I have been told, when calling attention of Commissioner Wright, or the Indian Office, to the fact that some of these surplus lands should be conserved, that under the law, this cannot be done. The land is tribal property, or by act of Congress on such and such a date the lands were ordered sold. There is always authority for these sales, and no one can question it. But the policy continues, and to me appears very pernicious. Certain Indians on some of our reservations have either disposed of their holdings, or been swindled out of them. If none of the surplus lands are retained, there will be nothing available for these Indians, and they will soon become homeless paupers. We have an illustration of that in California. There we permitted the Indians to lose their property, or to be evicted. In recent years we have spent large sums of money purchasing tracts of irrigated land to provide homes for the very Indians we permitted to lose their homesteads. Certainly this is a very short-sighted and unbusiness-like policy. The progress of the Indian the past year in arts and industries has been fairly satisfactory. Most of the Superintendents report increased industry on the part of their wards. The Commissioner presents nearly 200 pages of tabulated statistics covering progress and values. The Indians have not worked in the same proportion as have white people for various reasons. I shall set forth these in detail in a subsequent Chapter. RESULTS OF INDIAN LABOR