Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-10-14
CARE OF THE INDIANS.
Com missioner Morgan's Report
to the Interior Department.
lie RECOMMENDS That the In 1ians
be Made Self-Supporting.

General T. J. Morgan. Commissioner %
Indian Affairs, has submitted to the Secre-
tarv OF the Interior his fourth annual r.
port the plan of detailing army oRcers
TO take charge OF In 1ian agencies is dis
'cussed and disapprovsI. After careful con.
aEideration OF the subject OF Law and courtz
Tor the Indians, the Commissioner concIuieS
that 1t is not desirable to formulate any
Elaborate SDecial system. The rules for tia
Indian courts have been carefully revised
giving To them larger iuris iiction and
placing them on a higher plane 1t is
thought that these will serve for all prac-
hcal purposes until the process OF allotment
has been cOnDlete1.
The report discusses the question: What
3s an Indian? and opposes the application of
the common law principle that the offspring
of free persons follow thu condition OF tina
father in determining the status oe the chill
Cren born Of white man, a citizen Of the
United States, and Indian woman, his
wife. The Commissioner does not think that
children of such parents are therefor bv
birth not Indians, but citizens o. the Unta1
States" The law OF desc ent - he says
must be determined not after Roman or
English precedent, but in accordance with
Indian usage and our American admins
trative sanction
There are now in operation. or SOON to BE-
opened, twenty large training schools fO-
Indians stu ated in civiliZa comm nitiaS ra-
mote from the Indian reservations Three
years ago thare were eight such institutions.
When completed the total capacity of the
twenty will be about 5000 pupils. The total
enrolment OF pupils in all the schools Gov
'ernment and contract. for the year ending
June 80, 1892 was nearly %, 900, all increase
OF more than 1000 within three years, or
more than twenty-five per cent. Four years
more at this rate of pro resS will see practi-
~cally all Indian children gathered into
schools.
Rapid progress has been made during the
year in allotting lands to Indians. A care
full survey of the entire work accomplish /,
in progress and yet remaining to be done.
shows that the allotment Of land to all the
Indians to whom application of the severalty
Jaw would be for their interest can be com
pleted within the next three or four years,
with the possible exception of tho Sioux In
dams. Reports from Indian agents regard
ing the effects of aliotments upon the In
dams are, on the whole, favorable.
A system has been established on the In.
dian reservations Of opening and construct
ing roads and highways similar to those in
use among civilized communities. The sum
OF $500, 600 Is being expended on the Grow
reservation in Montana in the development
of a system Of irrigation, and more than
$50 900 is being expended tor the same pur-
pose on other reservations. An irrigating
tEanal is building through the Fort Hall res
.ervation. Ten thousand head of stock cattle
have been purchased and distributed among
the Sioux Indians. who are taking lively
interest IN stock raising.
Tables are given showing that nearly 203O
Indians receive regular stated wages from
sthe Government for services performed, and
that, including those employed at irregular
labor, an aggregate sum of nearly $401, 900
year is paid out for Indian labor. Most Of
the money is being as we'll expended by the
Indians as it would be by any other class of
people.
The Commissioner recommends the grai-
<alal reduction of rations until the Govern
:xnent ceases to issue to the Indians anything
In the way of food or c.othing, and substi-
tutes for such issues cash payments for
whatever may be done. He also recon.
amends that the reservation of the Navajoas
Tie carefully surveyed. and that steps be inn
ioediataly taken to construct system of
Irrigation that shall render the reservation
capable of supporting properly the large
fbody OF Nevajoes who make it their home.
! There has been a decrease ia the annual
cost of Indian administration. except intle
items of the purchase of lands from the In
tEiians and in the matter of education.
There has been steady increase in
the amount of money appropriated for
schools, but the Commissioner insists,
with great earnestness, that this sum should
he still further largely and rapidly in.
creased. The Commissioner recommends
the entire enforcement of Indian affairs
from party politics, the enlargement OF the
auth ority everywhere OF the Commissioner,
and the building up everywhere in the In
dian service of the merit system.