20. Patented 1,752 desert-land entries covering an area of 277,432

acres.

21. Approved for certification 1,233,926 acres of lands selected under State grants as school indemnity or under grants of quantity, as against 1,046,730 acres the year previous.

22. Adjudicated finally 1,268,962 acres of State selections, as against 1,145,167 acres in 1916 and 950,830 acres in 1915.

23. Effected a final adjustment with the State of California in the matter of excess indemnity school lands received by the State, 24. Issued 5,839 trust patents to Indians, embracing 945,874.73 acres, an increase of 439,913.01 acres over the year preceding.

25. Issued 2,014 patents in fee to Indians, embracing 246,230.16 acres, as compared with 2,298 such patents, embracing 300,391.71 acres, the year previous.

26. Excluded 437,461 acres from national forests, and the public lands subject to disposition in 353,788 acres opened to settlement and entry.

27. Established "The Land Service Bulletin," a mimeographic monthly publication, made up of current orders, instructions, and decisions of the General Land Office and Department, and decisions of the courts relating to the public lands.

28. Sold 1,399,752 acres of Indian lands in various ceded reservations for $2,445,582.50.

29. Sold 2,447 town lots, outside of the Territory of Alaska, for $113,900.

30. Sold town lots in six Alaska town sites for $385,645.

31. Established the town sites of Nenana, Wasilla, Matanuska, and Moose on the line of the Government railroad in Alaska.

THE INDIAN OFFICE.

1. Adopted policy of treating as competent to manage their own affairs Indians of one-half or less Indian blood, which policy will it is believed, place during the year a very large number of Indians. upon the same plane of business equality with the white people surrounding them. It will also begin the reduction of expenditures and permit closer attention each year to the diminishing number who will need further protection.

2. Made a successful registration of all Indians under the conscription act and aroused great patriotic interest, as shown in the subscription of $4,707,850 in Liberty bonds by Indians and the voluntary enlistment of 1,000 students and ex-students in some branch of the military.

3. Established uniform examinations under the new vocational course of study and issued certificates of competency to a considerable number of graduates. Increased the enrollment of Indian children in the public schools under tuition contracts to three times that of last year, exclusive of 18,185 pupils in 2,285 school districts of the Five Civilized Tribes.

4. Continued the health campaign with special effect against tuberculosis, trachoma, and infant diseases with remarkable improvement in sanitation of Indian homes and great increase of cases treated in sanatoria. Established healthy baby contests in all Indian fairs.

5. Accomplished greatest results yet made in suppressing intemperance and breaking up bootlegging, aided much by prohibitory laws in 16 States where Indians reside or contiguous thereto and by Federal legislation controlling interstate commerce in the liquor traffic.

6. Waged an intensified farming campaign, following war with Germany, which has increased the cultivated acreage of Indian lands from 25 per cent to 50 per cent and will place from 40,000 to 50,000 additional acres under leasehold cultivation next year. Purchased approximately 5,000 additional stock above the natural increase under a new system of inspection that saved $20,000. Inaugurated a reporting system for the improvement of all dairy herds. Made grazing leases of tribal lands in many places at about double the rate per head for stock.

7. Reports largely increased numbers of students employed in agricultural and industrial lines, with results especially successful among automobile and other factory workers and unusual activity on the part of returned student associations.

8. Shows 456 allotments covering over 132,000 acres on the Fort Peck Reservation; 15,000 acres in allotments from the public domain approved to the Turtle Mountain Indians and large allotment work on other reservations. Over 8,000 acres purchased for 4,100 homeless California Indians, with other like purchases for homeless nonreservation Indians in Nevada. Closes the banner year in leasing of Indian lands for oil, gas, and mining purposes, with over 219,615 acres of unallotted lands under approved leases, outside of the Five Civilized Tribes and Osage Nation and 24,080 acres of tribal lands so approved.

9. During the year 2,203 applicants for fee patents carrying 275,553 acres, worth approximately $5,000,000, were approved. Reports are rapidly reaching us respecting Indians entitled to competency under the declaration and are being promptly investigated. 10. A new system of bookkeeping recommended by the Bureau of

efficiency is now fully installed, differing from the old practice by showing the actual cost of the various activities by expenditures of money and property rather than by cash disbursement alone.

11. At several of the large reservations extensive sales of timber have been made at advantageous prices, and at the Menominee Indian Mill, where 17,000,000 feet of lumber was manufactured under Government management, Indians earned more than $80,000 in wages during the year.

12. In addition to irrigation projects practically completed during the year that will yield some 230,000 acres for cultivation, important underground developments for stock-watering purposes have been made in the arid Southwest. Wells and springs thus provided are proving of great value to the Navajo Indians and the Papagos in southern Arizona.

13. There were sold at public auction leases covering scattering tracts of Osage oil lands aggregating 9,120 acres, which were being drained by wells on adjacent property to the depletion of their mineral value, for which was received a bonus consideration of $1,997,600 and royalties of 163 per cent and 20 per cent, depending upon the size of tracts and daily production. The Osage reservation at the close of the year had wells producing 9,943,919.45 barrels, of which the Osage Tribe received as royalty 1,643,223.68 barrels, and total receipts from oil and gas leases for the year approximating $5,000,000.

