A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 625 



(6) Mills designed to manufacture lumber and other products for 

 sale in commercial markets, as well as for Indian use. 



As Indian labor is usually less efficient than white labor, and 

 because small mills (with a daily output of 2,000 to 20,000 board 

 feet) can be operated for only short periods, the commercial operation 

 of Indian mills is difficult and has not been attempted in most in- 

 stances. They are operated mainly to afford the Indians a means of 

 industrial training and to act as an incentive in the improvement of 

 housing conditions on the reservations, and their maintenance must 

 be justified on educational and social grounds rather than economic. 

 Accurate yearly statistics concerning these mills are not available. 

 The number in operation has varied from 30 in 1911 to 25 in 1931. 

 Besides paying the Indians a substantial amount of wages, these mills 

 have exerted no little influence in industrial and social betterments on 

 some reservations. 



There are at present two sawmills (and logging operations) in 

 Indian timber which are operated commercially by Indians under the 

 supervision of the Forestry Branch, namely, on the Red Lake (Minn.) 

 and Menominee (Wis.) Indian Reservations. 



The Red Lake operation dates from 1925, has an output of approx- 

 mately 5 million board feet per year, and (up to Apr. 1, 1930) paid 

 the Indians over $300,000 in wages and accumulated a stumpage 

 credit of over $250,000. The Menominee operation, started soon 

 after the passage of the act of March 28, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 51), has 

 earned (up to December 1930) a net income of over $3,700,000 

 (stumpage and net operating profit) besides paying millions of dollars 

 in wages to Indians. Meriam and associates in "The Problem of 

 Indian Administration,'* Institute for Government Research, 1928, 

 said (p. 516) concerning the Menominee operation: 



At the Menominee Reservation Indians are employed both in the camps and 

 in the mill. One got the impression that the Indians there were doing more 

 work and prospering more than was the case on other reservations, and for this 

 situation the policy of employing Indians in the timber and mill operation was 

 apparently largely responsible. Interviews with the white officers on this 

 reservation brought out the opinion that the policy of employing Indians in- 

 creased the cost of production, that if a private commercial company had charge 

 of the operations they could reduce labor costs by employing a smaller force 

 made up almost entirely of white men. The tendency is to give the Indian who 

 applies for work a job, whether he is actually needed at the moment or not, 

 because the welfare of the Indians is placed ahead of the immediate interests of 

 the balance sheet. At times Indians have occupied some of the more responsible 

 positions requiring skill and experience, although it may be doubted whether they 

 could have held these positions in a commercial mill where they would have been 

 in direct competition with the whites. Despite this policy of preferring Indians, 

 the available statistics indicate that the operations are carried on at a profit. 



The survey staff has not made a detailed examination of the accounts of the 

 Menominee operations, but it is of the opinion that even if the profits are not 

 what they might be with a white staff, the undertaking is well worth while because 

 of the training and economic opportunities it affords the Indians. It is not only 

 a commercial enterprise, it is also educational. The superintendent at the time 

 of the survey visit showed a keen appreciation of the social side of his task. 



The number of Indians engaged in work with timber other than 

 at Red Lake and Menominee is small. It has been stated on numerous 

 occasions, however, that the advisability of initiating other tribal 

 enterprises such as are now being carried on at Red Lake and Meno- 

 minee should be carefully considered. 



In addition to the above many thousands of Indians are dependent 

 upon Indian timber for their fuel supply. 



