Morning journal and courier., 1886-12-07


 is commended to your consider | ation. It is an obvious duty to provide the | means of postal communication which our commerce requires, and with prudent fore | cast of results, the wise extension of 1t may | lead to stimulating intercourse and become 1 the harbinger of profitable traffic, which opens new avenues for the disposition of the | products of our industry. The circum-
 stances of the countries at the far south of | our continent are such as to invite our en- terprise and afford the promise of sufficient | advantages to justify an unusual effort to bring about the closer relations which great | CT freedom of communication would tend to | establish.
 I suggest that as distinguished from 8 | grant of subsidy for the mere benefit of any l line of trade or travel, whatever outlay may
 be required to secure additional postal ser vice, necessary and proper and not otherwise | attainable, should be regarded as within the
 limit of legitimate compensation for such | service.
 The extension of the free delivery service as suggested blythe Postmaster General has | heretofore received my sanction, and it is to
 be hoped suitable enactment may soon be
 agreed upon.
 THE INDIANS.
 With an anxious desire to devise some plan | of operation by which to secure the welfare | of the Indians, and to relieve the treasury as | far as possible from the support of an idle
 and dependent population, I recommended in my previous annual message the passage of law authorizing the appointment of a | commission instrumentallty auxiliary to those already established for the care of
 the Indians. It was designed that the com mission should be composed Of SIX 1ntelll- l gent and capable persons-three to be de- 1 tailed from the army-having practical ideas l upon the subject of the treatment of Indians l and interested in their welfare; and that it | should be charged, under the direction of the I afor1 of Ina Tnfa for wifi "a l ment of such matters of detail as cannot | with the present organization be properly | and successfully conducted, and which pre- l sent different phases, as the Indians them
 selves differ, in their progress, needs, dispo- | sitions and capacity for improvement or inn mediate self support.
 | By tie aid of such a commission much un- l wise and useless expenditure of money, waste l of materials and unavailing efforts might be | avoided, and it is hoped that this or some l measure which the wisdom of Congress may | better devise to supply the deficiency of the present system may receive your considera- | tiou and the appropriate legislation be pro- vided.
 The time is ripe for the work of such an agency.
 There is less opposition to the education and training of the Indian youth, as shown by the increased attendance upon the schools, and there is yielding tendency for the in dividual holding of lands. Development and advancement in these directions are es- sential and should have every encouragement. As the rising generation are taught the Ian guage of civilization and trained in habits of industry they should assume the duties, priv ileges and responsibilities of citizenship. No obstacle should hinder the location and settlement of any Indian willing to take land in severalty; on the contrary, the inclination to do so should be stimulated at all times when proper and expedient. But there is no ant a1lntnanfg nn n some of the reservations, and on others the allotments provided for are so small that the Indians, though ready and desiring to settle down, are not willing to accept such small areas when their reservations contain ample lands to afford the homesteads of sufficient size to meet their present and future needs.
 These inequalities of existing special laws and treaties should be corrected so that the more progressive members of the different tribes may be settled upon homesteads and by their example lead others to follow, break ing away from tribal customs and substitut ing therefor the love of home, the interest of the family and the rule of the State.
 THE PUBLIC LANDS.
 The recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and the commissioner of the gen eral land office looking to the better protec- tion of public lands and of the public sur veys, the pr sservation of national forests, the adjudication of grants to States and corporations and of private land claims, and the increased efficiency of the public land service are commended to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest distribution of public lands in limited quantities among settlers for residence and cultivation, and thus make the greatest number 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. It commenced with an admirable scheme of public surveys by which the humbleet citi- s1o-,k HI,ak saI, E,~ wished to establish his home. The price of lands was placed within the reach of all the enterprising, industrious and honest pioneer citizens of the country. It was soon, how ever, found that the object of the laws was perverted under the system of cash sales from 8 distribution of land among the people to an accumulation of land capital by wealthy and speculative per sons. To check this tendency preference right of purchase was given to settlers on the land, plan which cu1minated in the general pre- -emption act of 1S41. The foundation of this system was actual residence and culti- vation. Twenty years later the homestead law was devised to more surely place actual homes in the possession of actual cultivators of the soil. The land was given without price, the sole conditions being residence, inn provement and cultivation. Other laws have followed, each designed to encourage the quirement of and use of land in limited indi vidua] quantities. But in later years these laws, through vicious administrative meth ods and under changed conditions of com munication and transportation, have been so evaded and violated that their benefcent purpose is threatened with entire defeat. The methods of such evasions and violations are set forth in detail in the reports of the Sec retary of the Interior and commissioner of the general land office. The rapid appropri- ation of our public lands without bona tide settlements or cultivation, and not only with 1e- e. Al. pose of their aggregation in large holdings, in many cases, in the hands of foreigners, in- vites the serious and immediate attention of Congress.
 The energies of the land department have been devoted during the present administra- tion to remedy defects and correct abuses in the public land service. The results of these efforts are so largely in the nature of reforms in the processes and methods of our land sys- tenn as to prevent adequate estimate; but it appears by compilation from the reports of the commissioner of the general land office that the immediate effect in leading cases which have come to a final termination has been the restoration to the mass of public lands of two million seven hundred and fifty thousand acres; that two million three hun dred and seventy thousand acres are em- braced in investigations now pending before the department or the courts, and that the action oe Congress has been asked to effect the restoration of two million seven hundred and ninety thousand acres additional; besides which four million acres have been withheld from reservation and the rights of entry thereon maintained.
 I recommend the repeal of the pre-emp- tion and timber-culture acts, and that the homestead laws be so amended as to better secure compliance with their requirements of residence, improvement and cultivation for the period of five years from date of entry, without communication or pro- vision for speculative relinquishment. I also recommend the repeal of the desert land laws unless it shall be the pleasure of Congress to so amend these laws as to render them less liable to abuses As the chief motive for an evasion of the laws and the principal cause of their result in land accumulation instead of land distribution, is the facility with which transfers are made of the right intended to be secured to the settlers, it may be deemed advisable to pro- vide by legislation some guards and checks upon the alienation of homestead rights and lands covered thereby until patents issue.
 Last year an executive proclamation was issued directing the removal of fences which inclosed the public domain. Many of these have been removed in obedience to such order; but much of the public land still re-