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sity have to be more of an expert in certain lines than the district superintendent himself, as for example, at such reservations as Pima, Klamath, and Yakima.
The existence of such district superintendents in the direct administrative line would tend to decrease the authority and responsibility of reservation superintendents, thereby making the positions less attractive to men of real ability, whereas one of the main problems of the Service is to make them more attractive. These reservation superintendents, in direct contact with the Indians, have to be the real leaders.
Placing district superintendents in direct line over school and agency men would in all probability tend to hold down or depress the salaries for the local superintendent in direct contact with the Indians. The view is commonly taken in governmental work that the salary for the position higher in the line of administrative authority must have superior pay. Since the reservation superintendent is subordinate to the district superintendent, it will be agreed, he should not get as much salary; yet actually salaries for real leaders on large important reservations should be as high as, or even higher than, for district superintendents only indirectly in contact with the Indians.
If the districts should be made sufficiently small to have substantial unity of problems and reasonably ready communication, and if each district office should be staffed with the necessary clerks and specialists, a very considerable sum would have to be spent for an overhead district organization not in direct contact with the Indians. Unless the district offices should have some specialists the local superintendents would be supervised by another general man, like themselves, but higher in authority. The outstanding need is not closer general supervision of superintendents but more aid and advice from persons who can help in those fields in which the superintendents necessarily must be weak in training and experience. Additional appropriation according to this view should be spent in developing a strong staff of specialists to work from the Washington office to give to the whole Service the benefit of this professional aid and advice, and to strengthen the local staffs dealing directly with the Indians, thereby eventually diminishing the necessity for close supervision. Expenditures in these two direc-