FINANCE DIVISION.

This division is divided into three sections corresponding to the three general classes of work under its jurisdiction. Each section, as well as all other sections of the office, is in immediate charge of a section chief, and the class of the work performed in each is indicated by its title.

Bookkeeping section. There are now employed in this section 13 clerks. The work of the section consists generally of keeping ledger accounts of receipts and disbursements under over 1,000 different appropriations and funds, a detailed record of apportionments from and liabilities against appropriations, a detailed record of expenditures by agencies, schools and projects from each appropriation, requisitions for funds to be placed to the credit of disbursing officers, preparation of expenditure authorizations, financial statements, statistics, etc.

employed in this section are barely able to keep up with the work, notwithstanding that much overtime work is performed. The work is constantly increasing, and there are many new features that might be added with profit, if the force were large enough to justify undertaking them. Two additional clerks are necessary to carry on the work of this

section.

Accounts section. The work of this section, now consisting of 21 clerks, is the administrative examination of quarterly cash and property accounts of approximately 215 disbursing officers and the monthly accounts of 212 banks which are custodians of tribal funds of the Five Civilized Tribes.

Section 12 of the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 209), commonly known as the "Dockery law," requires that monthly and quarterly accounts shall be made within 10 days and 20 days, respectively, after the periods to which they relate; also that they shall be forwarded to and received by the Treasury Department within 20 days and 60 days, respectively, after their receipt in the administrative office."

Accounts are increasing in number and size constantly, and the present force, though doing the best it can and performing much overtime labor, is barely able to examine and send the cash accounts within the time required by law. This leaves no time for examination of property accounts, which are much in arrears and are getting farther behind all the time. The examination of accounts should not be done hurriedly, as it is now of necessity, but deliberately, carefully, and thoroughly. To do this and keep up to date will require at least four competent clerks in addition to the present force.

Claims section.-The work of this section, now consisting of 16 clerks, is the administrative examination of claims, which term includes the vouchers and accounts of all kinds that are not paid by disbursing officers in the field. They are generally for supplies purchased under contract, supplies purchased in open market through Indian warehouses, freight and passenger transportation, unpaid shares of annuity, shares of individuals in tribal trust funds, and Sioux benefits under section 17 of the act of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 888), as amended by the act of June 10, 1896 (29 Stat. L., 333).

The work of this section, though increasing all the time, without a corresponding increase in the force, has been kept up fairly well except as to transportation claims and claims for unpaid annuities and tribal trust funds, which are considerably behind and must remain so until it becomes possible to augment the force. The number of claims. received for settlement during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1913, was 15,514, which was an increase of 3,122 over the number received in the previous fiscal year. Four additional clerks are urgently needed in this section.

LAND DIVISION.

This division has charge of the allotting, the sale, and the leasing of Indian lands, and numerous other subjects arising from these three main classifications. The correspondence of this division has greatly increased during the past year, and the clerical force has been decreased. The work of the division is divided into the following sections: Sales section. This section, consisting of five clerks, has charge of all sales of allotted and inherited Indian lands, the determination of heirs of deceased allottees, when the heirship papers accompany the petition of sale, the issuance of patents in fee under the acts of May 8, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 182), and June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. L., 855), the partition of Indian land, the issuance of certificates of competency to Kaw and Osage Indians, the issuance of certificates of competency under the provisions of the act of June 25, 1910, supra, Mission lands and the removal of restrictions in the Seneca Nation.

About 3,000 petitions for the sale of land have been approved by the department, and in many of these cases sales will soon be made. The work of this section is far behind, there being between four and five hundred cases undisposed of. To keep the work of sales section up to date, three additional clerks are required.

Allotment section. This section consists of seven clerks, two of whom are engaged exclusively on work connected with the Five Civilized Tribes. The remaining five clerks handle all allotment correspondence, including that connected with allotments and Indian homesteads on the public domain. Exclusive of the Five Civilized Tribes, the correspondence of this section deals with 132 Indian reservations, not counting those in the State of New York, and considering the 19 Pueblos in New Mexico as one reservation, and the 28 or more different Mission Reservations in California as one reservation. A number of these reservations have from two to six different acts of Congress applicable to allotment matters and the disposal of surplus lands, and the correspondence connected therewith is necessarily large and varied. This section handles not only the allotment correspondence proper, but also that pertaining to the disposal of the surplus lands, reporting on bills to this end wherever necessary, any enlargement or reduction of the boundary lines, Government town sites, exchange of allotments before and after patents have been issued, and a large amount of correspondence of a miscellaneous nature. The work of allotments and Indian homesteads on the public domain is an important branch and demands the services of trained clerks, as it is technical and by no means easy of solution in its different phases. At least one additional clerk is needed in this section.

