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COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
Class 9. Crockery and lamps---------------------------------$9, 100 
Class 10. Furniture and woodenware-----------------------     35,000 
Class 11. Harness, leather, shoe findings, saddlery, etc--------------33,500
Class 12. Agricultural implements------------------------------10,700 
Class 13. Wagons and wagon fixtures----------------------------18,400 
Class 14. Paints, oils, and glass--------------------------------42,000 
Class 15. Tin and stamped ware, etc-----------------------------6,800 
Class 16. Stoves, pipe, and hollow ware--------------------------8,000 
Class 17. Hardware -----------------------------------------54,000 
Medical supplies--------------------------------------------23,400 
School books, etc -------------------------------------------16, 700 
Coal    ----------------------------------------------------194,800 
Total,---------------------------------------------1 758, 600 
Altogether these embrace 2,673 items. Bids for these articles were 
opened this year as follows: 
For subsistence, except dried fruit, for classes 8 to 17 except for 
the Pacific coast, and for school books, on April 25, in Chicago. 
For classes 7 and 17, except hardware for Pacific coast, and for 
medical supplies, on April 27, in St. Louis. 
For classes 1 to 6, on May 16, in New York. 
For coal, on May 25, in Washington. 
For classes 8 to 17, for the Pacific coast agencies and schools, on 
June 13, in San Francisco. 
For dried fruit, on September 29, in Washington. 
The number of bids received were as follows: Chicago, 460; St. 
Louis, 70; New   York, 72; Washington, 102; San Francisco, 75; 
total, 779.. 
All articles, except a few subsistence supplies, such as beef, bacon, 
etc., are bought on samples submitted by the bidders. The samples 
are examined by experts, and those are selected which, price and 
quality considered, will best answer the purposes of the service. 
When we consider the number of bids offered, their tabulation and 
arrangement, the comparison of samples, which sometimes number as 
many as a dozen different makes of one article, and the precautions 
necessary to prevent the expert judges from knowing the identity of 
any bidder, it will be seen that the work involves a great amount of 
clerical and other labor and not a little time. 
The present system, with few modifications, has prevailed for years, 
and on the whole has served its purpose well. Changes for the 
better have been made from time to time, however, as special exigen- 
cies have pointed the way. Until recently, for example, subsistence 
and goods of the first eight classes for the Pacific coast agencies and 
schools were not included in the Eastern lettings, but were bought sep- 
arately. Such articles as beef, flour, and grain were allowed to be 
contracted for by the different agencies and schools, while the other 
articles of subsistence and the classified goods described were bought 
IND 1905  2 
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