The committee has heretofore recognized the importance of giving aid to the development of agriculture and stock raising among Indians and it recommended a substantial increase in this item when the 1937 bill was under consideration. The committee does not feel justified in approving the increase of $63,880 recommended by the Budget in this item and it is of the opinion that the need for economy outweighs the demand for this expansion at the present time. It has, therefore, recommended that the 1937 appropriation of $600,220 be continued without change during the fiscal year 1938. In denying that portion of the increase attributable to the transfer of tribal funds to gratuity appropriations, the committee has restored the appropriate amounts to the proper items under tribal fund appropriations. For the purpose of encouraging industry among the Indians the estimates provide $390,000, which is $225,000 more than the 1937 appropriation and a like amount in excess of the sum recommended by the committee. The reduction in the estimates is due to the disallowance by the committee of the plan proposed by the Indian Bureau and approved by the Budget for the establishment of a program for assisting the Navajo Indians to dispose of surplus sheep. Testimony presented to the committee was to the effect that approximately 1,000,000 sheep are now grazing on the range land of the Navajo Reservation and that in order to prevent range depletion this number should be reduced to 500,000. The committee was not convinced by the testimony given that the plan would result in a reduction of the number of sheep now being grazed. While a small proportion of the excess number might be removed from the range annually (the testimony mentions 50,000) no assurance was given the committee or any definite program outlined whereby a considerable reduction would be elected in a reasonable period. Until the workability and efficacy of such a program can be more clearly demonstrated the committee believes that the initiation of the plan should be deferred. Irrigation. For this activity there is recommended $3,261,998, which is $1,401,434 more than the 1937 appropriation and $4,000 less than the Budget estimates. Small increases for operation and maintenance of existing projects due primarily to the additional acreage brought into cultivation through the expenditure of emergency funds have been allowed by the committee. The estimate of $16,000 for reimbursement to the reclamation fund for the furnishing of water to lands in the Yakima Reservation has been reduced to $14,000 by the committee. Testimony presented to the committee was to the effect that the increase of $5,000 over the current appropriation was necessary due to economy provisions in effect in 1934, 1935, and 1936 which had resulted in the Bureau falling behind in its payments. The records of the committee indicate that only $3,000 is due in this connection and that amount is provided in the bill. A total of $2,088,000 is recommended for the construction and repair of projects, which is an increase of $1,307,100 over the 1937 appropriation and $2,000 less than the estimates. The committee has recommended a reduction of $50,000 in the item for the Colorado River project and a cut of $40,000 in the Navajo item and has recommended an increase of $88,000 over the estimates for the Flathead project in Montana, the latter increase being allowed to supply canal enlargement and betterment on the project. Education. The total amount recommended for the education of Indian children is $10,068,525 which is $663,150 more than the current appropriation and $30,000 less than the estimates submittedtely 40 in the Budget. All increases for the operation and maintenance of Cost of at school facilities for Indian children have been approved as proposed in the estimates. Under the general item for the support of Indian schools there is recommended $5,896,950, which is a net increase of $517,130 over the current appropriation and the amount of the Budget estimate. The distribution of this increase is set forth below as follows: Increases requested for 1938: Boarding schools_ _ _ Day pupils in boarding schools. Day schools (4,950 transferred from tribal funds). Special consolidated day schools. Deaf, dumb, and blind....... Mission contracts (transfer from tribal funds). Care and training of delinquents. Supervision, local reservation_. Supervision, general.. Summer subsistence.. Total increase___. $299, 300 22,000 69,000 shools, PAS is insert The committee has recommended an increase of $30,000 in the estimate of $360,000 for the repair and improvement of Indian school buildings. Testimony presented to the committee during hearings on the bill (see p. 1200) was to the effect that emergency appeals for repairs and improvements are received day after day and that $100,000 additional could be used to good advantage. The statement was also made that this situation was especially true at the Riverside and Fort Sill Schools and the schools at Fort Apache, Ariz., and Fort Totten, N. Dak., and it is understood that a similar need exists at the Cheyenne and Arapaho school, and it is to meet the needs at these particular institutions that the committee feels justified in approving an increase of $30,000 in the Budget figure. A new item providing for cooperation with school districts in the construction of public-school buildings in the vicinity of Wellpinit, Wash., and the Hays Public School District, Hays, Mont., as authorized by acts of Congress, has been included in the estimates of the Budget the Wellpinit School to cost $75,000 and the Hays School to cost $50,000. The committee has recommended approval of the Wellpinit school item and included $75,000 therefor in the bill. During hearings on the bill, the committee was requested to insert legislation in the bill the effect of which would be to change the basic act which provides for cooperation with the Hays Public School District in the construction of a school building, so that the construction of this building may be planned, erected, and operated by the Indian Service, and the requirement for recoupment of expenditures by the United States is necessarily waived. The committee is not in favor of amending the basic act to this extent and recommends that the appropriation be deferred until the Hays School District complies with the requirements of the law or until remedial legislation is recommended by the appropriate committee and approved by Con gress. Appropriations for boarding schools of all classes have been made on a per-capita basis over a long period of years, while tuition is paid for children attending public schools, the daily rate paid for Indian pupils in public schools ranging from 13 to 75 cents and the average being approximately 40 cents. A tabulation showing the method of computing the cost of attendance at the boarding schools, including nonreservation schools, and giving a comparison of per-capita costs for several years is inserted at this point. Nonreservation boarding schools. The nonreservation boarding schools are those, generally speaking, which are located at some distance from Indian reservations and to which Indian children are sent for care and education during the entire school term. In many cases children are brought to the schools from a considerable distance and in the case of orphans and other children without homes, it is not unusual for such children to live at the nonreservation