14. In the Five Civilized Tribes were purchased for Indian homes more than 2,000 acres of land costing over $52,000, and erected 180 home buildings; sold nearly 500,000 acres of tribal and allotted land for over $2,000,000; disbursed $7,429,066.10 in per capita payments; removed restrictions against alienation from 155,428 acres of land; collected $4,407,909.62 in royalties for individual Indians; prevented losses to Indians through court proceedings in the sum of $1,514,314, and conserved for them through bank deposits and investments $3,424,226, exclusive of large savings to minors.

15. The bureau shows comparative facts as follows: In 1911 the Indians cultivated 388,025 acres and last year 678,529 acres; in 1911 they raised crops valued at $1,951,000, sold stock valued at $900,000, realized from native industries such as basket making, blanket weaving, etc., $847,556; and last year they raised crops valued at $5,293,719, sold $4,583,083 worth of stock, and increased the value of their native wares to $1,206,826. The Indian wage earners for private individuals in 1911 were 3,204, and last year the number thus engaged increased to 6,902, while the value of all live stock owned by the Indians has risen from $17,971,209 in 1911 to $28,824,439 last year.

18923-INT 1917-VOL 1-2

THE BUREAU OF PENSIONS.

1. Paid for pensions, $160,895,054.

2. Returned to the Treasury $2,174,856.63 of the amount appro-
priated by Congress for the payment of pensions.

3. Returned to the Treasury $72,004.81 of the sum appropriated
for maintenance and expense of the pension system, including
salaries of special examiners.

4. Reduced the number of employees by 24 persons without the
necessity of dismissing any employee.

5. By the act of April 27, 1916, providing for the Army and Navy.
Medal of Honor Roll, a special pension of $10 per month for life, pay-
able quarter yearly, in addition to any other pension under any exist-
ing or subsequent law, was granted to every person over 65 years of
age who was placed on said roll. Under this law there were entered
on the pension roll 351 names. The amount paid in 1917 on account
of this act was $41,582.

6. Under the first section of the act of September 8, 1916, the pen-
sions of 157,248 widows have been increased from $12 to $20 per
month. Under the second and third sections of said act 51,481 claims
have been filed, of which 11,811 were admitted and 5,445 rejected.
In the other claims filed under said act, calls have been made for testi-
mony and the claims are still pending.

7. Under the act of March 4, 1917, known as the Indian War sur-
vivors' act, 6,517 claims had been filed up to June 30, 1917.

8. Up to June 30, 1917, only 11 claims had been filed based on
service in the war of 1917, but they have materially increased at the
time of writing this report.

9. Convictions were obtained in 30 criminal cases of the 31 tried
during the year, because of violations of the pension laws.

THE PATENT OFFICE.

The total number of applications received for patent in 1916 was
70,303, and in 1917, 71,620, an increase of 1,317 over the prior year.
The total number of applications awaiting action on June 30, 1916,
was 16,559, and the number of applications awaiting action on June
30, 1917, was 16,058, a decrease of 501. The total number of patents
granted in 1916, 46,133, and the total number in 1917, 44,179, a de-
crease of 1,954.

The total receipts of the office were $2,317,519.72, and the total ex-
penditures for all purposes were $2,095,138.68, the net surplus of earn-
ings over expenditures being $222,381.04 for the year.

THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION.

1. Collected, tabulated, and summarized returns from 20,759 schools
and school systems throughout the United States.

2. Printed and circulated 422,063 copies of printed bulletins, re-
ports, and other documents, and approximately 1,000,000 copies of
printed circulars and duplicated letters.

3. Carried on extensive correspondence with school officers and
others, mainly in answer to specific questions of educational policy.
In all 137,805 letters were received at the bureau, an increase of more
than 17,000 over the previous year.

4. Made, at the request of State and local school authorities, 16
educational surveys, including: Colorado (administration and sup-
port); Arizona (entire State system); University of Nevada; Elyria,
Ohio; Falls and Walker Counties, Tex.

5. Completed and issued a comprehensive report covering the entire
field of Negro education, following a three-year field study of exist-
ing colored schools.

6. Cooperated with other Government agencies in the task of en-
listing schools and school officers in special war work, such as in-
creased food production and food conservation, and led in the move-
ment for maintaining school attendance during the war.

7. Completed investigations of rural-school supervision and rural-
teacher training in secondary schools.

8. Held three national conferences on rural education, three con-
ferences on industrial training, and two on home economics.

9. Introduced the bureau's plan of home gardening directed by the
schools into 100 cities. Supervised intensive home gardening by the
school in 8 cities in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

10. Mantained 68 schools for natives in Alaska with an enrollment
of 3,600.

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

1. Concentrated its geologic force on investigations of oil fields,
published during the year 10 reports pointing out areas believed to
be favorable for testing with the drill, began the publication of 16
similar reports, and prepared for publication 11 others.

2. Continued the field examination of the oil-shales of Colorado
and Utah as a preparedness measure-these constituting the petro-
leum reserves of the Nation.

3. Began the intensive field study of deposits of "war minerals,"
such as manganese, pyrite, platinum, potash, antimony, and chromite.
4. Prepared for the War Department, with the cooperation of
several State surveys, 23 summary reports on underground waters
available for the use of large military camps, and at the request