Contracts section. This section consists of 16 clerks, and handles matters relating to leasing of tribal and allotted lands for all purposes, designation of banks as depositaries of Indian moneys, including examination of financial condition and examination and approval of bonds, enrollment with Indian tribes, annuity payments, applications for pro rata shares of trust funds and back annuities, claims of Indians against the Government, depredation claims, miscellaneous claims against the United States on account of Indian matters, employment of attorneys by Indian tribes and noncitizen Indians, taxation, citizenship, encumbrances on Indian lands, questions relating to New York and Pueblo Indians, and rights of way across Indian lands for all purposes. The desk handling the bank bonds is overwhelmed, the work having increased at least 100 per cent during the past year, and will apparently continue to increase. The right of way desk has too much work for one man, and an additional clerk is needed to assist in the matter of handling claims for back annuities and other questions relating to tribal payments. Three additional clerks are urgently needed for this section.

Heirship section. This section, consisting of eight clerks, handles all matters relating to the determination of heirs of deceased Indian allottees, the consideration of wills of Indian allottees, and all miscellaneous questions pertaining to these subjects. There are about 1,500 heirship cases pending in the office on which final action has not been taken. It is estimated that there are now pending at the various agencies throughout the Indian country about 40,000 heirship cases, awaiting determination of the heirs under the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. L., 855), which represent inherited lands valued at about $60,000,000. The Congress appropriated in the last Indian appropriation act $50,000 for conducting field work in connection with the determination of heirs of deceased Indian allottees, but no appropriation was made to provide for the increased work in the Indian Office, which will necessarily follow. It is believed that at least $100,000 should be requested in the estimates for the Indian appropriation bill for heirship work in the field for the next fiscal year, and if this appropriation is approved by Congress, it will further increase heirship work in the Indian Office. The longer this heirship work is delayed, the more complicated it becomes. I am exceedingly desirous of getting this work well in hand. It is work that is purely legal and requires care, very great care. At least five additional clerks, with legal training, are urgently needed for this most important work.

Records section. This section consists of seven clerks, and their duties are to post on the records of the office all action involving the title of Indian land, the making of certified copies of records and handling of miscellaneous correspondence regarding title to lands. It is believed that the work of this section can be conducted without additional assistance.

LAW DIVISION.

This division consists at present of two employees, Mr. James F. Allen, of the Board of Review, whose duty it is to review all heirship cases and certain classes of miscellaneous correspondence, and the law clerk of the bureau. The duty of the law clerk is to advise the employees of the office regarding law matters, review correspondence involving important law questions, review the reports relating to legislation, prepare estimates for the Indian appropriation bill and other appropriations for the bureau and the justifications therefor, and to supervise the preparation of the annual reports required to be submitted to Congress at the beginning of each session. The work of the law division is practically up to date.

Mails and files section. The work of this section, composed of 38 employees, consists of making proper indexes of all Indian Office mail, both by name and subject, and assigning the incoming mail to the proper section of the office, keeping a record of the location of all important communications, and seeing that papers are properly filed with previous correspondence on the subject when they are returned from the correspondence clerks; also the work of dispatching mail and making and caring for press copies are part of the duties of the mails and files section. The files relating to the status of employees, the map files, several special files, and all the old records, dating back more than 100 years, are arranged and cared for by mails and files. It is also the duty of this section to make searches of indexes and files for any and all papers that may be wanted for any purpose by anyone who is entitled to such papers, or information they contain. Because of the increase of between 40 and 50 per cent in mail received during the past two years, with no corresponding increase in the clerical force, a great deal of the searching in the files is now done by correspondence clerks, the filing clerks being kept too busy in disposing of papers sent to files and charging out cases that are needed by employees of the office. At least four additional clerks are needed in the mails and files section. There are also needed four additional messengers to properly care for the messenger work of the office.

Forestry section. This section consists of four employees. The total stand of timber on allotments is estimated at nearly 7,000,000,000 feet, with a value of nearly $12,000,000, while the amount on unallotted land is estimated at approximately 33,000,000,000 feet, with a value of $72,000,000. The administrative care of this timber, including the protection of the same from fire and trespass, the formulation of plans of management, and the effecting of sales is part of the work of the forestry section of this office. Approximately 200,000,000 feet were cut from Indian lands during the fiscal year 1913. It is probable that the amount cut during 1914 will be still larger. All plans for sales, forms of contract, and methods of cutting and supervision were handled in the forestry section.

