Note from President Theodore Roosevelt to Secretary of the Interior E. A. Hitchcock

-2- to handle our largest Indian School creditably, but that does not mean that he necessarily possesses the business ability and tact required to conduct and manage the afairs of an Agency. While, as before stated, I consider Mr. Burton a good school Superintendent and a man of unquestionable integrity of purpose, I do not consider him a first-class Agent. Previous to visiting the Moqui Agency I read the attack on Mr. Burton as contained in "Out West' by Charles F. Lummis, and during my visit enquired carefully into the allegations con- tained in said article, and while I consider them to a great extent without foundation in fact, I learned of many acts of Mr. Burton which, while not irregular or unbecoming to him in the line of his duty, did not indicate that he possessed the tact and judgment which might be expected of a man in his pos- ition. Beyond question, so far as School work goes, Mr. Burton has been very successful and while in the "Out West" article he is criticized as to his methods of obtaining children from Oraibi, the facts have been greatly distorted, and I can see no wrong as to the methods he actually followed. On the contrary, I consider that the results obtained by Mr. Burton were, if any- thing, complimentary to him. I understand from information obtained from Flagstaff that the previous attack on Mr. Burton will be repeated in the June number of the "Out West" and be continued from time to time in an attempt to have Mr. Burton removed from his position.