Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-08-11
OF INDIAN
 10 THE GOVERNMENT
Address of Turin B. Boone, of the Indian Office, Washington, D. C., be- fore the Biennial Convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs,
 at Chatauqua, N .Y., June a7, 1922.

at Chatauqua, N .Y., June a7, 1922.
 Madam Chairman, Ladies and
 Gentlemen:
 I am here as the official represen- tative of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in charge of an exhibit of In- dian arts and crafts, under the aus pices of the Committee on Indian Well fare of the Department of Public Welfare of the Federation. The ex- hibit was secured through the efforts of Mrs. Stella M. Atwood, of River side, California, Chairman of the In dian Welfare Committee.
 The present Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Honorable Charles H. Burke, was for many years member of Congress from South Dakota, and chairman of the Committee on In- dian Affairs of that body. He is very interested in the plans of the Depart ment of Public Welfare for the en- couragement and perpetuation of the original native industries of the h. dians, now being crowded out by the pressure of modern civilization and commercialism. The Commissioner al- so desires that the organized woman hood of this country, as represented by the General Federation of Women's Clubs, cooperate sympathetically with the government in its work for the education and uplift of the Indians, I therefore, greatly appreciate the op- portunity of appearing before this splendid body Representative Amer ican women, to tell you something of what the government is doing for the Indians, and the progress which they have made under it's tutelage.
 The Indians are located on num- erous reservations scattered through out the western part o fthe country, practically every state west of the Mississippi River having one or more such reservations within it's borders At last reports, there were 312,381 Indians under government super vision in the U. S., consisting of 165,- 031 full-bloods and 147,350 mixed bloods. The Indian problem is per haps the most human problem with which the government has to deal, for it touches human life at almost every point of contact.
 Broadly speaking, the work of the government for the Indians is divided into two main branches-first, the education of the Indian children; and, second, the promotion of industrial activities among the adults. The In- dian Service has about $500 em- ployees at the different agencies and schools, and 260 in the Washington Office; which comprises various di- visions, such as inspection; land; fi- nance; forestry; irrigation; educa- tion; purchase; and mails and files. Every letter is answered, and every complaint, no matter how trivial, in vestigated. Particular attention is given to letters from Indians.
 The Indian Service is not perfect, because it is made up of human be- ings, and perfection is not found this side of the angelic host within the pearly gates above; but it is animated by the purest motives. Defects of ad- ministration will of course creep in, but every effort is made to remedy them when brought to light.
 l wish you could realize the atti> tude of the older Indians toward the Service. Delegations from different reservations sometimes visit the Washington Office. I remember an old full blood Indian, who could not speak word of English addressing the Commissioner through an inter preter in this way: ''You are our father, we look to you for protection and help" This is typical of many such casRs-
 Each division of the Office is sep arated into various sections, descrip- tive of the particular kind of work handled in each; for example, the Education Division, with which I am connected, has the Construction, Law and Orderr Health, Schools, Industrial. and Employees sections.
 For the education of the Indian children, the government maintains three kinds of schools,-first the day schools. Sec0r,d the, reservation hoar6- |