Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1900-11-14
THE INDIANS.
Some Interesting Extracts e:Om the
Annual Report of Commits
Sioner Jones.

Washington, Nov. 12.-The total expendt-
ture by the government on account of the
Indian service from March T. 1882 up to and
including July so. 1900, has been 1865 35S, 2l7,
according to the annual report of Commits
sioner of Indian Affairs William A. Jones.
The expenditures for the fiscal year ended
last July amounted to $1Q,175, 107. OF this
amount at least So, $50 900 was devoted to
the cause OF Indian education.
Under the head of obstacles to selI-sup-
port of the Indians the report deprecates
the ration system, annuity payments and
the leasing of allotments The ration sys-
tenn. says the report, is the corolary Of the
reservation system. The Indian popula ton
Of the United States is about 2679oo, OF
which 40 go receive daily ration. The ra-
ton issued and its value vary according
to the tribe. Nearly two-ffths of the num-
Der receiving rations belong TO the great
Sioux nation. The ration has been grad
ually reduced in the past few years in &C
cordance with the policy of the Indian
bureau. If the Indians claim for full ra-
tionS as a right is conceded the commits
sioner predicts that the time when they
will be self-supporting lies in the very dis
tart future, if it comes a all. \ number
of the Indians also are assisted by occa-
siODal issues and at several agencies the
old and INDECENT are provided for. These
aggregate about 1850. Altogether there
are $3.50 Indians receiving subsistence in
some degree, exclusive of Indian children IN
boarding schools. The commissioner urges
that the indicrinlinate issue Of rations
should stop at once The old and helpless
he says, should be provided for but rations
should be issued to the able bodied only
for labor, while those who have been eou-
eated in Indian schools should depend en-
tirely on their own resources. -
Annuities distributed last year aggre-
gated s., 507,543, the per capita ranging from
1855 down to so cents. The report says that
large money payments to the Indians are
oemoralizing in the extreme. They de
grade the Indians and corrupt the whites;
they induce pauperlsm and scandal and
crime; they nullify all the good effects Of
years OF labor. Inscriptions people induce
the Indian to so into debt, and then when
the debt has accumulated and the Indian S
credit is gone, pressure is brought TO bear
by the creditors upon the government to
pay the Indian so that he can pay his hon
est CO debts The state of affairs growing
out Of this around some of the agencies is q
scandal and a disgrace.
There is now in the treasury to the credit
of Indian tribes s3S, 915 955. %. drawing inter-
est al the rate of four and five per cent, the
annual interest amounting to 81, GAG, ass. 96
Besides this several of the tribes have large
incomes from leasing and other sources. 1t
is a safe prediction that so long as these
funds exist they will be the prey of de-
signing people The ultimate disposition Of
the Indian trust funds is a subject for the
most serious consideration. In some cases
they are small, and In others very large
With respect to the former they can, as a
rule be paid out to the Indians with lit
tie, If any, evil consequences. With re-
spect to the latter, their proper disposition
is more difficult 1t is admitted that great
wealth is a source Of weakness to any
Indian tribe and productive of much evil.
Two remedies have been suggested:
First, the gradual extinction of these
maintain the reservation schools definite
period of years, say y, and then dividing
the balance per capita, and paying each
member of the tribe al certain ages their
share. Second, as a collary to this, division
Of the land belonging to the tribe per
capita The remedy proposed would almost
invariably Immediately re]egate the In
dams to poverty, though the remote re-
suit might be for them to work to save
themselves from actual want. The general
leasing of their allotments by the Indians
to white men is denounced.
There are go Indian schools of all kinds
conducted by the government and an in
crease of 1,42 pupils in enrolment and
, LAP in average attendance shown over the
previous year. About 900 Of the "a 900 ELI
glble school children are unprovided for.
Compulsory education Of the Indian chill
dren is strongly indorsed, and congress is
urged TO authorize the commissioner TO
I place every one Of school age in some school,
| the selection of the school TO be left large
! ~ to educated Indian parents.
Reviewing Indian territory affairs the
report says there are $4,000 children of white
parents there who should have schools, and
that thousands of these children thus de-
pr1ved Of education are growing up in vice
and ignorance, already feeding the United
States jails a Muscogee and other points
with youthful criminals. The cost of edu-
/ cation will not be excessive compared with
| results. School benefits also should be ex-
| tended to the 4.250 Choctaw freedmen. Gov
! eminent control of the schools in the Chick
| asaw nation is advocated.
The report contrOVertS the commonly &C
| cepted theory that by constant contact with
! the whites the extinction of the Indian is
! only q matter of time. It says 1t can be
| stated with a great degree Of confidence
/ that the Indian population of the United
States has been very little diminished from
! the days Of Columbus Coronado. Raleigh
! Capt. John Smith and other early explorers
! The first reliable Indian census was in 1870
and certainly since then the1ndian popula-
/ ton has been nearly stationary, whatever
decrease there is being attributable to In
| dams becoming citizens
ASPHYXIATED.