PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



783 



me that the Territories should be offered the protec- 

 tion which is accorded to the States by the Constitu- 

 tion, I suggest legislation to that end. 



It seems to me, too, that whatever views may pre- 

 vail as to the policy of recent legislation by which the 

 army has ceased to be a part of the posse cpmitatus, 

 an. exception might well be made for permitting the 

 military .to assist the civil Territorial authorities in 

 enforcing the laws of the United States. This use of 

 the army would not seem to be within the alleged 

 evil against which that legislation was aimed. From 

 sparseness of population and other circumstances it is 

 often quite impracticable to summon a civil posse in 

 places where officers of justice require assistance, and 

 where a military force is within easy reach. 



The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with 

 accompanying documents, presents an elaborate ac- 

 count of the business of that department. A sum- 

 mary of it would be too extended for this place. I 

 ask your careful attention to the report itself. 



Prominent among the matters which challenge the 

 attention of Congress at its present session is the 

 management of our Indian affairs. While this ques- 

 tion has been a cause of trouble and embarrassment 

 from the infancy of the Government, it is but re- 

 cently that any effort has been made for its solution, 

 at once serious, determined, consistent, and promising 

 success. 



It has been easier to resort to convenient make- 

 shifts for tiding over temporary difficulties than to 

 grapple with the great permanent problem, and, ac- 

 cordingly, the easier course has almost invariably 

 been pursued. 



It was natural, at a time when the national territory 

 seemad almost illimitable and contained many mill- 

 ions of acres far out-side the bounds of civilized set- 

 tlements, that a policy should have been initiated 

 which more than aught else has been the fruitful 

 source of our Indian complications. 



I refer, of course, to the policy of dealing with tho 

 various Indian tribes as separate nationalities, of rele- 

 gating them by treaty stipulations to the occupancy 

 or' immense reservations in the West, and of encour- 

 aging them to live a savage life, undisturbed by auy 

 earnest and well-directed efforts to bring them under 

 the influences of civilization. 



The unsatisfactory results which have sprung from 

 this policy are becoming apparent to all. 



As the white settlements liave crowded tho borders 

 of tho reservations, the Indians, sometimes content- 

 edly and sometimes against their will, have been 

 transferred to other hunting-grounds, from which 

 they have again been dislodged whenever their new- 

 found hom3s have been desired by the adventurous 

 settlers. 



These removals, and the frontier collisions by 

 which they have often been preceded, have led to 

 frequent and disastrous conflicts between the races. 



It is profitless to discuss here which of them has 

 been chiefly responsible for the disturbances whosa 

 recital occupies so large a space upon the pages of our 

 history. 



We have to deal with the appalling fact that though 

 thousands of lives have bsen sacrificed, and hundreds 

 of millions of dollars expended in tho attempt to 

 solve the Indian problem, it has until within the past 

 few yeara seemed scarcely nearer a solution than it 

 was half a century ago. But the Government has of 

 late been cautiously but steadily feeling its way to 

 the adoption of a policy which has already produced 

 gratifying results, and which, in my judgment, is 

 likely, if Congress and the Executive accord in its 

 support, to relievo us ere long from tht difficulties 

 which have hitherto beset us. 



For the success of the efforts now making to intro- 

 duce amonw the Indians the customs and pursuits of 

 civilized lite, and gradually to absorb them into tho 

 mass of our citizens, sharing their rights and holden 

 to their responsibilities, there is imperative need for 

 legislative action. 



My suggestions in that regard will be chiefly such 

 as have been already called to the attention of Con- 

 gress, and have received, to some extent, its consid- 

 eration : 



1. I recommend the passage of an act making the 

 laws of the various States and Territories applicable 

 to the Indian reservations within their borders, and 

 extending the laws of the State of Arkansas to the 

 portion of the Indian Territory not occupied by the 

 nve civilized tribes. 



The Indian should receive the protection of the 

 law. He. should be allowed to maintain hi court hisj 

 rights of person and property. He has repeatedly 

 begged for this privilege. Its exercise would be 

 very valuable to him in his progress toward civiliza- 

 tion. 



2. Of even greater importance is a measure which 

 has been frequently recommended by my prede- 

 cessors in office, and"^ in furtherance of whicn several 

 bills have been from time to time introduced in both 

 Houses of Congress. The enactment of a general 

 law permitting the allotment in severally, to such 

 Indians, at least, as desire it, of a reasonable quan- 

 tity of land secured to them by patent, and for their 

 own protection made inalienable for twenty or twen- 

 ty-five years, is demanded for their present welfare 

 and their permanent advancement. 



In return for such considerate action on the part of 

 the Government, there is reason to believe that the 

 Indians in large numbers would be persuaded to 

 sever their tribal relations and to engage at once in 

 agricultural pursuits. Many of them realize the fact 

 that their hunting days are over, and that it is now 

 for their best interests to conform their manner of 

 life to the new order of things. By no greater in- 

 ducement than the assurance of permanent title to 

 the soil can they be led to engage in the occupation 

 of tilling it. 



The well-attested reports of their increasing inter- 

 est in husbandry justify the hope and belief that the 

 enactment of such a statute as I recommend would 

 be at once attended with gratifying results. A re- 

 sort to the allotment system would nave a direct and 

 powerful influence in dissolving the tribal bond, 

 which is so prominent a feature of savage life, and 

 which tends so strongly to perpetuate it. 



3. I advise a liberal appropriation for the support 

 of Indian schools, because of my confident belief 

 that such a course is consistent with the wisest econ- 

 omy. 



Even among the most uncultivated Indian tribes 

 there is reported to be a general and urgent desire on 

 the part of the chiefs and older members for the 

 education of their children. It is unfortunate, in 

 view of this fact, that during the past year the means 

 which have been at the command of the Interior De- 

 partment for the purpose of Indian instruction have 

 proved to be utterly inadequate. Tho success of the 

 schools which are in operation at Hampton, Carlisle, 

 and Forest Grove should not only encourage a more 

 generous provision for the support of those institu- 

 tions, but should prompt the establishment of others 

 of a similar character. 



They are doubtless much more potent for pood than 

 the day -schools upon the reservation, as the pupils arc 

 altogether separated from the surroundings of sava^i- 

 life, and brought into constant contact with civiliza- 

 tion. 



There are many other phases of this subject which 

 are of great interest, but which can not bo included 

 within tho becoming limits of this communication ; 

 they are discussed ably in tho reports of tho Secretary 

 of the Interior and tho Commissioner of Indian Af- 

 fairs. 



For many years the Executive, in his annual mes- 

 sage to Congress, has urged the necessity of strintrcnt 

 legislation for the suppression of polygamy in tho Ter- 

 ritories, and especially in the Territory of Utah. The 

 existing statute for tho punishment of this odious 

 crime, so revolting to the moral and religious sense 



