs, covering the period from July 1, 1912. to June 30, 1913, will soon be ready for public dis tribution.
 This heinz the first report of Com missioner Cato Sells, it deals princi- paIly with the activities of the Indian bureau during the administration of his predecessors, Commissioner Sells having assumed control of the bureau about one month before the end oi the fiscal year. Considerable space l is given to a recitation of the com missioner's suggestions as to the needs of the Indian service, attention being 1 invited to some of the larger questions which now confront his office for solu- tion in the administration of the affairs | of the Indians. The report being for the fiscal year 1913, of course no refer ence IS made to the activities or ac- complishments of the Indian bureau | since July 1, 1913.
 1 Attention is called to the fact that the Indian country under the jurisdic- ton of the Indian office has an area as large as that of all the New England 1 states and the state of New York com bined It is stated that there are ap- 1 proximately three hundred thousand Indians, whose combined property is estimated to be worth about nine hun dred millions of dollars.
 i Commissioner Sells says that the question of how this property may be conserved for the benefit of the Indians and how they shall be taught to make the best use thereof and otherwise be- come properly equipped to take their place as citizens of the United States are the great problems confronting the Indian bureau.
 1 He says that among the details still 1 to De worked out and which are now 1 pending, he finds that, notwithstanding the fact that since 1876 the government has provided approximately eighty mill lion dollars for schools among the In- dians there are today ten thousand Indian children without any school facilities whatever. principally in the southwest andmore particularly among the Navajo and Papago Indians. That there are about seven thousand five i hundred defective Indian children either physically or mentally, for whose care and training no adequate facilities are available. The present available appropriation for Indian schools provides for 223 day schools, situated on Indian reservations near the Indian homes; 76 boarding schools located on the reservation, and 8 boarding schools located off the reser
 vations and known as non-reservation
 schools Of the 65,000 Indian children
 of school age these schools care for approximately 25000. There are en-
 rolled in mission and public schools 22.50O Indian children, leaving 17,500 normal and defective children uncared for Attention is called to the need for increased appropriations for Indian school work, so that all Indian children
 may be provided with school facilities. The commissioner describes the health conditions among the Indians as deplorable Under the jurisdiction of his bureau there are approximately 25,O00 Indians suffering from tubercu-
 lOsis while the available Indian hospi- ital facilities for all of these patients
 adults and children, will not exceed
 three hundred beds During the past
 fiscal year 1905 Indians were reported as having died from tuberculosis; this
 heinz probably not more than seventy five per cent of the total number oi
 Indians who have died from this dis ease during the fiscal year Thirty two per cent of all deaths reported
 from the reservations were due to pull
 monarv tuberculosis, as against IL.
 per cent occurring from the same dis , ease in the registered area of the
 United states The death rate among
 the Indians was 32.25 per thousand
 while the census bureau gives 16.O' ner thousand for the entire registered
 area of the United States TrachomS i is referred to as serious eye disease i of which there exists more than sizt!
 thousand cases among the Indians. l : | is said to be very essential that addi tional appropriations be made to con
 struct hospitals to check and contro
 these diseases and to improve the In dians' health conditions generally, als F to prevent cOntagion among thel
 white neighbors.
 Closely related to the prevalence o |, tuberculosis and trachoma are tn f housing conditions of Indians. It is es , timated that there are approXimatel 1 eight thousand Indian families Withou
 homes, who live in mud lodges, tepee and Wickiups, a large number of ther I on dirt floors and under revOlting con
 Continued on Page Six.)