The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-03

amount of irrigated land, may keep a
family in plenty, whereas no one could
get a living from one hundred and sixty
acres of dry pasture land capable of sup
porting at the outside only one head of
cattle to every ten acres. IN the past
great tracts of the public domain have
been fenced in by persons having no title
thereto. in direct defiance OF the law for
bidding the maintenance or construction
of any such unlawful Enclosure of public
land. For various reasons there has been
little interference with such Enclosures
in the past, but ample notice has now
been given the trespasscrs. and all the
the resources at the command of the gov
eminent will hereafter be used to put
stop to such trespassing.
In view of the capital Importance of
these matters 1 commend them to the
earnest consideration of the Congress,
and if the Congress finds difficulty in
dealing with them from lack of thorough
knowledge of the subject, recommend
that provision be made for a commission
Of experts specially to investigate and
report upon the complicated questions
involved
LAWS FOR ALASKA.
l especially urge upon the Congress
the need of wise legislation for Alaska.
1t is not to our credit as a nation that
Alaska, which has been ours for thirty
five years, should still have as poor a
system of laws as is the case No coun-
try has a more valuable possession-in
mineral wealth, in fisheries. furs forests
and also in land available for certain
kinds of farming and stockgrowing 1t is
a territory of great size and varied re-
sources, well fitted to support large
permanent population. Alaska needs a
good land law and such provisions for
hcmesteads and pre-emptions as will en-
courage permanent settlement We should
shape legislation with a view not to the
exploiting and abandoning of the terri
tory, but to the building up of homes
| therein. The land laws should be liberal
in type, 50 as to hold out inducements to
the actual settler whom we most desire
tG sec take possession of the country.
! The forests of Alaska should be protect
ed. and, as a secondary but still impor-
tant matter, the game also, and at the
same time it IS imperative that the set
tiers should be allowed to cut timber.
under proper regulations, for their own
use. Laws should be enacted to protect
the Alaskan salmon fisheries against the
greed which would destroy them. They
should be preserved as a permanent in
! dustry and food supply. Their manage
ment and control should be turned over
| to the Commission of Fish and Fisheries.
! Alaska should have a delegate in the
! Congress. 1t would be well if a Congress
sionaI committee could visit Alaska and
I investigate its needs on the ground.
HIS INDIAN POLICY.
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
he very slow. In portions of the In
dian Territory the mixture of blood has
gone on at the same time with progress
in wealth and education, so that there
are plenty of men with varying degrees
of purity Of Indian blood who are abso-
lutely indistinguishable in point of social,
political, and economic ability from their
white associates. There are other tribes
which have as yet made no perccptible
advance toward such equality. To try to
force such tribes too fast is to prevent
their going forward at all. Moreover the
tribes live under widely different condi-
tions. Where tribe has made consid-
I cradle advance and lives on fertile farm
ing soil it is possible to allot the mem
bcrs lands in severalty Ir~r"h as is tn
case with white settlers. There are 9TH
er tribes where such a course is not de-
sirab BILE. On the arid prairie lands the eff
fort should be to induce the Indians to
lead past oral rather than agricultural
lives and to permit them to settle in viii
EIaees rather than to force them into iso-
lation
The large Indian schools situated re-
mote from any Indian reservation do a
special and peculiar work of great impor-
lance But, excellent though these are,
an immense amount of additional work
must be done on the reservations them
selves among the old. and above all
among the young Indians
The first and most important step
toward the absorption of the
Indian is to teach him to earn his living:
yet it is not necessarily to be assumed
that in each community all Indians must
become either tillers of the soil or stock
raiscrs. Their industries may properly
be diversified, and those who show spe-
cial desire or adaptability for Industrial
or even commercial pursuits should be
encouraged so far as practicable to fol-
low out each his own bent.
Every effort should be made 10 de-
velop the Indian along the lines of ma
tural aptitude, and to encourage the aX-
listing native industries peculiar to GER
tain tribes, such as the various kinds
of basket weaving, canoe building,
smith work. ard blanket work. Above
all, the Indian boys and girls should be
given confident command of colloquial
English and should ordinarily be pre-
pared for vigorous struggle with the
conditions under which their people live,
rather than for Immediate absorption
into some more highly developed COM
munity.
The officials who represent the govern
ment in dealing with the Indians work
under hard conditions and also under
conditions which render it easy to do
wrong and very difficult to detect
wrong Consequently they should be
amply paid on the one hand. and On the
other hand a particularly high standard
of conduct should be demanded from