For the reasons set forth in my last annual report, a contract with the St. Louis Boarding School, on the Osage Reservation, for 75 pupils at $125 per capita, amounting to $9,375, and also a contract with the St. John's Boarding School, on the same reservation, for 65 pupils at $125 per capita, amounting to $8,125-a total of $17,500-were executed, and payable out of the Osage trust funds.

During the past fiscal year contracts, payable out of the educational fund of the Pottawatomies, have been made with the Sacred Heart Boys' School and the St. Mary's Academy for girls, on the Sac and Fox Reservation, Okla., for 35 boys and 52 girls, respectively, at $144 each per capita per annum. As this fund is nearly exhausted, I have, with your approval, renewed the contract only with St. Mary's Academy for 45 pupils at $125 per capita, which will amount to $5,625. The determination, therefore, of this contract will absorb all of the available portion of this fund. As only one school can be maintained, I have deemed it best that all the money should be used for the benefit of the girls.

The amounts allowed for contract schools, aggregated and compared with former years, and showing the names of the denominations and private parties, are exhibited in the following table:

TABLE 8.-Amounts set apart for education of Indians in schools under private control for the fiscal years 1890 to 1899, inclusive.

CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF SCHOOL PLANTS.

An examination of the buildings and plants of the Indian school serv ice, which were erected years ago, shows a deplorable deficiency in construction, sanitary and hygienic requirements, and conveniences. These conditions may be primarily attributed to inadequate and unprofessional methods of the time, as the devising of plans was frequently intrusted to Indian agents or school superintendents, who, in turn, being devoid of the necessary technical qualification, would enlist the services of the agency carpenter or blacksmith or outside person to evolve and formulate projects which should require the best of architectural skill. In some instances, where proper plans and specifications covering material and workmanship were available, no efficient practical superintendence of the work during construction was provided, so as intelligently to enforce the terms of the contract, resulting in the introduction of bad material, careless workmanship, and the present urgent necessity for immediate expenditures looking to the preservation of these buildings.

As intimated in the reports for the past few years, sewer and water facilities, with proper systems of heating and ventilation, were things unknown in the Indian school service, the most pertinent fact being that buildings were an imperative necessity, and these important adjuncts were omitted, either from economy or the lack of appreciation of their advantages to a perfect school system. The omission of these essential elements of construction is now only too apparent, and, considering the hereditary ailments-consumption and scrofula—to which the Indian is predisposed, it has become necessary that good sanitary and hygienic expedients should be as speedily inaugurated as funds are available..

Reports upon school plants indicate that there are evidences that the buildings of the schools have not received the care and attention requisite to their proper maintenance and preservation, in that defects of little moment in their incipient stages, yet if permitted to continue soon develop into injurious proportions, have been overlooked and remedial applications too long deferred. These results no doubt arise in many instances from an overzealous desire on the part of the responsible parties to make a record for economy in the administration of their respective charges. Noting this defect in the administrative system, in the new Indian School Rules its regulation has been provided for. A smail leak, slight deterioration in brick or stone work or other matters of a similar kind, if promptly taken in hand would save many dollars to the Government hereafter. There should be a happy medium between extravagance and parsimony, and agents and superintendents have been properly instructed in this matter.

The value, as reported to this office by the agents and superintendents, of the school plants of the service amount to over $3,000,000, and in all probability the original cost was in excess of this. Much of this property, by reason of its construction under earlier systems, is of

a temporary and perishable nature, and of necessity requires constant attention and adequate expenditures for its preservation and improvement; therefore, at least for several years to come, the amount of funds appropriated for this purpose should not be below the actual necessities, as necessary economy then becomes subversive of good and effective results.

In congregating and sheltering the great number of comparatively helpless children in the various Indian schools, in considering their uncivilized nature and past environment, it becomes a matter of much concern and moral responsibility to so arrange and equip these institutions that they may possess every safeguard against danger known to modern construction. The great majority of the old buildings were without any provisions for escape should a fire take place, in view of which fact, and that the greater number of children are quartered in the upper stories, together with the constant menace of fire from the nse of kerosene lamps, prompt and vigorous measures have been taken to introduce fire escapes, standpipe and hose, and other methods for quenching fires in their incipient stages. It being impossible to fully equip all the buildings within a limited time with proper means for fire escape, a circular was issued directing the attention of agents and superintendents to the importance of such measures, and they were told "that where adequate fire protection has been provided it should be placed in charge of some one or more employees whose duty shall be to see each day that the apparatus is in good working order. Where no such provisions have been made, in halls, dormitories, commissary rooms, and wherever there is danger of fire should be placed pails filled with water ready for immediate use. These pails should be filled with fresh water at least twice each week and inspected daily. Supervisors and other inspecting officials are directed to thoroughly investigate this matter at each school, and a dereliction in obeying this order will be considered a grave offense and dealt with accordingly."

For various reasons many of the buildings have been constructed of wood. This practice is not conducive to economy, since the temporary and perishable nature of the material requires greater expense in the nature of repairs, to say nothing of the great danger of destruction by fire, especially where the water supply is not adequate to the necessities of the service. In view, therefore, of these facts, wherever possible, buildings of a permanent nature have been erected, believing it to be for the best interests of both the Government and of the service.

