The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-12-11


towns Of 5000 population. Ills discus
sion OF the mace -. faCl!-t-tG cI-
tend ed under cur present. sysceln TO
rural communities ana his sugges lions
with view to give these communities
fuller partici pat On in the benefits of
the postal service are worthy Of your
careful consideration.
1t is not just that the farmer, who re-
ceives his mail at neighboring town,
should not only be compelled to send to
the postoffice for it, but to pay rent
for a box il which to place it or to wait
his turn at a general delivery window,
while the city resident has his mail
brought to their door. 1t is stated that
over $4,000 neighborhoods are, under
the present system, receiving mail at
postoffices where money orders and
postal notes are not issued. The extern
sion Of these systems to these cOmmuni-
ties is especially desirable, as the patrons
of postoffices are not possessed of the
other facilities offered in more populous
communities for the transmission of
small sums of money.
have, In a message to the preceding
congress, expressed my views as to a
modified use of the telegraph in connec-
uloH WITH the pOSCal service,
Ocean Mail Subsidy.
In pursuance of the ocean mail law Of
March 4, 1890, and after most careful
study of the whole subject and frequent
conferences with ship owners, boards of
trade and others, advertisements were
issued by the postmaster general for
fifty-three lines of ocean mail service:
Ten to Great Britain and the continent,
twenty-seven to South America, three
to China and Japan, four to Australia
and the Pacific Islands, seven to the
West Indies and two to Mexico. It was
not, OF course, expected that bids for all
these lines would be received or service
upon them all would be contracted for
1t was intended, in furtherance of the
act, to secure as many new lines as pos
sible, while including in the list most or
all OF the foreign lines now occupied by
American ships. The postmaster-ge
eral estimates that an expenditure in
American ship yards Of about ten mil
lions of dollars will be necessary to en-
able the bidders to construct the ships
called for by the service which they
have accepted do not think there is
any reason for encouragement or for
any turning back from the policy of this
considered and understood by capitalists
ready to meet future proposals, and we
may date from the passage of this law
the revival of American shipping inter-
ests and the recovery of fair share of
the carrying trade of the world.
The Interior Department.
The report of the secretary of the in
terror shows that very gratifying pro-
gress has been made in all of the bu-
reaus which make up that complex, diff
ficult department.
The work in the bureau of Indian af-
fairs was perhaps never so large as now
by reason of the numerous negotiations
which have been proceeding with the
tribes for reduction of the reserva-
tions, with the incident labor of making
allotments, and was never more care
fully conducted. The provision of ade-
quate school facilities for Indian chill
dren and the locating of adult Indians
upon farms, involve the solution of the
Indian question" Everything else
rations, annuities, and tribal negotia-
lions with the agents, inspectors and
commissioners who distribute and con-
duct then-must pass away when the
Indian has become citizen, secure in
the individual ownership of farm
from which he derives his subsistence
by his own labor, protected by and sub
ordinate to the laws which govern the
white man, and provided by the general
government or by the local communities
III which he lives, with the means of ed
heating his children.
Indian Education.
T. "a
an organized state or territory his rela-
ton to the general government ceases,
in great measure, to be that of a ward,
but the general government ought not
at once to put upon the state or territory
the burden of the education of his chill
dren 1t has been my thought that the
government schools and school buildings
upon the reservations would be absorbed
by the school systems of the states and
territories, but it has been found neces-
sary to protect the Indian against the
compulsory alienation Of his land by ex-
empting him from taxation for a period
of twenty-five years, it would seem to
be right that the general government,
certainly where there are tribal funds
in It's possession. should pay to the
school fund of the state what
would be equivalent to the local
school tax upon the property
of the Indian. 1t will be noticed from
the report of the commissioner of In
dian affairs that already some contracts
have been made with district schools
for the education of Indian children.
There is great advantage, think, in
bringing the Indian children into mixed
schools. This process will be gradual,
and in the meantime the present educa-
tional provisions and arrangements, the
result of the best experience of those
who have been charged with this work,
should be continued, This will enable
those religious bodies that have under
taken the work of Indian education
with so much zeal land with results so
restraining and beneicient to place their
institution in new and useful relations
to the Indian and to his white neighbors.
The Sioux Outbreak.
The outbreak among the Sioux, which
occurred in December last, is as to its
causes and incidents fully reported upon
by the war department and the depart
ment of the interior. That these Indi-
ans had some just complaints, espe-
cially Ia the matter Of the reduction of
the appropriation for rations and in the
delays attending the enactment of laws
to enable the department to perform
the engagements entered into with