Page:LewisMeriam-TheProblemOfIndianAdministration.djvu/179

weather the needs of the Indians out in their shacks are frequently the greatest.

Little economy is effected by securing tires and tubes in advance and keeping them in stock in the warehouse for long periods before they are used. It is not surprising that tires kept all summer in a galvanized iron building on the. Arizona desert failed after a few thousand miles, nor that a considerable part of the time spent in the field with an exceptionably able superintendent should have gone in changing, patching, and pumping. It would be cheaper to require that each car have all tires in good condition and two spares and to give the superintendent authority to purchase new ones from the nearest dealer who has a sufficient business to keep a fresh stock and who will offer a reasonable discount from list prices. Resort might be had to the mail order houses.

Serious consideration should be given to an entire change of policy with respect to cars for individual employees. It is believed that the plan of having each employee who requires a car own and maintain his own, paying him a reasonably liberal mileage for its use on government business would be a real economy. This plan is used by some branches of the federal government, by some state and local governments, and by some private corporations. It would necessitate regular reports on the number of miles traveled and the purpose of the travel and some clerical work, but these reports would give the superintendent a good idea of the work done, and with his knowledge of the country he could check their substantial accuracy. At times the government would doubtless pay for some miles actually traveled on private business, but under the present system official cars are likewise sometimes used in that way. The great advantage would be that the employee would have an incentive to take care of his own car; that he could not attribute his own shortcomings to the type of condition of the cars furnished by the government; that it would help him to keep a car for his own and his family’s personal use, thus relieving them somewhat from the isolation of their life and from the tempation to use the government car personally; and it would relieve the government from the great amount of detailed work involved in keeping records of cars and equipment, and passing upon requests for new ones, and the purchase of new ones and equipment, and checking up repair.