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have retained possession of their property in whole or in part and, if in part only, to what extent. Likewise, one would expect some considerable body of facts relating to what has happened to those Indians who were given fee patents and lost their lands. Have they in fact demonstrated their capacity by making their way despite the loss of their property, or are they living on their relatives or squatting on land belonging to others and living under conditions not as good as those of the Indian never declared competent? What has been the history of Indians who have gone to the cities from the reservations or the Indian schools and attempted to make their way in white communities? To what extent is it wise to foster such a movement?

The facts to permit of answers to these basic questions are not available. At the instance of the present survey the Indian Office requested the superintendents to prepare certain very limited data as to the number of Indians who have received fee patents since the passage of the Burke Act and the number of these who still retain their property. Several superintendents said that the fee patentees were beyond their responsibility, as in law they are, and that it would require more time and expense than they could put upon it to determine accurately who had and who had not sold their lands. Data regarded as reasonably accurate were received with respect to 13,872 Indians who had received fee patents between 1906 and 1925, of whom 2859 or 20.6 per cent still retain some or all of their land. No information was secured as to how much they retained or whether it was unencumbered or mortgaged.

If these figures may be regarded as typical, then four-fifths of all the Indians specially selected for their competency have not retained their property. It does not necessarily follow that they have all failed to stand upon their own feet and that they are all still in need of educational and developmental assistance from the national or the local government if they are to be adjusted to our civilization, but these figures clearly demonstrate the need for the actual facts on the subject. For a superintendent or for the government to take the position that these fee patent Indians, officially declared competent, are of no concern to the nation, is entirely to misinterpret the problem of the government, and to substitute an artificial legalistic criterion for the real tests of social and eco-