2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, 
The continued study of the material culture of the Indians 
has a practical economic value. Certain food plants, like 
maize, and fibers, ike henequen, have already been adopted 
from our aborigines, and there are others of vast economic 
value which await investigation. Ethnological studies of our 
Indians along these lines are being made by the members of 
the staff. 
Another instructive line of work the past year relates to 
the history of the Indians both before and after the advent 
of the Europeans. Such studies tend to a broader appre- 
ciation of racial character and have special value when we 
reflect how rapidly the Indian population is merging into 
American life. The excavation and repair of prehistoric 
monuments in our Southwest is enlarging our knowledge of 
history as well as attracting more and more tourists and 
replacing threadbare prejudices with saner ideas of Indian 
possibilities in many lines. 
The logical results of the events of the last years appear 
in the calls for information made on the staff for accurate 
knowledge of other races besides the American Indian. It 
needs no prophet to predict that the future will demand an 
extension of the bureau work to other races. The calls for 
ethnological information on the Indian during the past year 
have been many and varied and considerable time of the 
ethnologists has been taken up in answering the many 
requests of this nature that are made. The chief has given 
much time to administration and routine work. 
SYSTEMATIC RESEARCHES. 
In addition to administrative duties the chief has been 
able to devote considerable time to research work in the 
field and has prepared for publication several scientific 
articles, the largest of which will soon be published as 
Bulletin No. 70. These field researches are in accordance 
with the above-mentioned act of Congress, which includes 
the excavation and preservation of archeological remains. 
In September he took the field, continuing his exploration 
of the castles and towers of the McElmo and tributary can- 
