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consideration for competency. They would operate as a barrier for the Indian who although economically incompetent is exerting every possible effort to be declared so for the purpose of getting the power to sell his property so that he may for a brief period live riotously on the proceeds. They would make more difficult the task of the white man who seeks to have the Indian declared competent so that the white man may get possession of the Indian’s wealth at a fraction of its value. They would bring to sharp attention the wise, thrifty, astutely competent Indian who values highly his status of incompetency because it saves him from taxes and frees him from the economic dangers faced by his tax-paying neighbors.

The Indian Service at present lacks these records, gathered regularly and systematically as a part of the day’s work. At times a so-called survey or census is undertaken, which gets a picture of conditions as they are at the time, but these data rapidly get out of date and give little basis for watching progress and directing activities. The best records, apparently, are those made by progressive superintendents, who are themselves actively working with their Indians, encouraging them in economic activities and improving their social conditions, and who find that they need records for the direction and control of their own work. These superintendents, however, are the ones who least need supervision and prodding from the Washington office. That office greatly needs accurate and reliable data such as these, so that it may reward those officers who are doing really constructive work and prod or remove those who are content to let things drift along. It should not be dependent on what data the superintendent turns in, but should itself prescribe the information to be reported and the methods to be followed in its preparation and should submit it to such checks and verifications as may be necessary to secure its substantial accuracy.

Data Regarding Indians Declared Competent. Data regarding the Indians who have been declared competent are extremely meager, although such facts are probably the best basis for test of the success or failure of fundamental policies and their application. One would expect to find readily available data showing what proportion of the Indians who have been given fee patents