Year: 1872

Facts About the Census Geological Survey Of


the Territories-The Vienna Exposition


The following contains the leading features OF
the report OF the Secretary OF the Interior for the
year 1872, embracing information concerning the
indian, the Patent, the Land and the Pension
Oflces, as well as some interesting facts about the
census, the survey Of the territories and the rail-
ways Of the country


- INDIAN AFFAIRS.


Attention Is invited to the able and interesting
report of the Commissioner Of Indian Affairs which
ss y ap % Of arm
the tribes under the administrative control OF the
Indian ONCE.


Indian policy Of the government has proved sue
cess inasmuch as for three years it has secured
the largest and freest extension and development
OF our railways and frontier settlements which was
oss 81 NE sld property t6ap would have been sai
hostile and rowing tribes beyond the Missouri
River. In our intercourse with the Indians it
must 6e IN and mna nave h we ae the
garded the Indians as the wards OF the nation.
We are assuming and think with propriety, that
our civilization ought to take the place OF their
barbar0us habits. We, therefore, claim the right
to control the soil which they occupy, ana we
eary, into the adoption and practice OF our habits
and customs In doing this it seems to me that
humanity ana justice, as wei as honor "a ana dig
terlzed, 50 far as practicable. by forbcarance and
uniform kindness Of treatment.


may be true, as the Commissioner remarks,
that the only object at which practical statesman
ship will aim Is to reduce the evil to q minimum
as Closely as possible, and to forward the opera
tion OF those causes and give scope to those
forces which win most speedily put an end to It's
duration. This much the Indian policy Is effect
1ng. The feeding system adopted with the dam
Eer0us and hostile tribes has reduced the loss of
termed lnconsiderable, When the extent OF
territory and the exposure OF our settlements are
I'm INTO u Tae tS system
direct path OF our industrial progress, and allows
the work OF settlement and the extension OF our
capacities Of capital and Immigration, with abso-
4utely no check or diminution on account of Indian
mile OF railway which has authority OF law for its
construction, and for which the capital stands
wcn Is aanut To-Day py reason 9f danger
East or newly arrived from Europe which is de-
sir0us OF Western settlement but locate itself
to Sacramento. 1t follows from these two PROPOSE
tions that the peaceful progress of settlement and
industrial enterprise Is only limited by the re-
sources OF the country and the expansiveness OF
our population. The work OF circumscrtbing and
con1lng the % evii OF which complaint Is mada Is
effectively as In the nature OF the Is possible,
and the three conditions OF successful treatment
l
the present policy OF the government toward the
hostile and semi-hostie tribes.


While the accomplishment of the objects already
referred TO may embrace all that practical States
mahship demands there Is still another view OF the
Indian question to which the Commissioner does
not advert in his report but which enters largely
into the new policy, and which has unquestonably
commanded It to large class Of people who are
seldom attracted to the discussion or political
questions or to the active participation in govern
mental details. refer to the scheme OF civilizng
and Christianizing the Indians.


IN
above alluded to is due to the workings OF the last
named have no means OF determining, and 1t is q
his own way frOm his own standpoint. have no
doubt however, but that the civiizing portion OF
upon the entire question, inasmuch as it has
brought into the Indian service an entirely new
element, the direct effect of which has been the
great improvement in the personnel OF the service
and consequently, in the entire treatment OF the
whole Indian population.


Industrial progress and settlement have been
,unimpeded probably as much on account OF the
more humane treatment OF the Indians as be-
cause OF their confinement to smaller area upon
restricted reservations and they have also SUBJ
mitted more quietly to confinement upon smaller
reservations, for the same reason. Many, Ii not
cited Indian hostities have ceased TO exist. The
Indians are becoming convinced OF the entire good
faith of the government in Its peaceful oyerturcs,
and they manifest disposition to respond in q
similar spirit Of peace and good WILL That semi
hostile condition still exists in some remote locai-
ties, as In Arizona and some portions of Texas for
example, is no doubt as properly attributable to
the n0neX tension OF the policy in its entirety
those sections as to its inelncency or failure.
That 1t works uniformly well where 1t has had a
thorough trial, even among tribes before regarded


se + ssy goa that
The s Sss's SEeSa mp1e


or MSs IS Hsns ssn do q aas d aysss nS @
able persons can be found to replace them. IT Is
but reasonable, therefore, to request the with
holding OF unfriendly criticism relative to the eil-
cheney OF the policy until the department Is pre-
pared to announce that 1t Is thoroughly inaugur-
ated 10 all Its parts over oil the tribes under con-
of posts adjacent to the Indian country has not
been withdrawn, and should not be so long as
upon the ssEfsGss or Attempts to prevent the
extension OF new settlements In all legitimate di-
rections. show Of strength Will be needed for
some time TO enforce the new policy. The policy OF
confnlng the wild tribes to smaller reservations Is
regarded as Of the utmost Importance; and,
carried forward to its null extent, viii result in
restricting them to area OF sufficient extent to
furnish them farms for cultivation, and no more


nS raPio ntn tG,sappearaaace . OF game rom the
favor OF our efforts to confne the Indians to smaller
areas, and compel them to abandon their nomadic
customs and establish themselves in permanent
homes. SO long as the game existed in abundance
there was little disposition manifested to abandon
the chase, even though government bounty was
dlspensed in great abundance, aflordlng them am
pie means of support. When the game shall have
disappeared we shall be well forward in the work


In the country now occupied by the majority OF
the tribes Of the Dakota nation, bordering on the
Missouri River, and by the Rees Mandans, Gros-
ventres, River Crows and Assnboines, near the
same river there Is but little land that Is available


for agriculture, on account OF the great dryness OF
the Summers and the intense cold OF the Winters.
Without irrigation nothing can be grown there save
in the narrow bottoms skirting the larger water
courses. Some OF the tribes there resident are en-
deavorng to farm, but their efforts have little effect
beyond discouragng them from all farming opera
tions. They must have better location for agrl-
cultural pursuits, else but little Improvement can
lie made in their condition.


The Rees Mandans and other tribes. at Fort
Rerthold, numbering about twenty-five hundred
nersons, have been engaged in farming Tor num-
her OF wears. Their efforts have not been attended
with encouraging success, for reasons above
alta led but they are becoming well convinced that