important phase of the work for these 12,440 Indians. There are only 7 employees, farm agents, stockmen, and range riders, working under the direction of an agricultural extension agent on an area of approximately 1,400,000 acres comprising 21 pueblos, with an Indian population of approximately 3,000 families.

Winnebago Agency, Nebr., $2,450 (1 junior credit-extension agent, $2,000; travel and other expenses, $450).-There are four tribes under this jurisdiction, all of which have been most seriously injured financially by recurring droughts and insect infestations. The present extension program is being handled by three workers: One agricultural extension agent, one farm agent, and one district farmer. The jurisdiction is divided into three districts. Two of these districts are provided with workers for the particular benefit of the local groups. The agricultural extension agent is stationed at the agency, being in general charge of the entire program and from force of necessity handling the work in the third district which has a resident population of 253 families.

At present these Indians are cultivating only 2,800 acres of farm land and are using about 1,600 acres for grazing purposes. With close guidance and assistance it is believed that the use of farming land can be increased several times. The further need for such development is shown by the fact that 47 Indian families had an estimated average family income from agriculture in 1938 of $189, and 79 families had an average income of only $129. Due to conditions described previously, it has been necessary to neglect entirely the 4-H Club work in this district.

The four tribes in the Winnebago jurisdiction have had $112,500 of revolving loan funds committed in amounts varying from $12.500 to $35,000. Delinquencies in the same groups vary from $549.22 to $5,318.76, which are entirely too high. As of June 30, $124,421.22 have been made available in 161 loans. The adverse seasons contributed materially to the delinquencies and increased the amount of debt necessary to protect the original loans. The volume of credit work and the need for more careful planning require the services of a junior credit extension agent.

Administrative promotions, $4,780.-This sum represents the amount required to grant one-step administrative promotions to eligible employees in accordance with the formula explained elsewhere in the justifications.

PROGRESS MADE IN IMPROVING ECONOMIC STATUS OF INDIANS

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Just state briefly, Mr. Cooley, what is comprised in this item. Are you making any material progress?

Mr. COOLEY. Under this item, as you know, Mr. Chairman, our work is confined to trying to improve the economic status of the Indians. We feel that we are making noticeable progress, which I will bring out just a little later by citing some of the results we have been able to accomplish, but I would like to present this picture:

That through the expenditures that have been made on the various reservations in the way of soil conservation, irrigation development, land purchases, range improvement, the repayment cattle pool and the work that has been brought about by the Reorganization Act in the way of providing credit has enabled the Indians to participate more fully than ever before in an agricultural program. The program now has developed to the point where the Indians are making more demands on the extension staff for advice and assistance than we can meet with our present staff.

If we are not able to follow up the work already started we feel that much of the investment that has been made up to date will be lost.

The Extension Division was organized in 1930. It was not until 1932, however, that we had any statistics that gave us much in the way of definite information.

BEEF AND DAIRY CATTLE OWNED BY INDIANS

In that year there were 170,000 head of beef cattle, in round numbers, on the various reservations. Today we have 262,000, or an increase of around 53 percent.

Mr. CARTER. Are these cattle owned by the Indians?

Mr. COOLEY. These cattle are owned by the Indians. The number of Indian-owned cattle, I think, is rather important.

In 1933 there were only 8,000 Indians owning cattle-I am speaking in round numbers-and today we have 15,000 Indians owning cattle. In the dairy-cattle field we have had an even more outstanding improvement. We had in 1932 11,000 head of dairy cattle owned by Indians, and today we have 26,000.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. These cattle are owned by how many Indians?

Mr. COOLEY. Owned by 8,800 Indians; and in 1933 there were only 6,000 Indians owning dairy cattle.

This gives you some idea of the advances that the Indians have made in this particular field.

Of course, you know that the major enterprise on Indian reservations is livestock raising. Probably 85 percent of the land on the Indian reservations is range land and can only be utilized through livestock.

