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Appreciating the fact that many persons deeply interested in the broader aspects of the Indian problem cannot give the time required for a consideration of the details, we have prepared a summary which will immediately follow this letter of transmittal.

You will appreciate that in the preparation of a report of this character a choice has to be made as to the criterion to be used in measuring progress. One alternative is to compare conditions existing to-day with conditions existing when the various activities undertaken in behalf of the Indians were first begun. The other is to compare the activities as at present conducted with the work of other agencies, both public and private, engaged in comparable activities for the general population or for other special groups. This second method, in other words, may be described as comparing present conditions with the practicable ideal.

Had the Institute for Government Research considered its primary function to be to pass upon the competency and efficiency of the officers and employees of the Indian Service, it would properly have adopted as its criterion the progress made in the several activities; it would have taken the conditions at the beginning as the base line and would have given due consideration to the limitations imposed by appropriations. Such a measure is the only fair one to apply in attempting the difficult task of evaluating the services of individual employees of an organization.

The Institute, however, did not regard this approach to the subject as sufficiently fundamental and constructive. The object of the Institute was not to say whether the Indian Service has done well with the funds at its disposal but rather to look to the future and insofar as possible to indicate what remains to be done to adjust the Indians to the prevailing civilization so that they may maintain themselves in the presence of that civilization according at least to a minimum standard of health and decency.

This use of the practicable ideal as the standard for discussion frequently makes it necessary to criticize adversely the present activities of the Indian Service. Fair-minded readers will appreciate that such criticism is not necessarily a reflection on the officers and employees of the Indian Service. Limited appropriations have often necessitated the employment of persons not possessed of the qualifications requisite for the efficient performance of the duties