In addition to this general field work, this section is required to take administrative action in regard to all requests of superintendents for the purchase of sawmills and their equipment, as to the number and class of employees at such mills, and as to the means to be adopted to make such mills contribute most to the welfare of the Indians. There are 36 Government and 41 private sawmills operating on Indian reservations. The proposed sales of allotments bearing merchantable timber are examined in the forestry section for the purpose of insuring that full value of the land and timber is obtained in such sales. The amount of work of this section is large and is increasing, but I believe that the present force is adequate to handle the work during the next fiscal year.

Irrigation section.--This section is now composed of four employees. The work of this section involves many administrative features in connection with the apportionment and expenditure of approximately $1,500,000 annually, the preparation of the necessary correspondence, the study of matters relating to the construction of irrigation systems, as well as maintenance and operation, and protection of water rights. The irrigation work makes necessary at times close cooperation with the General Land Office, the Geological Survey, and the Reclamation Service. All matters pertaining to water rights and rights of way for irrigation ditches, reservoirs, etc., receive consideration in this section. The work of the section is entirely too heavy for the present force, and at least one additional employee is necessary to keep the work of the section approximately current.

Inspection section. The results of investigations into the character and efficiency of employees in the field service are submitted and passed on by one member of the Board of Review. These reports have been very voluminous during the past year and in several cases consisted of hundreds of pages of typewritten and other documents. These are reviewed and a letter prepared embodying the views of the office. The work requires careful revision of testimony and frequent research into the files of the office, entailing much more labor than that merely involved in preparing the decision on the record.

Reports of inspecting officers are received by one clerk, indexed, briefed, and the separate sections thereof charged out to the several divisions affected by the subject matter of the report. There appears to be no necessity for any increase in the clerical force in charge of this work.

Stenographic section. This section consists of 21 employees, which number is grossly inadequate to do the work of the office. Under the present arrangement, due to the lack of sufficient stenographers, correspondence clerks are required frequently to wait days before being furnished a stenographer to dictate the cases prepared, and some correspondence clerks are now doing at least a part of their own typewriting because it is impossible to procure the services of a stenographer when needed.

No section of the Indian Office is in greater need of additional employees than the stenographic section, and it is estimated that it will require at least 10 additional stenographers to do the stenographic work of this office.

It is believed that the foregoing detailed information regarding the status of the work of this office fully justifies the request for the increased force for this office, as contained in the estimates herewith.

In compliance with the provisions of section 2 of the act of July 11, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 268), you are advised that there are no employees in this bureau who are below a fair standard of efficiency.

In conclusion I wish to emphasize the fact that the work of a great bureau handling a trust estate valued at approximately $1,000,000,000 belonging to nearly 300,000 wards of the Government, has been tremendously crippled because of the urgent need of and failure of Congress to provide an additional appropriation for employees whose services are absolutely necessary to keep the work of this bureau current.

It is apparent that the policy of removing restrictions from the Indian as fast as he demonstrates competency, together with the proper protection of incompetents and minors will fast and greatly increase the work of this office, and that the faster these things are accomplished the greater the office force required to handle allotments, sales of tribal and allotted timber and agricultural lands, determine heirs, grant patents in fee, handle segregated trust funds, and the numerous other

things necessarily incident thereto.

I therefore have the honor to recommend that the estimates herewith receive the approval of the department and that they be transmitted, through the Treasury Department, as required by law, to the Congress for its consideration.

I shall be glad at the proper time to go before the Appropriation Committees of the House and Senate and explain the needs of the office and justify in detail the estimates herewith.

Very truly, yours,

Hon. A. A. JONES,

Acting Secretary of the Interior.

CATO SELLS, Commissioner.

APPENDIX F.

In relation to estimate of appropriations for "Pay of the Army" for fiscal year ending June 30, 1915. (Estimate on Pp. 230 to 243.)

Authorized strength of the Army proper in enlisted men as provided by law and announced by the War Department.

Chief trumpeters.

Chief musicians.

6 5 3 4 5 3

13 66 65 45 30 79 77 102 70 35 70 70 280 560 805 784 11 36 774 4, 729 56, 533 1 674 225 583 183 41 131 347 182 51 564 6.

59,521 80, 117

Total.

43 135 165 200 207

83 354 3, 55

212

16 66 65 45 30 79 77 104 72 35 72 72288 576 829 804 11 36 794 5, 118 57, 038 1 740 225 591 183 41 131 347 182 51 604

NOTE. This table does not include the enlisted men of the Philippine Scouts, Hospital Corps, or Quartermaster Corps.