The Florence tribune., 1897-07-17
HOUSE MEMORIAL No. 4.
To the Senate and house of Representa- lives Of the United States in Con
 gress Assembled:

We, your Memorialists, the Nine teenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully rep resent that the National Irrigation Congress, held in Phoenix, Arizona, on the 18th of December, A. D. 1896, unanimously adopted the following:
 Whereas, The Pima and Aiaricopa Indians tribes numbering in the aggregate ten thousand souls have been deprived of the waters used by them in irrigation before tie advent of the whiterace in America, through the appropriation of such waters by settlers on the headwaters of the Gila riyeri and
 Whereas. Through the loss of such waters the lands once cultivated by these tribes have become barren and worthless, and the mem bers o5 such tribes have become charge on the Government. and forced by the loss of their fields into lives of degradation and penur-y and
 Whereas. Such tribes have from the ear Hest days been the friends and allies of the white racei and
 Whereas, The people of the United States . have pledgesi themselves by solemn treaty to protect such tribes in their property and property rights; and
 ! Whereas, The Government of the United States has ard now is engaged in the expendi ture of hundreds of thousands of dollars for i the construction of works of irrigation for the reclamation of lands belonging to oeher Indian tribes; therefore. be it
 Resolved. That this Congress do approve the proposed construction, under the plans l of the U. S. Geological Survey. of the Buttcs i reservoir, in Pinal county, Arizona, recently 1 reported, to again reclaim the lands of these | tribes, beliering that by so doing cGn the ! Government alone honorably redeem the broken pledges made by it to. these people, ! and thus preserve from further want and degradation two of the surviving Indian tribes of the American continent that have l always beenthe constant friends Of the W hite 1 race.
 Resolved That we approve the proposed
 construction of such reservoir not only as ] just and pHilaasthropio, but as economical
 and good policy, as in Q comparatively short ] time the expense of maintaining such In
 dians as Government charges will far exceed
 the cost of the irrigation works required to
 make them a self-supporting and seIf-re-
 speeting community.
 E Now, therefore, your Memorialists, < the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly
 of the Territory of Arizona, desire to go
 on record as. earnestly endorsing the above recommendations of the Sixth National Irrigation Congress for the
 following reasons:
 ] l. The reservoir site referred to having been withdrawn from entry by E Government authorities, cannot now be utilized by any private corporation, { and the Government therefore occupies the indefensible position of doing noth-
 ing itself or allowing any one else to
 improve this great natural reservoir
 site.
 1 ?. We firmly believe that the inter-
 ests of humanity dictate that the h. l dians should be gathered on the reser- l vations, have lands allotted to them in
 severalty, and that they be furnished with farming implements and an inex-
 haustible supply of water for irriga- tion of their lands, to the end that they may become self supporting. By this means will 8 home life be furnished for the Indian and he will more rapidly advance in civilization as consequence. He will abandon his nomadic life his children will be kept at home and educated in neighborhood schools, instead of being sent to large Indian schools at dis tance where they are kept Gas it would seem) for mere pursoses of show. After being instructed in the arts of civilization for a time they arereturned to savagery, to become more unhappy 1 and discontented than if they had never received the questionable advan- tages. We feel that the present policy | of the Indian department is all wrong | in this regard.
 3. The Pima and Maricopa Indian reservation contains s5o,ooO acres of as fertile land as lies within the bound aries of Arizona, and is admirably adapted for homes for these people, as