Great attention has been paid to effective sanitation, which can only be obtained through systems of sewerage and auxiliary house plumbing. In the location of new school plants the adequacy and sufficiency of water supply is a matter of primary consideration, and outweighs all others in the opinion of this office for such a site. Coincident with other necessary and modern improvements that are now being introduced and contemplated, much importance has been given the subject

of lighting, both from natural and artificial sources. Windows are so grouped as to furnish light in the most satisfactory manner and with least damage to the eyes. Two methods of improving the artificial system of lighting are available at Indian schools-electricity and gasoline gas. Each of these has been installed and is now in operation at several different schools, although they are of such recent introduction that sufficient time has not elapsed for absolutely practical and concise data to be obtained as a basis for measuring their respective merits as to efficiency and cost. It can, however, be stated without reservation that so far as they have been tried each has proved satisfactory under the conditions imposed. The Pipestone school has been lighted with gas for the past year, and in a very recent report the superintendent expresses himself with great satisfaction at the results attained, so far as the character of light and cost of production are concerned. A similar gas plant has been in operation at the Menomonee school for several months, and reports of equal efficiency have been received. On the other hand, at those places, such as Oneida, Rosebud, Pine Ridge, and other schools of similar class, electricity has proven equally satisfactory. I am satisfied, however, that for the smaller schools and in those sections where coal is very expensive the most economical system of lighting is that of gasoline gas, using the Welsbach burners.

The ring or needle bath system has now been tried at so many schools that it has passed the experimental stage. It is considered by those who use it to be the most economical, efficient, and hygienically satis factory system of bathing yet invented for use at Indian schools. It is especially satisfactory in eliminating the dangers of contagious infections due to careless attention upon the part of employees.

Order and system being the foundation stone of any proper system of education, too much attention can not be devoted to their early impress upon the minds of the young; nor is the infusion of esthetic principles or the appreciation of the beautiful and artistic to be ignored, since their refining and elevating attributes assist materially in the cultivation and enlightenment of the precepts. Therefore it is deemed important that every detail in connection with the improvement of these Indian schools should be carefully weighed, beautified, and refinedmore especially their exterior environments, where the time of the pupil is spent in recreation and pleasure. The school authorities are instructed to have due regard for these principles, to which end unsightly banks and rugged hillsides are made to give place to swarded slopes and plains with flowers and shrubs. At some of the schools, roads and pathways are little better than ditches, and form heterogeneous gridirons, devised without thought or system, which, taken together with the possible verdureless landscape, present a most doleful and uninviting aspect to the scenery, all of which operates detrimentally upon both pupils and employees. An effort is made to impress upon the school people the necessity for joining the useful to the ornamental, improving the surroundings of the school, and, where possible, the

introduction of the study of horticulture, both as a means of pleasure and a profitable enterprise. The prominence with which road making now appeals to the average citizen of our republic presents the necessity for its introduction on our reservations and at the schools.

RÉSUMÉ OF NEW WORK.

The largest of the new school plants are those in course of erection for White Earth and Vermillion Lake, Minn. They are complete in every detail, and will accommodate each about 150 pupils. After mature deliberation the project for the erection of a new school at Mount Scott, on the Kiowa Reservation, Okla., was abandoned, and in lieu the present schools were enlarged by the addition of a mess hall at Fort Sill, and a dormitory and mess hall at Riverside, and dormitory, mess hall, and other buildings at Rainy Mountain, increasing the capacity of each school fifty or more pupils. A new school building at Cherokee, N. C.; new dormitory and buildings at Flandreau, S. Dak.; Mount Pleasant, Mich.; Greenville, Cal.; Arapaho, Okla., have been constructed; also a new building at Little Water school, Navajo Reservation, with a sufficient water supply. The new schools at Rapid City, S. Dak.; Toledo, Iowa, for the Iowa Sac and Fox Indians; Red Moon and Cantonment, on Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation, have been completed, and will be opened early in the next school year. A new auditorium at Haskell Institute will be an ornament and useful addition to the plant. Phoenix, Ariz., admirably located for a large southwestern Indian school, has by Congressional appropriation had its school increased from 400 pupils to 600, and new dormitories and other necessary buildings provided for. The school at Clontarf not proving satisfactory as an Indian school, principally by reason of the nearness of its location to Morris, Minn., has been discontinued and merged into the school at that point. Situated in the extreme southwestern part of Utah, and the northwestern portion of Arizona, reside a small section of the Pah Ute tribe, known as Shebits and Kaibabs. A small school has been established for their benefit at St. George, Utah, and excellent results are anticipated with these hitherto neglected Indians. At a great many of the schools, buildings and other improvements of a minor nature have been made, increasing the efficiency and modernizing their equipments. Electric-light plants have been provided at Lac du Flambeau school, Wisconsin, and other points; water, bathing, and ventilating systems, have been introduced at many schools.

PLANS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS.

During the spring the school plants at Fort Berthold, N. Dak., and at Winnebago, on the Omaha and Winnebago Agency, Nebr., were destroyed by fire, thus depriving the children of those reservations of school facilities. Plans for a new building at Fort Berthold to accommodate 75 pupils, and at Winnebago for 150 pupils, are now being prepared, and these schools will be ready for occupancy September, 1899.