The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-11-08
INDIAN BUREAU.
Moral and Material Progress Made
by the Indians in a Twelve
month.
More than Five Thousand Young Bar
barians Now at School and
Learning RAPIDLY.
Following is a synopsis of the annual report

Following is a synopsis of the annual report
of Indian Commissioners Price:
A decided advance has been made i'm the
march of improvements among the Indian
tribes, particularly i'm the matter of industrial
school education. Some tribes have been
persuaded to send their children TO school that
heretofore resisted all efforts TO induce them
10 do so. one question may now he con-
sidered settled beyond controversy, and that
Is the Indian must be taught To work for his
own support and to speak the English
language, or give place 10 people who do.
Among the things needed TO secure success
and efficiency in solving the Indian problem
are:
l. An appropriation TO survey the bound
aries OF Indian reservations. so both the In
dams and the white men may know where
they have rights and where they have none.
,. law for the punishment of persons who
furnish arms or ammunition to the Indians.
No such law now exists,
3. More liberal appropriations for Indian
police.
4. An appropriation sufficient TO defray the
expenses OF detecting and prosecuting the
persons who furnish Intoxicating liquor 10
Indians. No ardent spirits should be intro
duced into the Indian country under any pre-
tense whatever, nor their sale permitted with
in twenty miles of an Indian reservation;
but, under existing laws on the subject, it is
a notorious fact that ale, beer, and prepara-
tons of alcoholic stimulantS disguised as
medicines, are sold at the military posts 10
soldiers and civilians, and, although the post
traders are not permitted 10 sell it directly TO
Indians, yet IL is an easy matter for the
Indians to obtain it from the soldiers and
civilians to whom il Is furnished. The pun
ishments imposed by law for this ofense
should be made more severe.
The practice of approving contracts TO col
lect from the Government money due the In
dams is one that ought not to exist. 1t has
for years been the practice to approve con-
tracts by which outside parties have taken
from the Indians hundreds of thousands of
dollars for services which oughtnOt to cost
the Indians enc cent. During the last four
years agreements have been entered into be-
tween Indians and different attorneys by
which these attorneys were To receive from
the Indians S155,22l for collecting from the
Government money said to be due the In
dams.
1t is the duty OF the Government to see that
the wards of the nation receive what is justly
due them free of cost, and equally the duty
of the Government TO see that 40 unjust
claim Is paid.
Congress should confer both civil and
criminal jurisdiction ON the several States
and Territories over all the Indian reserva-
lions within their respective limits, and make
the person and property of the Indian amen
| able TO the laws OF the State or Territory in
which he may reside, except in cases where
| such property Is expressly exempted by
! treaty or act OF Congress, and give him all
the rights in the courts enjoyed by other per
| sons.
The recommendations for legislation for
the protection of timber on Indian lands are
renewed. During the year there Yas paid in
cash, as annuity and otherwise, S145, 900.
Less than 5000, 900 of this amount was for the
! payment of annuitics proper, many of which
will expire in the near future by limitation
/ in the various treaties.
The increase in accommodations for Indian
pupils. which the school appropriations for the
last fiscal year made possible has been fol-
lowed by corresponding increase of attend
ance of pupils. Exclusive of the five civilized
tribes the number enrolled at the boarding
schools during the year just closed is 5,l43, an
| increase of Gjt over last year The attend
ance on the day-schools has been 5,0l4, an
increase OF 7iS over the preceding year. OF
the >, As boarding pupils 1886 attended schools
on the reservations or in their immediate
vicinity. Boarding and day schools on the
| reservations have made a credtable record.
Eight new neutrality-suspicious. have been opened,
making the whole number now in operation,
exclusive OF traning-schools, seventy-seven.
The Indian tribes of Indian Territory
having failed to adopt freedmen into their
tribe, as contemplated by the appropriation
| act OF 1882, il is recommended that legsla-
ton be asked authorizing their settlement in
the Oklahoma district, under some well-de-
| fined jurisdiction and form OF government,
with power given the Secretary of the In
terror to determine what freedmen should
be allowed to settle thereon, or else that such
stringent laws be passed rs will compel the
| respective tribes to adopt the freedmen as
provided in their treaties.
The early attention of Congress is invited
to the deporable condition of the Indians in
Montana, that steps toward assisting them
! may be taken as soon rs possible.
The report concludes with the recital of the
! agreement signed I'm Washington July last be-
tween Chief Moses and the Secretary of the
| Interior which Will the Commissioner says,
! if ratified by Congress, restore to the public
| domain 2,243,0I acres OF land i'm Washington
| Territory upon terms favorable TO the Gov
eminent and for the best interests of the
! Indians.