GARDEN PROGRAM

When we initiated the garden program we had 25,000 Indian families growing gardens and today we have 29,000, or an increase of 16 percent. The Indians are taking a great interest in canning and drying. In the canning work we have increased from 354,000 quarts of fruit in 1932 to 1,600,000 in 1938, or better than 350 percent increase.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Do you have the figures as to the increase of irrigated gardens?

Mr. COOLEY. We do have them, but I do not have them here. I could work that out for you and furnish it for the record. The increase has been even greater in the irrigated gardens. We have been specifically emphasizing that phase of the work.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Have these gardens generally been successful?

Mr. COOLEY. Yes; very successful.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. I will say that they have some irrigated gardens among the Commanches, Kiowas, and other tribes in the district which I represent, and I am informed that these gardens have been very successful.

Mr. COLLEY. Yes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. And they seem to be a very prosperous enterprise among the Indians.

Mr. COOLEY. That is very true; and there is a larger demand, being made on the service for that type of work; and the Irrigation Division has been cooperating with us in developing irrigation garden tracts.

Mr. GREENWOOD. In connection with the irrigation items, we have inserted some statistics in the justifications with respect to irrigated gardens. They show that the Irrigation Division has developed 937

garden tracts through the fiscal year 1939, involving 3,710 acres of irrigated land, which are benefiting 2,851 Indian families. The crop value was $94,136.

Mr. JOHNSON. That will be of considerable interest to the committee.

Because of drought in many sections the Indians have become very much interested in irrigated gardens and have been insisting on further development of such gardens. As a result the Irrigation Division, in many instances in cooperation with the Civilian Conservation Division, Indian Division, and other divisions, in 1938 constructed and rehabilitated an additional 832 irrigated gardens, representing an increase of 2,112 acres in which an additional 1,159 families participated. Extension workers assisted the Indians in making the best use of these lands to produce food for their families. During drought periods in these areas, it is impossible for the Indians to grow gardens under dry farm conditions.

A garden tract, as developed by the Irrigation Division, may consist of several individual gardens.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. Is there any further statement you wish to make in connection with this item?

Mr. COOLEY. I might state that the average size of the garden that each family is growing is about two-thirds of an acre.

BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS

You may be interested in what we are doing for the boys and girls on the reservations. In 1934 we had 4,000 boys and girls listed in club work. Today we have 6,600, and the number of boys and girls that complete their work amounts to about 70 percent. The Indian boys and girls compare very favorably with the white boys and girls in this work.

I think last year Indian 4-H Club members won over 736 county prizes and 98 State prizes which illustrates that they are able to compete creditably with the white boys and girls.

Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. I think that would be very interesting. Mr. COOLEY. The club work includes such things as pig clubs, calf clubs, sewing and canning clubs, garden clubs, and crop clubs in which they take up the growing of potatoes, corn, and various vegetables.

CATTLE POOL

I think also I should mention the cattle pool which has in it about 35,000 head of cattle. Through the pool about 21,000 head of cattle have been collected and redistributed to Indians.

We obtained the cattle originally through the Government's drought-relief program that was carried on several years ago. The

Government turned over these cattle to the Indian Service for distribution among the Indians on the various reservations. Each Indian who received cattle was required to enter into a contract obligating him to return a yearling heifer for each animal that he received.

This enterprise has met with considerable interest on the part of the Indians; so much so that a number of Indian tribes are now asking that they be allowed to buy cattle with tribal money for issue to their members on the same terms as the Government stipulated in distributing the drought-relief cattle. They feel that it is much easier to pay back a calf than it is to pay back the cash, and we are encouraging them to follow such a program.

Mr. RICH. May I ask you a question?

Mr. COOLEY. Yes.

POSSIBILITY OF INDIANS BECOMING SELF-SUPPORTING

Mr. RICH. With the aid and assistance that the Government is giving to the Indians, the younger generation, what in your judgment, or how soon do you believe that the Indians are going to progress sufficiently to become self-supporting?

