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own efforts in accordance with a minimum standard is a personal individual one. This level is reached by Indians a few at a time, not by whole tribes or bands or even by whole families. Although extent of schooling and degree of Indian blood may have some relationship to capacity to maintain this standard, the relationship is not sufficient to permit either extent of schooling or degree of Indian blood to be used as an index of capacity. Any careful study of the conditions among the Indians will reveal many mixed bloods and many with a fair degree of formal schooling who are far more out of adjustment to the prevailing economic system than are many full bloods with far less formal schooling. On some of the reservations it almost seems as if the balance turns in favor of the full bloods who have never left their reservations to attend school; that they have made better use of their economic possibilities before them and are more nearly reaching the minimum standard by their own efforts. Any generalization is, however, unsound. The facts must be considered for each individual.
The question may then be raised, “Must work be done for Indians so long as any remain who cannot maintain this standard?” If the question of “By whom shall this work be done,” be postponed for subsequent consideration, and if it is definitely understood that the present answer does not mean that the national government must continue indefinitely to do the work, this major question may be answered by simply “Yes.” Persons who are not able to maintain themselves and their dependents in accordance with a minimum standard of health and decency, whatever their race, constitute a definite well recognized public problem.
Services Which Must Be Rendered. If the doctrine of the survival of the fittest is resorted to, and if these people are let alone and nothing is done for them, they do not quietly and promptly vanish from the face of the earth as unfit. It is here that the theory of the survival of the fittest breaks down at least in modern highly organized society. They become centers for the development and spread of infectious and contagious diseases. Their offspring tend to become progressively less fit physically and mentally for making their way in the world. They contribute out of proportion to their numbers to those who have ultimately to be cared for in penal, correctional, or charitable institutions. They increase the number