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For the purpose of extending the systematic researches of the bureau and of affording additional facilities for its administration, the following recommendations are made:

A question having arisen in the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives as to the purpose for which an increase of $2,000 in the bureau’s appropriation in 1909 was intended, the work of excavating and repairing antiquities existing in national parks and monuments has been curtailed. The importance of elucidating the archeological problems connected with these ancient remains and of repairing the more important of them for visitors and for future students is so apparent that the need of continuing this work is generally recognized; consequently an estimate of $4,000 “for the exploration and preservation of antiquities” has been submitted for the next fiscal year. [33]

Ethnological research in Alaska is urgently needed by reason of the great changes taking place among the Indians and the Eskimo since the influx of white people a few years ago. Unless this investigation is undertaken at once the aboriginal inhabitants will have become so modified by contact with whites that knowledge of much of their primitive life will be lost. It is recommended that the sum of $4,500 be appropriated for this work.

The more speedy extension of ethnological researches among the remnants of the Algonquian tribes formerly occupying the Middle West is desired. In a number of cases these tribes are represented by only a few survivors who retain any knowledge of the traits, language, and customs of their people; hence it will be impossible to gather much of this information unless the work is extended more rapidly, as the funds now at the bureau’s disposal for this purpose are inadequate. The additional sum of $1,000 is recommended for this purpose.

As previously stated, the demand for the Handbook of American Indians has been so great that many schools and libraries have necessarily been denied. The need of a revised edition is urgent, but the revision can not be satisfactorily undertaken and the latest information incorporated without the employment of special ethnologic assistants—those who have devoted special study to particular tribes—and editorial and clerical aid. It is recommended that the sum of $3,800 be appropriated for this purpose.

The bureau is constantly in receipt of requests from schools, historical societies, compilers of textbooks, etc., for photographic prints of Indian subjects, since it is generally known that the bureau possesses many thousands of negatives accumulated in the course of its investigations. As no funds are now available for this purpose, it is recommended that a reasonable sum, say $1,000, be appropriated for the purpose of furnishing prints for educational purposes. In most cases applicants would doubtless be willing to pay the cost, but at present the bureau has no authority for selling photographs. [34]

The manuscripts accumulated by the bureau form a priceless collection; indeed many of them, if lost, could not be replaced, since they represent the results of studies of Indians who have become extinct or have lost their tribal identity. It is therefore urgently recommended that the sum of $1,350 be appropriated for fireproofing a room and for providing metal cases for the permanent preservation of the manuscripts.

F.W. Hodge,

Ethnologist-in-Charge. [35]