Morning journal and courier., 1891-10-06
THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

cal Conclusions Drawn by the Com
 missioner of Indian Affairs. l WASHINGTON, Oct. 5.-The sixtieth an
 nual report of the commissioner on India,
 affairs has just been submitted to the sec retary of the interior. The commissions outlines what he regards as the settled pol icy of the government in its dealings witt the Indians, emphasizing comprehensive ness. defnitiveness of aim, clearness o1 outline, adaptation of means to ends, jus tice, f1rmness, humanity, radicalness, sta bility and time as essential clements oi such policy. He thinks the great forces now at work-land in severalty, with its accompanying dissolution of the tribal re- lstions and breaking up of the reservation, the destruction of the agency system, citi- zenship, and all that belongs thereto of manhood, independence, privilege and duty; education which seeks to bring the rising generation of Indians into right re- lationship with the age in which they live and to put in their hands the tools by which they may gain for themselves food and clothing and build for themselves homes, will, if allowed to continue undis- turbed a reasonable length of time, accom- plish their benefcent ends.
 The report discusses at length the polit- ical status of the Indians, and the com missioner draws the following practical conclusions:
 1. During the whole course of our history the Indians of this country have been treated as Seons to ms Thes have beens resared having relations directly with the general s9v, % states tO the states
 9. That the fiction of regarding them as in dependent people has been displaced by the the ory of regarding and treating them as wards of the government.
 B. That the purpose of the government has been made more and more evident is to change their status from that of wardshp to that of citi-
 1. That during the transition period and until the completion of their citizenship they should be regarded as subject to the laws of the gen. eral government and under it's care and guard
 5. That the time has come for a declaration by congress to the effect that hereafter it will not recognize the Indians as competent to make treated not as beIIigerents, but as subject and dependent people, capable, of course, of insur rection, rioting or disturbance of peace, but not
 G. That the general government has the right, both for its own protection. for the protection of the public welfare and for the good of the In dians, not only to establish schools in which their children may be prepared for citizenship, but also to use whatever force may be necessary
 
 these institutions.
 Even in the cases where, by taking. their lands in severalty, they are in process of becoming citizens they are still in state of quasdepend- ence because the general government withholds from them for twenty-five years the power of alternating their lands, while by exempting them from taxation for the same pariod it practically excludes their children from the public schools. For these reasons it would seem that the gov ernment has not only the right, but is under obligation to take educational provisions for them, and to secure to their children the bene-
 z. I submit that the time is at hand for an ex- tension over the Indians of the protection and privileges of our courts Meanwhile the devei. Indian offences by the perfectng of their code of procedure and enlargement of their jurisdiction will be helpful as preparation for complete
 s. venture also to suggest whether the time whereby the five civilized tribes may form either a territorial or state government and be repre- sented on the floors of congress.
 9. That the time has come when the Pueblo Indians should be admitted by special act of congress ito the enjoyment of all the rights of citizenship according to the principles of the constitution, as contemplated by the treaty of
 1O The definite determination by the highest authority of the actual political status of the Indians is necessary as basis of wise legislation and to the satisfactory administration of Indian affairs.
 After giving an account of the progress made in the allotment of lands to the Indi- ans during the past year the commissioner says that "this radical and far-reaching revolution in the social status of the Indi- ans is making satisfactory progress. Land in severalty has in it the promise and the potency of great things, but only the prom ise and the potency. In many cases it brings unutterable woe and in all it is lia ble to leave the Indians worse off than be- fore"
 He fnrther savs. CT am not in reneint of enough information, nor, indeed, has suffi- cient time elapsed to enable me to judge of the results of tho allotment policy. I have seen nothing during the year, however, to lead me to change my views as to its ulti mate success"