710 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



stamps, money-order business, and official stamps, 

 were $29,277,516.95. The sum of $290,486.90, includ- 

 ed in the foregoing statement of expenditures, is 

 chargeable to preceding years, so that the actual ex- 

 penditures for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, are 

 $33,874,647.50. Tiie amount drawn from the Trea- 

 surv on' appropriations, in addition to the revenues 

 of the Department, was $5,307,652.82. The expen- 

 ditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, are 

 estimated at 36.571,900, and the receipts from all 

 sources at $30,664,028.90, leaving a deficiency to be 

 appropriated out of the Treasury of $5,907,876.10. 

 The report calls attention to the fact that the com- 

 pensation of postmasters and of railroads for carry- 

 ing the mail is regulated bylaw, and that the fail- 

 ure of Congress to appropriate the amounts required 

 for these purposes does not relieve the Government 

 of responsibility, but necessarily increases the defi- 

 ciency bills which Congress will be called upon to 

 pass. 



In providing for the postal service, the following 

 questions arc presented : Should Congress annually 

 appropriate a sura for its expenses largely in excess 

 of its revenues, or should such rates of postage be 

 established as will make the Department self-sus- 

 tainin ? Should the postal service be reduced by ex- 

 cluding from the mails matter which does not pay 

 its way? Should the number of post- routes be di- 

 minished? Should other methods be adopted which 

 will increase the reveaues or dimmish the expenses 

 of the postal service ? 



The International Postal Congress, which met at 

 Paris May 1, 1878, and continued in session until 

 June 4th of the same year, was composed of dele- 

 gates from nearly all the civilized countries of the 

 world. It adopted a new convention, to take the 

 place of the treaty concluded at Berne, October 9, 

 1874, which goes into effect on the 1st of April, 1879, 

 between the countries whose delegates have signed 

 it. It was ratified and approved, by and with the 

 consent of the President, August 13, 1878. A sy- 

 nopsis of this Universal Postal Convention will be 

 found in the report of the Postmaster-General, and 

 the full text in the appendix thereto. In its origin 

 the Postal Union comprised twenty-three countries, 

 having a population of three hundred and fifty mil- 

 lions of people. On the 1st of April next it will 

 comprise forty-three countries and colonies, with 

 a population of more than six hundred and fiftv mil- 

 lions of people, and will soon, by the accession of 

 the few remaining countries and colonies which 

 maintain organized postal services, constitute, in 

 fact as well as in name, as its new title indicates, a 

 Universal Union, regulating, upon a uniform basis 

 of cheap postage-rates, the postal intercourse be- 

 tween all civilized nations. 



Some embarrassment has arisen out of the conflict 

 between the customs laws of this country and the 

 provisions of the Postal Convention, in regard to the 

 transmission of foreign books and newspapers to 

 this country by mail. It is hoped that Congress 

 will be able to devise some means of reconciling the 

 difficulties which have thus been created, so as to 

 do justice to all parties involved. 



The business of the Supreme Court, and of the 

 courts in many of the circuits, has increased to such 

 an extent during the past years that additional legis- 

 is imperative to relieve and prevent the delay 

 of justice, and possible oppression to suitors, which 

 thus occasioned. The encumbered condition of 

 ckfts is presented anew in the report of the 

 Attorney-General, and the remedy suggested is ear- 

 nestly urged for Congressional action. The creation 



f additional circuit judges, as proposed, would af- 

 d a complete remedy, and would involve an ex- 

 penseat the present rate of salaries of not more 

 than $60,000 a year. 



The annual reports of the Secretary of the Interior 



the Commissioner of Indian Affairs present 



an elaborate account of the present condition of the 



Indian tribes, and of that branch of the public ser- 

 vice which ministers to their interests. While the 

 conduct of the Indians generally has been orderly, 

 and their relations with their neighbors friendly and 

 peaceful, two local disturbances have occurred, which 

 were deplorable in their character, but remained, 

 happily, confined to a comparatively small number 

 of Indians. The discontent among the Bannocks, 

 which led first to some acts of violence on the part 

 of some members of the tribe and finally to the out- 

 break, appears to have been caused by an insuffi- 

 ciency of food on the reservation, and this insuffi- 

 ciency to have been owing to the inadequacy of the 

 appropriations made by Congress to the wants of the 

 Indians, at a time when the Indians were prevented 

 from supplying the deficiency by hunting. After 

 an arduous pursuit by the troops of the United States, 

 and several engagements, the hostile Indians were 

 reduced to subjection, and the larger part of them 

 surrendered themselves as prisoners. In this con- 

 nection, I deeire to call attention to the recommen- 

 dation made by the Secretary of the Interior, that a 

 sufficient fund be placed at the disposal of the Ex 

 ecutive, to be used, with proper accountability, at 

 discretion, in sudden emergencies of the Indian ser- 

 vice. 



The other case of disturbance was that of a band 

 of Northern Cheyennes, who suddenly left their res- 

 ervation in the Indian Territory and marched rapid- 

 ly through the States of Kansas and Nebraska in the 

 direction of their old hunting-grounds, committing 

 murders and other crimes on their way. From docu- 

 ments accompanying the report of the Secretary of 

 the Interior, it appears that this disorderly band 

 was as fully supplied with the necessaries of life as 

 the four thousand seven hundred other Indians who 

 remained quietly on the reservation, and that the 

 disturbance was caused by men of a restless arid 

 mischievous disposition among the Indians them- 

 selves. Almost the whole of this band have sur- 

 rendered to the military authorities, and it is a grati- 

 fying fact that, when some of them had taken refuge 

 in the camp of the Ked Cloud Sioux, with whom they 

 had been in friendly relations, the Sioux held them 

 as prisoners and readily gave them up to the officers 

 of the United States, thus giving new proof of the 

 loyal spirit which, alarming rumors to the contrary 

 notwithstanding, they have uniformly shown ever 

 since the wishes they expressed at the council of 

 September, 1877, had been complied with. 



Both the Secretary of the Interior and the Secre- 

 tary of War unite in the recommendation that pro- 

 vision be made by Congress for the organizution of 

 a corps of mounted " Indian auxiliaries," to be under 

 the control of the army, and to be used for the pur- 

 pose of keeping the Indians on their reservations 

 and preventing or repressing disturbance on their 

 part. I earnestly concur in this recommendation. 

 It is believed that the organization of such a body of 

 Indian cavalry, receiving a moderate pay from the 

 Government, would considerably weaken the rest- 

 less element among the Indians by withdrawing 

 from it a number of young men and giving them 

 congenial employment under the Government, it be- 

 ing a matter of experience that Indians in our ser- 

 vice almost without exception are faithful in the 

 performance of the duties assigned to them. Such 

 an organization would materially aid the army in the 

 accomplishment of a task for which its numerical 

 strength is sometimes found insufficient. 



But, while the employment of force for the pre- 

 vention or regression of Indian troubles is of occa- 

 sional necessity, and wise preparation should be 

 made to that end, greater reliance must be placed on 

 humane and civilizing agencies for the ultimate so- 

 lution of what is called the Indian problem. It may 

 be very difficult, and require much patient effort, to 

 curb the unruly spirit of the savage Indian to the 

 restraints of civilized life, but experience shows thct 

 it is not impossible. Many of the tribes which are 



