CONGRESS. (PBESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



161 



The estimates presented for appropriations for the 

 ei,suin2 fiscal year amount to $5,608,873.64, or $442,- 

 386.20 less than those laid before the Congress last 

 year. 



The present system of agencies, while absolutely 

 necessary and well adapted for the management of 

 our Indian affairs and for the ends in view, when it 

 was adopted, is at the present stage of Indian man- 

 agement inadequate, standing alone, for the accom- 

 plishment of an object which has become pressing in 

 ltd importance the more rapid transition from tribal 

 organizations to citizenship, of such portions of the 

 Indians as are capable of civilized life. 



When the existing system was adopted the Indian 

 race was outside of the limits of organized States and 

 Territories, and bevond the immediate reach and op- 

 eration of civilization ; and all efforts were mainly 

 directed to the maintenance of friendly relations and 

 the preservation of peace and quiet on the frontier. 

 All this is now changed. There is no such thing as 

 the Indian frontier. Civilization, with the busy hum 

 of industry and the influences of Christianity, sur- 

 rounds these people at every point. None of the 

 tribes are outside of the bounds of organized govern- 

 ment and society, except that the territorial system 

 has not been extended over that portion of the coun- 

 try known as the Indian Territory. As a race the 

 Indians are no longer hostile, but may be considered 

 as submissive to the control of the Government ; few 

 of them only are troublesome. Except the fragments 

 of several bands, all are now gathered upon reserva- 

 tions. 



It is no longer possible for them to subsist by the 

 chase and the spontaneous productions of the earth. 



With an abundance of land, if furnished with the 

 means and implements for profitable husbandry, their 

 life of entire dependence upon Government rations 

 from day to day is no longer defensible. Their in- 

 clination, long fostered by a defective system of con- 

 trol, is to cling to the habits and customs of their 

 ancestors, and struggle with persistence against the 

 change or life which their altered circumstances press 

 upon them. But barbarism and civilization can not 

 live together. It is impossible that such incongruous 

 conditions should coexist on the same soil. 



They are a portion of our people, are under the au- 

 thority of our Government, and have a peculiar claim 

 upon and are entitle. 1 to the fostering care and protec- 

 tion of the nation. The Government can not relieve 

 itself of this responsibility until they are so far trained 

 and civilized as to be able wholly to manage and care 

 for themselves. The paths in which they should 

 walk must be clearly marked out for them, and they 

 must be led or guided until they are familiar with the 

 way and competent to assume the duties and respon- 

 sibilities of our citizenship. 



Progress in this great work will continue only at 

 the present slow puce and at great expense, unless the 

 system and methods of management are improved to 

 meet the changed conditions and urgent demands of 

 the service. 



The agents having general charge and supervision 

 in many cases of more than five thousand Indians, 

 scattered over large reservations, and burdened with 

 the_ details of accountability for funds and supplies, 

 have time to look after the industrial training and 

 improvement of a few Indians only ; the many are neg- 

 lected and remain idle and dependent conditions 

 not favorable for progress in civilization. 



_ The compensation allowed these agents, and the con- 

 ditions of the service, are not calculated to secure for 

 the work men who are fitted by ability and skill to 

 properly plan and intelligently direct the methods best 

 adapted to produce the most speedy results and per- 

 manent benefits. 



Hence the necessity for a supplemental agency or 

 system, directed to the end of promoting the general 

 and more rapid transition of the tribes from habits and 

 customs of barbarism to the ways of civilization. 



With an anxious desire to devise some plan of op- 



TOL. XXVII. 11 A 



eration by which to secure the welfare of the Indians, 

 and to relieve the Treasury as far as possible from the 

 support of an idle and dependent population, I recom- 

 mended in my previous annual message the passage 

 of a law authorizing the appointment of a commission 

 as an instrumentality auxiliary to those already estab- 

 lished, for the care of the Indians. It was designed 

 that this commission should be composed of six intel- 

 ligent and capable persons three to be detailed from 

 the army having practical ideas upon the subject of 

 the treatment of Indians, and interested in their wel- 

 fare ; and that it should be charged, under the direc- 

 tion of the Secretary of the Interior, with the manage- 

 ment of such matters of detail as can not with the 

 present organization be properly and successfully con- 

 ducted, and which present different phases, as tne In- 

 dians themselves differ, in their progress, needs, dis- 

 position, and capacity for improvement or immediate 

 self-support. 



By the aid of such a commission much unwise and 

 useless expenditure of money, waste of materials, and 

 unavailing efforts might be avoided ; and it is hoped 

 that this or some measure which the wisdom of Con- 

 gress may better devise, to supply the deficiency of 

 the present system, may receive your consideration, 

 and the appropriate legislation be provided. 



The time is ripe for the work of such an agency. 



There is less opposition to the education and train- 

 ing of the Indian youth, as shown by the increased at- 

 tendance upon the schools, and there is a yielding 

 tendency for the individual holding of lands. Devel- 

 opment and advancement in these directions are es- 

 sential, and should have every encouragement. As 

 the rising generation are taught the language of civili- 

 zation and trained in habits of industry, tney should 

 assume the duties, privileges, and responsibilities of 

 citizenship. 



No obstacle should hinder the location and settle- 

 ment of any Indian willing to take land in severalty ; 

 on the contrary, the inclination to do so should be 

 stimulated at all times when proper and expedient. 

 But there is no authority of law for making allotments 

 on some of the reservations, and on others the allot- 

 ments provided for are so small, that the Indians, 

 though ready and desiring to settle down, are not will- 

 ing to accept such small areas, when their reservations 

 contain ample lands to afford them homesteads of suf- 

 ficient size to meet their present and future needs. 



These inequalities of existing special laws and trea- 

 ties should be corrected, and some general legislation 

 on the subject should be provided, so that the more 

 progressive members of the different tribes may bo 

 settled upon homesteads, and by their example lead 

 others to follow, breaking away from tribal customs 

 and substituting therefor the love of home, the inter- 

 est of the family, and the rule of the state. 



The Indian character and nature are such that they 

 are not easily led while brooding over unadjusted 

 wrongs. This is especially BO regarding their lands. 

 Matters arising from the construction and operation 

 of railroads across some of the reservations, and claims 

 of title and right of occupancy set up by white persons 

 to some of the best land within other reservations, re- 

 quire legislation for their final adjustment. 



The settlement of these matters will remove many 

 embarrassments to progress in the work of leading the 

 Indians to the adoption of our institutions and bring- 

 ing them under the operation, the influence, and the 

 protection of the universal laws of our country. 



The recommendations of the Secretary ot the In- 

 terior and the Commissioner of the General Land-Of- 

 fice looking to the better protection of public lands 

 and of the public surveys, the preservation of national 

 forests, the adjudication of grants to States and cor- 

 porations and of private land claims, and the inen asr.l 

 efficiency of the public land service, are commended 

 to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest 

 distribution of public lands in limited quantities 

 among settlers for residence and cultivation and thus 

 make' the greatest number of individual homes, was 



