REPORT OF INDIAN SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
clerk of class four. The Indian School Superintendent is now perform- 
ing the duties of this clerk and is in charge of the Education Division 
of the Indian Bureau, but his duties will frequently require his absence

from the capital. Therefore there should be an Assistant Superin- 
tendent to take, at such times, the Superintendent's place in the Indian

Bureau, and. during that officer's absence, attend to the very important

interests which are under the supervision of the Education Division. 
IN CONCLUSION. 
In administration of the 'affairs of the Indian school system, a public 
officer, if clothed with powers enabling him to properly perform the 
duties of such administration, might find ample opportunity for hard 
work that would give the grateful return of a consciousness that some- 
thing had been added by his labors to the not too abundant store of 
huwan happiness. But the Indian School Superintendent does not pos- 
sess official authority that enables him to efficiently control the Indian

school system. He has no official powers. He is a superintendent who 
must superintend by indirection-by inducing another officer to act 
upon his suggestions and recommendations. Desiring to communicate 
with the Indian schools, of which he is declared by the title of his office

to be the Superintendent, his comurunication will have no vitality if it

is not made in the name of another officer. These objections to the 
office of Indian School Superintendent have been, in my case, modified 
in some degree by the action of Commissioner Atkins, who, with your 
consent, has enlarged the restricted duties of my undefined office by 
permitting me to aid him in the work of superintending and managing 
Indian school affairs. But, notwithstanding the fact that under the 
existing arrangement in the Indian Bureau the Indian School Superin- 
tendent does, in effect, perform the duties of Superintendent, he does not

perform those duties in the exercise of an official right that might be 
insisted upon. In view of this fact, the suggestion that the duty of an 
adequately authoritative supervision of the Indian school system should 
be imposed upon the Indian School Superintendent by law, is not, I be- 
lieve, an unwise one. 
Acknowledging my indebtedness to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
for his abundant manifestations of confidence in my ability to properly 
manage the affairs which have been committed to my charge, I beg leave 
to submit to you for consideration the facts and suggestions of this 
report. 
I have the honor to be, sir, yours respectfully, 
JOHN H. OBERLY, 
Indian School Superintendent. 
Hon. L. Q. C. LAmAR, 
Secretary of the Interior, 
Washington, D. C. 
 
CXXVII