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COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
any other department for the purpose of disposing of surplus Gov- 
,ernment property. 
The effort to deliver supplies to the schools and agencies at a cer- 
tain time was in some instances made secondary to buying when 
the market was right. Field officers realizing this economic gain 
-have cooperated splendidly. Little trouble was experienced in get- 
ting cars, and shipments once started reached their destinations in a 
reasonable time. The warehouses, particularly in Chicago, had diffi- 
culty in obtaining proper help, but toward the end of the year this 
condition was somewhat improved. 
FORESTRY. 
About July 1, 1920, the abnormal demand for timber products 
that had existed for many months began to weaken, and within 
three months from that date the sale of manufactured productsbe- 
-came very difficult. Duriing the remainder of the calendar year 1920 
there was no marked decline of prices, but the sale and shipment of 
products steadily declined. Early in the year 1921 manufacturers 
began to offer the lower grades of stock at greatly reduced prices, 
and during the first six months of the year the market became con- 
tinuously weaker. 
The suspension of shipments during the last months of 1920 and 
the subsequent reduction of prices below the actual cost of produc- 
tion of a large portion of the lumber then in the hands of manu- 
facturers resulted in the closing of many mills manufacturing logs 
cut on Indian reservations and a resultant abandonment of logging, 
or a great curtailment of operations, on nearly all contract areas. 
Large sales of yellow pine at very satisfactory prices were made 
on the Jicarilla and Klamath Reservations, and a sale of white and 
INorway pine, cedar, and other products on allotments of the Nett 
Lake Reservation proved exceptionally advantageous to the Indians. 
However, the demand for stumpage has been very light during the 
greater part of the year and comparatively few offerings of timber 
have been made. 
The improvement of telephonic communication on reservations, 
begun early in 1920, has been continued through the year, as has 
also the systematic valuation survey of the Klamath Reservation. 
It is expected that the Klamath forest survey will be completed 
during the working season of 1922, and the Service will then be in 
possession of reliable and complete data as to forest resources and 
land classification on this extensive reservation. Special attention 
has been given to a study of lumber production costs for the purpose 
of obtaining complete data for use in stumpage appraisals and price 
readjustments.. Very satisfactory progress has been achieved in this 
direction. Several mill scale studies have been conducted and sub- 
stantial advancement made in the collection of photographic illus- 
trations of forestry operations on Indian reservations. 
The forest-fire situation was particularly acute in Washington and 
Montana during July and August, 1920, and unusually heavy ex- 
penditures were incurred on the Colville and Flathead Reservations 
in efforts to control the fires. The damage to timber and grazing 
would have been much greater except for the effort and funds thus 
expended. 
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