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suggestion worthy of consideration is that Indians who desire fee patents be required to serve a probationary period during which they must demonstrate their capacity to earn a living. In some instances Indians desire fee patents to all or a portion of their land in order to invest the proceeds in a business, in the purchase of a house, or in some other way that shows good business judgment. The policy of the Service in furthering sales for productive purposes or for permanent improvement of living conditions is to be commended.
Leasing of Indian lands should be materially curtailed. In theory, now, the Service opposes the leasing of lands of able bodied Indians, but in the absence of an adequate field force to encourage and help the Indian in the use of his lands, the temptation is great to permit it to be leased rather than to lie idle. In some instances Indians have not only never lived on their allotments, they have never seen them and have no desire to go to the place where their land is. In such cases the land should, if possible, be sold and the proceeds used to purchase land for the Indian in the neighborhood where he desires to live.
The problem of inherited land should be given thorough detailed study by the Division of Planning and Development. It is doubtful if the serious nature of this problem was appreciated at the time the allotment acts were passed. Because of this feature of the allotment system the land of the Indians is rapidly passing into the hands of the whites, and a generation of landless, almost penniless, unadjusted Indians is coming on. What happens is this: The Indian to whom the land was allotted dies leaving several heirs. Actual division of the land among them is impracticable. The estate is either leased or sold to whites and the proceeds are divided among the heirs and are used for living expenses. So long as one member of the family of heirs has land the family is not landless or homeless, but as time goes on the last of the original allottees will die and the public will have the landless, unadjusted Indians on its hands.
The solution appears to be for the government vigorously to exercise its power of guardianship in the control and regulation of property secured by inheritance. If the land itself passes to the heirs, they should not be permitted to sell without government sanction unless all the heirs are competent. So long as any of the