

CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



153 



we should definitely make up our minds to rec- 

 ognize the Indian as an individual and not as a 

 member of a tribe. The general allotment act 

 is a mighty pulverizing engine to break up the 

 tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family 

 and the individual. Under its provisions some 

 00,000 Indians have already become citizens of the 

 United States. We should now break up the 

 tribal funds, doing for them what allotment does 

 for the tribal lands; that is, they should be 

 divided into individual holdings. There will be 

 a transition period during which the funds will 

 in many cases have to be held in trust. This is 

 the case also with the lands. A stop should be 

 put upon the indiscriminate permission to Indi- 

 ans to lease their allotments. The effort should 

 be steadily to make the Indian work like any 

 other man on his own ground. The marriage 

 laws of the Indians should be made the same as 

 those of the whites. 



In the schools the education should be ele- 

 mentary and largely industrial. The need of 

 higher education among the Indians is very, very 

 limited. On the reservations care should be 

 taken to try to suit the teaching to the needs 

 of the particular Indian. There is no use in 

 attempting to induce agriculture in a country 

 suited only for cattle-raising, where the Indian 

 should be made a stock-grower. The ration sys- 

 tem, which is merely the corral and the reserva- 

 tion system, is highly detrimental to the Indians. 

 It promotes beggary, perpetuates pauperism, and 

 stifles industry. It is an effectual barrier to 

 progress. It must continue to a greater or less 

 degree as long as tribes are herded on reserva- 

 tions and have everything in common. The In- 

 dian should be treated as an individual like the 

 white man. During the change of treatment in- 

 evitable hardships will occur; every effort should 

 be made to minimize these hardships; but we 

 should not because of them hesitate to make the 

 change. There should be a continuous reduction 

 in the number of agencies. 



In dealing with the aboriginal races few things 

 are more important than to preserve them from 

 the terrible physical and moral degradation re- 

 sulting from the liquor traffic. We are doing 

 all we can to save our own Indian tribes from 

 this evil. Wherever by international agreement 

 this same end can be attained as regards races 

 where we do not possess exclusive control, every 

 effort should be made to bring it about. 



I bespeak the most cordial support from the 

 Congress and the people for the St. Louis Expo- 

 sition to Commemorate the One Hundredth An- 

 niversary of the Louisiana Purchase. This pur- 

 chase was the greatest instance of expansion in 

 our history. It definitely decided that we were 

 to become a great continental republic, by far the 

 foremost power in the Western Hemisphere. It 

 is one of three or four great landmarks in our 

 history the great turning points in our devel- 

 opment. It is eminently fitting that all our peo- 

 ple should join with heartiest good-will in com- 

 memorating it, and the citizens of St. Louis, of 

 Missouri, of all the adjacent region, are entitled 

 to every aid in making the celebration a note- 

 worthy event in our annals. We earnestly -hope 

 that foreign nations will appreciate the deep in- 

 terest our country takes in this exposition, and 

 our view of its importance from every stand- 

 point, and that they will participate in securing 

 its success. The National Government should be 

 represented by a full and complete set of exhibits. 



The people of Charleston, with great energy 

 and civic spirit, are carrying on an exposition 

 which will continue throughout most of the 





present session of the Congress. I heartily com- 

 mend this exposition to the good-will of the peo- 

 ple. It deserves all the encouragement -that can 

 be given it. The managers of the Charleston Ex- 

 position have requested the Cabinet officers to 

 place thereat the Government exhibits which 

 have been at Buffalo, promising to pay the neces- 

 sary expenses. I have taken the responsibility 

 of directing that this be done, for I feel that it 

 is due to Charleston to help her in her praise- 

 worthy effort. In my opinion the management 

 should not be required to pay all these expenses. 

 I earnestly recommend that the Congress appro- 

 priate at once the small sum necessary for this 

 purpose. 



The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has 

 just closed. Both from the industrial and the 

 artistic standpoint this exposition has been in 

 a high degree creditable and useful, not merely 

 to Buffalo but to the United States. The terri- 

 ble tragedy of the President's assassination in- 

 terfered materially with its being a financial 

 success. The exposition was peculiarly in har- 

 mony with the trend of our public policy, because 

 it represented an effort to bring into closer 

 touch all the peoples of the Western Hemisphere, 

 and give them an increasing sense of unity. 

 Such an effort was a genuine service to the 

 entire American public. 



The advancement of the highest interests of 

 national science and learning and the custody of 

 objects of art and of the valuable results of 

 scientific expeditions conducted by the United 

 States have been committed to the Smithsonian 

 Institution. In furtherance of its declared pur- 

 pose for the " increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men " the Congress has from time 

 to time given it other important functions. Such 

 trusts have been executed by the institution with 

 notable fidelity. There should be no halt in the 

 work of the institution, in accordance with the 

 plans which its secretary has presented, for the 

 preservation of the vanishing races of great 

 North American animals in the National Zoo- 

 logical Park. The urgent needs of the National 

 Museum are recommended to the favorable con- 

 sideration of the Congress. 



Perhaps the most characteristic educational 

 movement of the past fifty years is that which 

 has created the modern public library and devel- 

 oped it into broad and active service. There are 

 now over 5,000 public libraries in the United 

 States, the product of this period. In addition 

 to accumulating material they are also striving 

 by organization, by improvement in method, and 

 by cooperation, to give greater efficiency to the 

 material they hold, to make it more widely use- 

 ful, and by avoidance of unnecessary duplication 

 in process to reduce the cost of its administra- 

 tion. 



In these efforts they naturally look for as- 

 sistance to the Federal library, which, though 

 still the Library of Congress, and so entitled, i 

 the one national library of the United States. 

 Already the largest sing'le collection of books on 

 the Western Hemisphere, and certain to increase 

 more rapidly than any other through purchase, 

 exchange, and the operation of the copyright law, 

 this library has a unique opportunity to render 

 to the libraries of this country to American 

 scholarship service of the highest importance. 

 It is housed in a building which is the largest 

 and most magnificent yet erected for library uses. 

 Resources are now being provided which will de^ 

 velop the collection properly, equip it with the 

 apparatus and service necessary to its effective 

 use, render its bibliographic work widely avail- 