school during the entire year. At the present time there are 19 schools of this type with a total enrollment of approximately 6,745. The bill as recommended provides for 18 schools and appropriates for 6,635 pupils, a decrease of 1 school and 110 pupils. The school eliminated from the bill is the one which has been conducted by the Indian Bureau at Bismarck, N. Dak. During hearings on the bill the committee was advised that it is a small school, expensive to operate, and that with the development of educational programs on the Standing Rock Reservation there is no need for continuing this school. The reduction of $47,100 in the amount recommended in the bill for nonreservation schools is accounted for by the abandonment of the Bismarck School. There has been a gradual increase in the number of Indian children attending schools in recent years. This is in part due to the efforts of the Indian Bureau to require school attendance and is also attributable to the improvement and increase of school facilities made possible through emergency appropriations. The following table showing the increase in school enrollment during the last 5 years sets forth the number of children attending the various types of educational institutions: Public-school figures partly estimated for Indian-school population not recorded at agency offices. For the education of natives in Alaska there is recommended $690,000, which is an increase of $23,120 over the 1937 appropriation and $10,000 less than the Budget estimates. The committee has eliminated the fixed limitations on subitems under this appropriation heretofore carried in the bill. II. Repts., 75-1, vol. 2--17 Health. The committee recommends a total of $4,770,000 for conservation of health among Indians, which is $347,640 more than the 1937 appropriation and $200,690 less than the estimates. Of the increase allowed by the committee, $212,500 is for the operation of new hospitals now under under construction. The hospitals thus provided for are set forth below as follows: Fort Defiance, Ariz.: 140 beds and laboratory (4 months operation).___ $50,000 75 beds increase for tuberculosis cases (4 months). Total_____ 25, 000 25,000 37,500 75,000 212, 500 While the appropriation figures for general relief and hospitalization indicate a reduction of $195,690 below the Budget figure the actual cut amounts to but $105,690, owing to the action of the committee in providing for the operation of four hospitals for the Chippewa Indians in Minnesota from tribal funds as is the case during the current year. It is estimated by the committee that the remaining cut of $105,690, which has been applied to the general appropriation item and not to the specific hospital items, can be made up by savings effected in the specific hospitals, this saving being available for use for general health purposes. General support and administration.-There is recommended for general support of the various agencies and reservations, $2,685,500, which is an increase of $215,500 over the 1937 appropriation and $118,470 less than the Budget figure. Specific reductions by the committee are made up by the disallowance of $13,050 proposed by the Budget for the establishment of three assistant superintendents at $3,200 each, and $3,450 for office equipment, travel, and so forth, and $4,600 is due to the disallowance of one special legal representative. Additional reductions have been left to the discretion of the Bureau to be applied where they can best be made. At the request of the Secretary of the Interior the appropriation for supervision of reindeer in Alaska has been transferred from the jurisdiction of the Governor of Alaska to the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The committee has added $2,000 to the estimate of $33,500 for this item, for the purchase and distribution of reindeer to the natives, a most essential need in aiding these people to become self-supporting. In addition to funds appropriated from the Treasury for the support of Indians, tribal funds amounting to $705,080 are included in the bill. This sum is $28,720 less than the current appropriation and $119,800 in excess of the estimates. In previous years tribal fund appropriations for this purpose were greatly in excess of the amount included in this bill. This is accounted for by the fact that in recent years there has been a steady decrease in the income of the several tribes, and as the tribal funds have decreased the burden upon the Treasury has become correspondingly greater. The committee has added to the bill tribal fund appropriations in the amount of $6,500 for the Klamath Indians, $3,000 for the Uintah and Ouray Indians, and $14,000 for the Menominee Indians, for payment of attorneys' fees for services rendered or to be rendered these tribes under contracts approved by the Secretary of the Interior. In allowing these amounts the committee desires to serve notice that it is reluctant to approve requests for appropriations of this character and that in the future favorable action will be taken only in the most exceptional cases. Roads and bridges. For this purpose the Budget estimates provide $3,000,000, which is $500,000 less than the 1937 appropriation, and $300,000 more than the amount recommended by the committee. While the committee was disinclined to make this reduction in the estimates, it felt that the need for economy outweighed the demand for this type of work at the present time. Construction and repair of buildings.-A consolidated item for construction and major repairs is provided in this bill for the first time with a total recommendation of $1,866,500, which is $38,500 less than the Budget estimates. This sum is considerably below the publicworks funds available for construction in recent years, the amount provided for the current fiscal year being $4,405,195. Few changes have been recommended in the individual items as submitted in the Budget and these changes have been made necessary to a large extent by conditions which have arisen since the original estimates were prepared during the latter part of the calendar year 1936. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION The committee recommends a total appropriation for the Bureau of Reclamation of $40,981,600, which is $14,797,000 less than the current appropriation, and $4,200,000 below the estimates submitted in the Budget. A comparative statement of these items grouped under five main headings is set forth below as follows: Total, Reclamation Service... 55, 778, 600 45, 181, 600 40,981, 600 1 Reappropriation. And unexpended balance. -$240,000 -10, 000 -450,000 -7,050.000 -1,400,000 -3,500,000 -14, 797, 000 -4,200,000 Funds for the operation and maintenance of existing projects are provided for in the bill in substantially the same amounts as were appropriated for the current year. Slight increases in several items are provided for necessary repair work or additional acreage to be brought into production during the next fiscal year. A total appropriation of $9,500,000 from the reclamation fund is recommended for Construction work on various projects. This amount is $1,360,000 Less than the current appropriation and $200,000 below the Budget figure. The appropriation provided for this purpose will permit the continuation of construction or the enlargement of 15 reclamation projects, of which only 2-the Gila project and the Casper-Alcova project can be classified as new projects. And in most cases the |