The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-12-05

lied to be able to progress still further by
selling a portion Of their land, then sales
should be made, but the land should not be
purchased from the Indians at the best
bargain the United States can make 1t
should be sold for the Indians by the
United States, the department acting as a
faithful trustee, and obtaining for the In
dams every dollar the land viii bring"
In connection with education Of the IN
dams. the secretary says.
In the management of the Indian
schools definite plan for the Indians when
school is finished mus always be in view,
if practical results are expected from his
education"
Education should tbe practically di-
rected with a view D. the probable fu-
ture of the Indian. he is to remain
away from his former home and to enter
the struggle Of life in cur cities and towns,
as any other citizen.i then his education
should be as broad and as liberal as pos
sible. But if he is to return to the reserva-
ton, to the place Of his birth, and TO com
mence his active life kn the development
his ed education should directed and and espe-
cially with a view to the life he will lead
upon the reservation, and to the p0ssibili-
ties of the reservation ITSELF
An appendix to tAeteports publishes in
f fSs the c cSRpT5 Of eoT TBe oa t9
calls attention to thu duty which rests
upon the United St5tes to preserve law
and order throughout the Indian territory
and insists if the right to do so cannot
be obtained by agreement with the tribes,
it must be enforced as d matter of duty
without regard to the wishes Of those who
control the tribes.
He does not specifically recommend the
organization of a new territory, but does
urge that the courts in Arkansas and
Texas be abandoned and that the juris-
diCffnn Of limited States IA
tended over the territory without regard
to citizenship. This would give an OPP
portunity for the members of the various
tribes who feel that they are deprived of
their just quota of lands to petition the
United States courts for allotments in
severalty of the portions to which they
are respectively entitled. BY a resort to
such means those Indians who wish their
lands in severdlty could obtain them and
thus gradually, at least, the holding OF
lands in common would pass away and
they would be held by individuals.
Referring to the sale of liquor to the
Indians the secretary condemns in strong
terms the establishment of saloons upon the
line of Indian reservations, and calls at
tention to the decision of Judge Elfingel
of the district of Oregon, to the effect that
| the sale Of liquor to an Indian who has
received his land in severalty is not in
violation Of law, because, by allotment
| he has become a citizen. If this decision
| Is TlSlL II DIEStlllS dllOlltI dISuIIl
| against the speedy allotment of lands ir
| severalty to Indians.
The General Land Office.
Secretary Smith next takes up the gen
| eral land office at the bureau, only second
in importance to the Indian office. He
recommends a change in the system OF
surveying and the establishment of a land
court in the interior department. The
.ands is criticised as SOW and defective
mode of procedure. Reference is made tC
the amendment to the sundry civil bill pro-
posed at the last session, asking authority
| for the geological bureau to survey such
land as might be recommended by the
I commissioner Of the genera, land office. as
a substitute for the present system. II
was believed that the pan would prove
| economical and satisfactory, and that II
| could be enlarged until it included the en-
tire work Of pubic surveys and dispensed
with the Office of encouragement. 1t Is
urged that If this surveying could be done
| by the government employees ii would save
much time now consumed in making con
tracts with deputy surveyors, in re-examin-
| ing their work, and in handling the re.
turns in the offices Of the surveyors-gen-
| eral.
The great Importance Of the specia
service division of the general land office
| is urged. 1t is shown that the money
which it recommends from cash forfeited
! on entries, which have been cancelled
| through the action of the special agents
and from the prosecution of timber tres
| passers, has been, in years past, very much
| larger than the cost of the service. The
| small amounts of recent appropriations
have very greatly crippled the work in the
| bureau in this direction.
Forest Reserves.
Referring to the protection of forest
reserves, the secretary says: ION account
| OF the small appropriations for special
agents it has thus far been impossible tC
detail any Of them for the protection OF
the forest reserves, which have from time
| to time been created. Practically, this
| great extent of reserved lands is no more
| protected by the government than are
! the unreserved lands of the United States
( the sole difference being that they are
not subject to entry or other disposal un
| der the public land laws"
| Congress is urged to make sufficient ap
preparations 20 employ at least one super
| intendent on each reserve and upon the
| larger reserves to provide a sufficient
force of assistants to prevent public prop
| erty from being wantonly destroyed.
| The present organization OF the depart
ment is under the system by which con