The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-03

 prevention of settlement. Moreover, the exhaustion of the public ranges has of late led to much discus sion as to the best manner of using these public lands in the West which are suit able chiefly or only for ossaaa gras,ns ths m, west depends upon the building up ol homes therein. Much of our prosperit, as a nation has been due to the operation of the homestead law. On the otnel hand, we should recognize the fact tha in the grazing region the man who cor responds to the homesteader may be uri able to settle permanently If only allowed to use the same amount of pasture Iant that his brother, the homesteader, IS al lowed to use of arabic land. one hun well watered soil, or much smalle amount of irrigated land may keep fam ily in plenty whereas no one. could set living from 160 acres of dry pasture lan' capable of supporting at the outside onl. one head of cattle to every ten acres. Il the past great tracts of the public do main have been fenced in by persons nav ing no title thereto, in direct defiance the law forbidding the maintenance O construction of any such unlawful incios ure of public land. For various reason such inclcsures in the past, but ampl notice has now been given the trespass CTS. and all the resources at the com mand of the government will hereafte be used to put stop to such trespassine
 Asks for Commission.
 In view of the capital importance o these matters, I commend them to tn earnest consideration of the Congress and if the Congress finds difficulty il dealing with them from lack of thorougl knowledge of the subject, l recomnien' that provision be made for commission of experts specially to investigate an' report upon the complicated questions In volved.
 I especially urge upon the Congress tn need of wise legislation for Alaska. is not to our credit as nation Una Alaska, which has been ours for thirty five years, should still have as poor sys tenn of laws as is the case. No countr! has a more valuable possession-in min eral wealth, in fisheries, furs, forests ant also in land available for certain kfnd of farming and stockgrowing. It is territory of great size and varied re sources, well fitted to support IIsna n.sas lsrs good land law and such provisions fol hcmesteads and pre-emptions as will en courage permanent settlement. We shoulf shape legislation with view not to th' exploiting and abandoning Of the terri tory, but to the building up of homes therein. The land laws should be libera in type, so as to hold out inducements tc the actual settler whom we most desire to see take possession of the country Ine forests of Alaska should be protected and, as a secondary but still important matter, the game also. and at the same time 1t is imperative that the settlers should be allowed to cut timber, under proper regulations. for theic own use Laws should be enacted to protect tnf Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed which would destroy them. They should be preserved as permanent in dustry and food supply. Their manage ment and control should be turned over to the Commission of Fish and Fisheries Congress. It would be well If Congres. sional Committee could visit Alaska and it's needs on the ground.
 The Red Men.
 In dealing with the Indians our aim should be their ultimate absorption into the body of our people. But in many cases this absorption must and should be very slow. In portions of the Indian Ter ritory the mixture of blood has gone or and education, so that there are plenty of men with varying degrees of purity of Indian blood who are absolutely indis- in point of social, political associates. There are other tribes which have as yet made no perceptible advance toward such equality. To try to force such tribes too fast is to prevent then going forward at all. Moreover, th' tribes live under widely different condi tions. Where a tribe has made consider able advance and lives on fertile farming soil 1t is possible to allOt the member lands in severalty much as is the cas- with white settlers. There are othe able. On the arid prairie lands the effor should be to induce the Indians to lea' pastoral rather than agricultural lives and to permit them to settle in Village rather than to force them into isolation.
 The large Indian schools situated re mote from any Indian reservation do special and peculiar work of great i'm portaAce. But excellent though these are an immense amount Of additional worl must be done on the reservations them selves among the old, and above al among the young, Indians
 The first and most important step to ward the absorption of the Indian is t teach him to earn his living; yet 1t is no necessarily to be assumed that in eac community all Indians must become eith CT tillers af the soil or stock raisers Their industries may properly be diver sified and those who show special de sire or adaptabllity for industrial or eve commercial pursuits should be encour aged so far as practicable to follow ou each his own bent.
 Every effort should be made to develo the Indian along the lines of natural ap .titude, and to encourage the existing ma tive industries peculiar to certain tr1Def such as the various kinds of basket weav ing. canoe building. smith work. an blanket work. Above all. the Indian boy and girls should be given confident com mand of colloquial English. and shoul ordinarily be prepared for vigorou struggle with the conditions under whicl their people live, rather than for imme diate absorption into some more highl developed community.
 Should Be Amply Paid.
 The officials who represent the Govern ment in dealing with the Indians worl under hard conditions. and also unde conditions which render 1t easy to d. wrong and very difficult to detect wrong Consequently they should be amply pail on the one hand and on the other hant a particularly high standard of conduc should be demanded from them ant " here misconduct can be proved the pun ishment should he exemplary.
 Iii no department of governmental worl in recent years has there been greataI success than in that of giving scientific aid to the farming population, thereby showing them how most efficiently to hell themselves. There is no need of insist ing upon its importance. for the welfar, of the farmer Is fundamentally necessar! to the welfare of the Republic as a whole against animal and vegetable plagues ard warning against them when here fin troduced much efficient help has beer ~endered to the farmer hy the introduc ton of new plants specially fitted for cul tivation under the peculiar conditions ex isting in different portions of the coun try New cereals have been established