g of
titles to this property.

The Commissioner of Education.--The Commissioner of Education
is the chief of the Bureau of Education. This bureau has charge of
the collection of facts and statistics relating to the educational
systems and to progress along educational lines in the several
States and Territories, and also in foreign countries. The reports
issued by the bureau are of great value to those interested in
education. The commissioner has advisory power only, except in
Alaska. Here he directs the management of the schools.

The Commissioner of Pensions.--The Commissioner of Pensions
supervises the examination and adjustment of all claims arising
under the laws of Congress granting bounty land or pensions on
account of services in the army or navy during the time of war.
That our government has not been ungrateful may be gathered from
the report of the commissioner for 1913. There were in that year
921,000 pensioners, to whom were paid approximately $180,000,000,
or an amount equal to about one-fifth of the total revenues of the
country.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs.--Prior to 1871 the Indian
tribes were treated as independent nations by the United States,
but by a law of that year the general government was made the
guardian of their interests. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs
exercises a protecting care over these "wards" by directing the
work of the Indian agents and of the superintendents of Indian
schools.

There are some 300,000 Indians on the 150 reservations which are in
the various States and Territories.[54] The lands of these
reservations are held in common; that is, the ownership is tribal
rather than individual. It is the policy of the government,
however, to bring about the allotment of lands "in severally," and
thus to encourage the Indians to adopt an agricultural life. The
Indians are only partially self-supporting. Some tribes derive an
income from funds which are the proceeds derived from the sales and
cessions of their lands. The National government holds this money
in trust for them, and, by direct appropriation, supplies the
money, food, and clothing necessary to complete their support. The
appropriation for the Indians in 1912 was $9,854,000. Over
one-fourth of this sum was spent for their