UNITED STATES. 



763 



reservations, and maintain their tribal rela- 

 tions. The policy of allotting lands to the 

 Indians in severalty, at the rate of 320 acres 

 to each family, and selling the rest of the 

 reservation for settlement, reserving the pro- 

 ceeds as a fund for the benefit of the former 

 occupants, was recommended with more or 

 less qualification by the Commissioner of In- 

 dian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior, 

 and strongly advocated by the Lieutenant-Gen- 

 eral of the Army. Gen. Sheridan, in a statement 

 prepared by him, dated Jan. 2, 1886, sets forth 

 the following facts : In Dakota the St. Berthold 

 reservation includes an area of 2,900,000 acres, 

 and has a population of 1,300 ; the other Sioux 

 reservations aggregate nearly 22,250,000 acres, 

 and are occupied by 25,800 persons. Accord- 

 ing to the allotment proposed, the sale of the 

 surplus at $1.25 per acre, and the investment 

 of the proceeds at 4 per cent, for the benefit 

 of the Indians, this would open over 20,000,000 

 acres to settlement, and furnish an income of 

 more than $1,000,000 a year. In Montana the 

 Blackfeet reservation contains 21,500,000 acres, 

 occupied by 7,000 Indians, and the Crow res- 

 ervation, of 4,800,000, is occupied by 3,300 

 persons. The Indians of these two Territories 

 number 45,000, and their reservations include 

 54,500,000 acres. According to Gen. Sheri- 

 dan's calculation, their surplus lands would 

 yield a revenue of $2,500',000, while the ap- 

 propriations for their benefit under existing 

 treaties are about $100,000. In Wyoming and 

 Idaho the Wind river, Fort Hall, and Coeur 

 d'Alene reservations include 5,000,000 acres, 

 occupied by 6,000 Shoshones and Bannocks; 

 from the surplus lands an income of $235,000 

 might be derived, or $100,000 more than the 

 annual appropriation for the benefit of the oa- 

 cupants. In Oregon the Klamath reservation, 

 1,000,000 acres, is occupied by 1,000 Indians; 

 in Washington Territory the Yakames, 3,200 

 in number, have a reservation of 800,000 acres, 

 and the total for the State and Territory is 

 16,000 Indians and 8,400,000 acres of reserva- 

 tion. The Hies, in Utah and Colorado, num- 

 bering 3,650, have 5,000,000 acres of reserva- 

 tion ; the Navajoes, in New Mexico, numbering 

 23,000, have 8,000,000 acres. The principal 

 reservation in Arizona is the White Mountain, 

 with the agency at San Carlos. Its extent is 

 2,500,000 acres, and the Indians entitled to 

 occupy it number about 5,000. In New Mexi- 

 co and Arizona the total of Indians is 53,000, 

 of reservations 16,500,000 acres. The Indians 

 of the Indian Territory number about 80,000, 

 and their reservations, excluding the Oklahoma 

 country, aggregate 31,500,000 acres. This is 

 Gen. Sheridan's conclusion : 



The Indian reservations of the United States con- 

 tain about 200,000 square miles. Their population is 

 about 260,000. Twenty-six thousand square miles 

 would locate each family upon a half section of land, 

 leaving a surplus of about 170,000 square miles, which, 

 according to the plan I have proposed, would pro- 

 duce annually $4,480,000. This amount exceeds by 

 about $660,000 the entire sum appropriated for the 



payment of their annuities and for their subsistence 

 and civilization. 



Postal Service. The postal revenues for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30 were $42,560,843, 

 while the expenses amounted to $50,942,415, 

 showing a deficiency of $8,381,571. This was 

 partly accounted for by the continuing effect 

 of the reduction of letter-postage from three to 

 two cents as the single rate, and the subse- 

 quent increase of weight for single-rate letter- 

 postage from one half ounce to one ounce, and 

 the increase of the unit of weight for second- 

 class matter from two ounces to four ounces. 

 The number of post-offices at the end of the 

 fiscal year was 51,252, a net increase for the 

 year of 1,235, the number established being 

 2,121, and the number discontinued 886. The 

 number of postmasters subject to appointment 

 by the President was 2,Si33, by the Postmaster- 

 General 49,019. The number of appointments 

 made during the year was 11,203, of which 

 6,204 were on account of resignation and ex- 

 piration of terms; 2,221 on account of the es- 

 tablishment of new offices; 412 on account of 

 death of incumbents; 207 on account of 

 .changes of names and sites; and 810 in conse- 

 quence of removals and suspensions. The total 

 number of changes was less than for the pre- 

 ceding year, but the number of removals and 

 suspensions exceeded that of the previous year 

 by 297. The provision for the immediate de- 

 livery of letters on payment of 10 cents extra 

 postage by a special stamp went into effect 

 Oct. 1, in all places of 4,000 inhabitants and 

 over. The Postmaster-General declined to pay 

 out the $400,000 appropriated by Congress for 

 foreign mail service, to be distributed among 

 American vessels carrying the mails, on com- 

 petitive bids, not to exceed 50 cents a mile for 

 the distance sailed. He took this course on 

 the ground that the existing compensation was 

 sufficient, and that it was impracticable to dis- 

 burse the appropriation by contract on compe- 

 tition. There were half a dozen steamship 

 companies that would be entitled to a share, 

 but they were not competitors, and the fund 

 was not sufficient for a pro rata division on the 

 basis of 50 cents a mile. The steamship com- 

 panies which claimed the benefit of the appro- 

 priation declined, after Aug. 1, to carry the 

 mails at the old rates, and other provision was 

 made for the postal service to the West Indies, 

 Central and South America, and to New Zea- 

 land and Australia. 



Life-Saving Service. The number of life-saving 

 stations at the close of the fiscal year was 203, 

 of which 157 were on the Atlantic coast, 38 on 

 the lakes, 7 on the Pacific, and 1 at the Falls 

 of the Ohio river, Louisville, Ky. The num- 

 ber of disasters to documented vessels was 256, 

 on board of which were 2,206 persons, of whom 

 2,196 were saved and 10 lost. The value of 

 the vessels and cargoes was $4,604,455, of 

 which $3,852,760 was saved. Fifty-six vessels 

 were totally lost. There were also 115 disas- 

 ters to smaller craft, in which 232 persons were 



