I
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
H. E WADSWORTH, Superintendent
VOLUME 17
JANUARY, 1915
NUMBER 4
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1914
B Y CATO S E I.I.S , COMM ISSIONER OF IN D IA N A FFA IR S
IE advance copies of the report of the Bureau of In
dian Affairs covering the period from July 1, 1913,
to June 30, 1914, have been distributed to the press.
This covers practically the first year’s incumbency o f
Commissioner Cato Sells. It outlines what he has
accomblished in this one year and indicates some
thing of what he hopes to achieve during his admin-
office. There appears through it the controlling am
bition of Commissioner Sells to promote the industrial activities of the
Indian population, and if there should be selected a predominant feature
of his administration it might be the promotion of industry in its vari
ous forms, without neglect, however, to the other important require
ments of education, health, and moral uplifting.
He says that he found the Indian Service disorganized and dis
couraged, and that he has endeavored to place it on a sound economic
and efficient business basis, working in harmony with enthusiasm, with
the view of promoting the best interests of the Indians. With a
thought of obtaining a clear comprehension of the viewpoint of the
Indians, he has endeavored, he says, by personal interviews and exam
ination of correspondence with Indians, to ascertain clearly their ideas
with regard to the efforts being made in their behalf, and to this end he
has made it a practice, in the case of every delegation and every indi
vidual Indian visiting Washington, to understand their wants and
needs from their point of view and has given them his personal atten
tion whenever possible Concerning Indian education, he says that
the year has been especially marked by the large increase in the num
ber of Indian pupils enrolled in the public schools throughout the
country, which has been encouraged because it affords training of the
greatest value and furnishes an opportunity to begin the co-operation of
the Government with the State in the education of the Inlian. Es
pecial stress is laid on the necessity for the vocational training of
Indian pupils.