

CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



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mcnts for national defense, and has received public 

 approbation. The time has now arrived, however, 

 \\lieu this increase, to which the country is com- 

 mitted, should, for a time, take the form of in- 

 creased facilities commensurate with the increase 

 of our naval vessels. It is an unfortunate fact that 

 there is only one dock on the Pacific coast capable 

 of docking our largest ships, and only one on the 

 Atlantic coast, and that the latter has for the last 

 six or seven months been under repair and there- 

 fore incapable of use. Immediate steps should be 

 taken to provide three or four docks of this capacity 

 on the Atlantic coast, at least one on the Pacific 

 coast, and a floating dock in the Gulf. This is the 

 recommendation of a very competent board ap- 

 pointed to investigate the subject. There should 

 also be ample provision made for powder and pro- 

 jectiles and other munitions of war, and for an in- 

 creased number of officers and enlisted men. Some 

 additions are also necessary to our navy yards, for 

 the repair and care of our larger number of vessels. 

 As there are now on the stocks five battle ships of 

 the largest class, which can not be completed for a 

 year or two, 1 concur with the recommendation of 

 the Secretary of the Navy for an appropriation 

 authorizing the construction of one battle ship for 

 the Pacific coast, where, at present, there is only 

 one in commission and one under construction, 

 while on the Atlantic coast there are three in com- 



ission and four under construction ; and also that 



veral torpedo boats be authorized in connection 

 with our general system of coast defense. 



The Territory of Alaska requires the prompt and 

 early attention of Congress. The conditions now 



xisting demand material changes in the laws re- 

 ating to the Territory. The great influx of popu- 



tion during the past summer and fall and the 

 _ rospcct of a still larger immigration in the spring 

 will not permit us to longer neglect the extension 

 of civil authority within the Territory or postpone 

 the establishment of a more thorough government. 



A general system of public surveys has not yet 

 been extended to Alaska, and all entries thus far 

 made in that district arc upon special surveys. The 

 net of Congress extending to Alaska the mining 

 laws of the United States contained the reservation 

 that it should not be construed to put in force the 

 general land laws of the country. By act approved 

 March 3, 1891, authority was given for entry of 

 ands for town-site purposes and also for the pur- 



hase of not exceeding 160 acres then or thereafter 



cupied for purposes of trade and manufacture. 



he purpose of Congress as thus far expressed has 

 been that only such rights should apply to that 

 Territory as should be specifically named. 



It will be seen how much remains to be done for 

 hat vast and remote and yet promising portion of 



ur country. Special authority was given to the 



resident by the act of Congress approved July 24, 

 1897. to divide that Territory into two land districts 

 and to designate the boundaries thereof and to ap- 

 >oint registers and receivers of said land offices, and 

 he President was also authorized to appoint a sur- 

 veyor general for the entire district. Pursuant to 

 this authority, a surveyor general and receiver have 

 been appointed, with' offices at Sitka. If in the 

 ensuing year the conditions justify it, the additional 

 land district authorized by law will be established, 

 with an office at some point in the Yukon valley. 

 No appropriation, however, was made for this pur- 

 pose, and that is now necessary to be done for the 

 two land districts into which the Territory is to be 

 divided. 



I concur with the Secretary of War in his sugges- 

 tions as to the necessity for a military force in the 

 Territory of Alaska for the protection of persons 

 and property. Already a small force, consisting of 



twenty-five men, with two officers, under command 

 cf Lieut.-Col. Randall, of the Eighth Infantry, hs 

 been sent to St. Michael to establish a military 

 post. 



As it is to the interest of the Government to en- 

 courage the development and settlement of the 

 country and its duty to follow up its citizens there 

 with the benefits of legal machinery, I earnestly 

 urge upon Congress the establishment of a sy-tiiii 

 of government with such flexibility as will e'natilc 

 it to adjust itself to the future areas of greatest 

 population. 



The startling, though possibly exaggerated, reports 

 from the Yukon river country of the probable 

 shortage of food for the large number of people 

 who are wintering there without the means of leav- 

 ing the country are confirmed in such measure as 

 to justify bringing the matter to the attention of 

 Congress. Access to that country in winter can be 

 had only by the passes from Liyea and vicinity, 

 which is a most difficult and perhaps an impossible 

 task. However, should these reports of the suffer- 

 ing of our fellow-citizens be further verified, every 

 effort at any cost should be made to carry them 

 relief. 



For a number of years past it has been apparent 

 that the conditions under which the Five Civilized 

 Tribes were established in the Indian Territory 

 under treaty provisions with the United States, 

 with the right of self-government and the exclusion 

 of all white persons from within their borders, have 

 undergone so complete a change as to render the 

 continuance of the system thus inaugurated prac- 

 tically impossible. The total number of the Five 

 Civilized Tribes, as shown by the last census, is 

 45,494, and this number has not materially in- 

 creased, while the white population is estimated at 

 from 200.000 to 250,000, which by permission of the 

 Indian government has settled" in the Territory. 

 The present area of the Indian Territory contains 

 25,694,564 acres, much of which is very fertile land. 

 The United States citizens residing in theTerritory, 

 most of whom have gone there by invitation or with 

 the consent of the tribal authorities, have made 

 permanent homes for themselves. Numerous towns 

 have been built in which from 500 to 5,000 white 

 people now reside. Valuable residences and busi- 

 ness houses have been erected in many of them. 

 Large business enterprises are carried on in which 

 vast sums of money are employed, and yet these 

 people, who have invested their capital in the de- 

 velopment of the productive resources of the coun- 

 try, are without title to the land they occupy and 

 have no voice whatever in the government either of 

 the nations or tribes. Thousands of their children, 

 who were born in the Territory, are of school age, 

 but the doors of the schools of the nations are shut 

 against them, and what education they get is by 

 private contribution. No provision for the protec- 

 tion of the life or property of these white citizens 

 is made by the tribal governments and courts. 



The Secretary of the Interior reports that leading 

 Indians have absorbed great tracts of land to the 

 exclusion of the common people, and government 

 by an Indian aristocracy has been practically estab- 

 lished, to the detriment of the people. It has been 

 found impossible for the United States to keep its 

 citizens out of the Territory and the executory con- 

 ditions contained in the treaties with these nations 

 have for the most part become impossible of execu- 

 tion. Nor has it been possible for the tribal gov- 

 ernments to secure to each individual Indian his 

 full enjoyment in common with other Indians of 

 the common property of the nations. Friends of 

 the Indians have long believed that the best inter- 

 ests of the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes 

 would be found in American citizenship, with all 



