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ment and ceases to be one of its responsibilities. Decisions regarding declaring an Indian competent and giving him complete possession of his property are, therefore, among the most fundamental that the Indian Service is called upon to make.

Because of the fundamental nature of this decision, one would expect to find in a well administered service, carefully kept and compiled records and statistics, the records to serve as a guide in passing upon individual cases and the statistics derived from them to serve as a means of studying and reviewing the effect of past policies and as a guide in formulating new ones. As these policies are perhaps generally written into statutory enactments, such data are especially necessary for the Congress and its committees and for those officers of the Washington office, who are very properly looked to by Congress for formulating specific recommendations for legislation.

Possibly the best criterion for determining the competency of an Indian for release from wardship would be a reasonably accurate record of his accomplishments in those fields which are indicative of competency. What have been his means of livelihood in the past? What has he earned each year in these fields by his own efforts? To what extent has he depended for his own support and for that of his family upon unearned income, such as rent from leased land, distribution of tribal funds, the sale of surplus lands, and other such sources upon which so many Indians are largely dependent for their existence? What ability has he demonstrated to improve and develop his property? What advance has he made in his standard of living and in family life? What is the condition of his health? What is his mental equipment as evidenced by his education and his practical success? To what extent do his family support his efforts? What capabilities has his wife demonstrated? The answers to such questions and others like them should not be based on the opinion of the present superintendent or the farmer who happens to be in charge at the time an Indian applies for his fee patent or a certificate of competency. They should be recorded regularly and systematically as a part of the system, to serve as a guide to the local staff in directing its work in behalf of the Indian while he continues under wardship and as an index largely to govern in that supreme decision, made when he is declared competent. They would indicate what Indians are really eligible for