The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-07

government raIouS from Jay 10 uay u no longer
defensible Their inclination, long fostered by q
defective system OF control, Is to cling to the
habits and customs of their ancestors and ssrug-
gle with persistence against the change or life
which their altered circumstances press upon
them; but barbarism and civilization cannot live
together. It Is impossible that such homogeneous
conditions should exist on the same soil They
are portion of our people, are under the au-
thority of our government, and have peculiar
claim upon and are entitled to the fostering care
and protection of the Nation. The government
cannot relieve itself OF this responsibility until
they are so far trained and civilized as to be
able wholly to manage and care for themselves
The paths in which they should walk must be
clearly marked out for them, and they
must be led or guided until they are
familiar with the way and competent to
assume the duties and responsibilities of our
citizenship. Progress in this great work will
continue only at the present slow pace, and at
great expense, unless the system and methods
OF management are improved to meet the
changed conditions and urgent demands OF the
service. The agents having general charge and
supervision, in many cases, of m ore than five
thousand Indians, scattered over large reserva-
ticns, and burdened with the details of accounta-
bility for funds and supplies have time to look
after the industrial training and improvement
OF few Indians only. The many are neglected
and remain idle aud observation-disclosures not
favorable for progression and civilization. The
compensation allowed the agents and the condi-
tions of the services not calculated to secure
Tor the work men who are fitted by ability
and skill to properly plan and intelligently
direct the methods best adapted to produce the
most speedy results and permanent benefits;
hence the necessity for a supplemental agency
or system, directed to the end of promoting the
general and more rapid transition of the tribes
from habits and customs of barbarsm to the
ways of civilization. With an anxious desire to
devise some plan of operation by which to Sc
cure the welfare of the Indians, and to relieve
Treasury a q far 4u
port OF an idle and dependent population. rec
commended in my previous annual message. the
passage of a law authorizing the appointment of
q commission as an fundamentally auxiliary to
those already established for the care of the In
dams 1t was designed that this commission
should be composed of six intelligent and capa-
BILE persons. three to be detailed from the army,
having political ideas upon the subject of the
treatment of Indians and interested in
their welfare. and that it should
be charged, under the direction of the Secretary
of the Interior, with the management of such
matters of detail as cannot with the present or
ganizatlon. be properly and successfully con-
Quoted and which present different phases as
the Indians themselves differ in their progress,
needs, disposition and capacity for improvement
or immediate self-support. By the aid of such
a commission much unwse and useless expendi-
ture OF money, waste of materials and unavail-
ing effort might be avoided, and it is hoped that
this or some measure which the wisdom of Con-
gress may better devise to supply the deficiency
OF the present system may receive your consid-
eratlon and the appropriate legislation be pro-
vided. The time is ripe for the work of such
an agency. There is less opposition to the edu-
cation and training of the Indian youth, as
shown by the increased attendance upon the
schools. and there is yielding tendency for the
individual holding of lands. Development and
advancement in these directions are essential
and should have every encouragement. AS the
rising generation are taught the language of civ
iliZation and trained in habits of industry, they
should assume the duties, privileges and respon-
sibilities OF citizenship. No obstacle should
hinder the location and settlement of any Indian
willing to take land in severalty. On the con.
trary, the inclination to do so should be stimu-
lated at all times when proper and expedient.
But there is no authority of law for making al
lotments on some of the reservations. and on
others the allotments provided for small
that the Indians, though ready and desiring TO
settle down, are not willing to accept such small
areas, when their reservation contains ample
lands 20 afford them homesteads of sufficient size
to meet their present and future needs. These
inequalities, due to the existence of special laws
and treaties, should be corrected, and some gen.
eral legislation on the subject should be provid-
ed 30 that the more progressive members of the
different tribes may be settled upon homesteads,
and by their example lead others to follow,
breaking away from tribal customs and substi.
tuting therefor the love of home, the interest of
the family and the rule of the state. The Indian
character and nature are such that they are not
easily led while brooding over unadjusted
wrongs. This is especially so regarding their
lands. Matters arising from the construction
and operation of railroads across some Of the res
srvations and claims of title and right of occu-
pancy set up by white persons to some OF the
best land within other reservations, require leg
islation for their final adjustment. The settle
ment of these matters will remove many embar-
easements to progress in the work of leading the
Indians to the adoption of our institutions and
bringing them under the operation, the influence
and the protection of the universal laws Of our
country.
THE PUBLIC LANDS.
The recommendations of the Secretary of the
Interior and the Commissioner of the General
Land Office, looking to the better protection of
public lands and of the public surveys the pres
ervation of national forests. the adjudication of
grants to States and corporations, and of pri.
vate land claims, and the increased efficiency of
the public land service, commended to the
attention OF Congress. To secure the widest
distribution of public lands in limited quantities
among settlers of residence and cultivation, and
thus make the greatest numbers of individual
homes, was the primary object of the public
land legislation in the early days of the Re-
public This system was simple one. 1t
commenced with an admirable scheme of
public surveys, by which the humblest
citizen could identify the tract upon
which be wished to establish his home. The
price of land was placed within the reach of all
the enterprising industrious and honest pioneer
citizens of the country. 1t was soon, however,
found that the object of the laws was perverted
under the system of cash sales, from distribu-
ton of land among the people to an accumula-
ton of land capital by wealthy and speculative
persons. To check this tendency, preference
right of purchase was given settlers on the land,
q plan which eliminated in the general pre-emp-
ton act of of 1871. The foundation of this sys-
tenn was actual residence and cultivation
Twenty years later the homestead law was de.
vised to still more surely place actual homes il
the possession of actual cultivators of the
soil. The land was given without price,
the sole'conditions being residence improvement
and cultivation. Other laws have followed,
each designed to encourage the requirement and
use of land in limited individual quantities, but
in later years these laws through various adj
ministrative methods and under changed condi1
tions of communication and transportation, have
been so evaded, and violated that their benefi-