Morning journal and courier., 1880-12-03
9ournal ano Goluier.
Friday Morning, Dec. 3. 1880.
THE RED MEN,

| tary Schurz has something to say in his an- nual report concerning the prevalent criti- eism of Indian management. Much of this criticism he considers valueless and not founded on facts. It is unquestionably true, as he says, that the number of American citizens who know all about Indian matters without ever having given a moments study to that large and complicated subject is great. It is also true that, on the whole the Indianj situation is now more hopeful than ever before which state of things is partly due to intelligent criticism, of which the Secretary does not complain.
 Among the hopeful features of the situa- tion is that the desire of the Indians to main tain friendly relations with their white neigh bors to go to work for their own support, to cultivate the soil, to acquire permanent homes, to have their children educated and to assimilate themselves to the civilization of the country is growing stronger and more general every day. The enlargement of the agricultural activity of the Indians, the dis tribution of cattle among them to promote the industry of herding, the extensive intro duction of the freighting business, the en- couragement of mechanical industry, the in stitution of the Indian police, stimulating their respect of law and authority; the in crease of their educational facilities, notably among them the education of Indians at Hampton and in North Carolina, and the es- tablishment by the Government of the Indi- an schools at Carlisle and Forest Grove are all very encouraging
 If Congress will this winter pass some such bill as that advocated by Secretary Schurz a great step forward will have been taken. This bill, which has been al- ready submitted by him to Congress, provides for the division of farm tracts among the Indians in severalty on their respective reservations, the issuance of patents to them individually, and their in vestment with fee simple title to their farms, inalienable for certain number of years, until they may be presumed to have overcome the improvident habits in which a large part of the present generation have grown up, and, this being accomplished, for the disposition of the residue of the reserva- tions not occupied and used by the Indians, with their consent and for their benefit, to white settlers. Secretary Schurz thus speaks I most essential step in the solution of the h. dian problem It will inspire the Indians with feeling of assurance as to the perma- nency of their ownership of the lands they occupy and cultivate it will give them a clear and legal standing as landed proprietors in the courts of law; it will secure to them for the first time fixed homes under the pro of Ina xUb Ia men own theirs it will, eventually, open to settlement by white men the large tracts of land now belonging to the reservations but not used by the Indians. It will thus put the relations between the Indians and their white neighbors in the western country upon a new basis, by gradually doing away with the sys- tenn of large reservations, which has so ire quently provoked those encroachments which in ti1e past have led to so much cruei injustice and so many disastrous collisions. It will also, by the sale, with theirIconsent, of reservation lands now used by the Indians create for the benefit of the Indians a fund which will greatly relieve the government of those expenditures which have now to be provided for by appropriations. It will be the most effective measure to place Indians and white men upon an equal footing as to the protection and restraints of laws common to both'' With law of. this kind in force and another, which has been repeatedly introduced in Congress, ex- tending over Indian reservations the iurisdic- tion of the courts of the States or Territor- ies in which such reservations are located, giving tho Indians standing in such courts and securing to them the full benefit of the laws, the Indians would seem in a fair way to get better treatment than they have had, although it is probable that even then villain ous white men would continue to do them wrong.
 What Secretary Schurz says about the Poncas will not please the friends of those unfortunate and i'll treated Indians. He ad- mits the injustice done them but thinks it would be contrary, alike to their own inter to remove them to their old homes. This conclusion is supported by the statement that their present condition in the Indian Territory is prosperous that they do not themselves want to return North, and also because if they are removed back to Dakota, the other northern Indians now in the Indian Territory would be made restless with de- sire to follow their example. The good Bos- ton friends of the Poncas meet in Fremont Temple this evening, and some of them will undoubtedly speak their minds about this part of Secretary Schurz's report.