Mr. COOLEY. I wish I were enough of a prophet to answer that question. To measure the time that an individual would require to become self-supporting-I do not think it would be possible.

I can say this, that the Indians are making as rapid progress in their development as the whites around them, and in many cases are progressing at a much faster rate.

Mr. RICH. Well, how rapid progress are they making? It seems to me, and I have always felt and I know the people of this country feel, that while we want to try to do something for them—in my section the people feel that they want to do something for themselves rather than be asking somebody to hand out something to them. And with the assistance that the Government is giving to the Indians I thought it was with the general idea that while we are to aid twentyfive or thirty thousand of them—and their number is on the increasewith the Budget increasing annually I was trying to find out how long we were going to have to continue such a program of assistance. Do you think we can cut down on the cost to the Government of furnishing aid to the Indians in the near future?

Mr. COOLEY. Well, I think you would agree that one of the best investments that the Government can make is in helping the Indians to develop their own resources through their own efforts.

Mr. RICH. I agree with you there, but I want to know from you, who is experienced in handling Indian affairs and you ought to be in position to express an opinion on whether the Indians are becoming self-supporting, how long it is going to be necessary for us to continue the appropriations to support them to the point where they will become independent citizens. When do you think the time will ever arrive?

Mr. COOLEY. Well, I am sorry I am not in position to answer that question.

Mr. RICH. Mr. Commissioner what is your judgment on that point?

Mr. COLLIER. You, of course, realize that the drought has gotten hold of the central west and we have had a tremendous job of relieving the drought situation among the Indians.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. In Oklahoma?

Mr. COLLIER. Extending farther west.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. In Nevada.

Mr. COLLIER. And Arizona, northern Arizona, and extending around the northern part of New Mexico throughout the Dust Bowl area on the Plains section.

Mr. RICH. We have had that problem to face in Pennsylvania.

Mr. COLLIER. I am just mentioning that as preliminary to what I want to say: For many years. for 40 years, in New Mexico, the Government has been maintaining rations and relief for Indians, in the 19 Pueblo tribes. But this year they are taking care of their own relief; they have developed a very big canning program, not only raising the commodities but going out and buying them when the market is low.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Does the Government pay for these commodities? Mr. COLLIER. No; the Indians paid for them, bought them themselves out of their own funds-not Government funds-and the Indians contributed the necessary labor, with the result that the Indians have their own relief program.

Mr. RICH. That is as it should be.

Mr. COLLIER. They are doing that, as Mr. Cooley has suggested, with the cattle program. Four years ago, when they started this plan at Isleta Pueblo, there were something over 800 animals supplied. They have been handled through the trusteeship, and in 3 years they have completely paid off the Government liens.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. How much did the Government lend; the loans were made in cattle?

Mr. COLLIER. They loaned in cattle and the repayments were made in cattle; the cattle were obtained as loans from the Government.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. Do I understand that they paid the Government back in cattle with the cattle they borrowed from the Government? Mr. COLLIER. They paid back in cattle which they raised.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. What do they do; issue them to the same Indian who made the loan?

Mr. COLLIER. They reissue them to other Indians on other reservations.

Mr. COOLEY. The first loans have been completely repaid.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. In other words they are paid back in cattle and reissued to someone else.

Mr. COOLEY. Loaned to someone else; yes.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. And he repays in cattle.

Mr. COOLEY. And he repays the loan in cattle.

Mr. SCRUGHAM. You do not lend them to the same persons?

Mr. COOLEY. No; except in cases where the Indian only has a few head.

Mr. COLLIER. At the end of 3 years they had a herd which had grown to about 840, all of which were paid for and, in addition, they had something like $10,000 in the bank from commercial sales.

They had earned about $50,000 in the 3 years and they have now proceeded to continue the trusteeship for all the livestock operations;