PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



669 



tary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian 

 Affairs. After a aeries of most deplorable conflicts 

 the successful termination of which, while reflect- 

 ing honor upon the brave soldiers who accomplished 

 it, cannot lessen our regret at their occurrence we 

 are now at peace with aU the Indian tribes within our 

 borders. To preserve that peace by a just and hu- 

 mane policy will be the object of my earnest endeav- 

 ors, whatever may be said of their character and 

 savage propensities, of the difficulties of introdu- 

 cing among them the habits of civilized life, and 

 of the obstacles they have offered to the progress 

 of settlement and enterprise in certain parts of the 

 country, the Indians are certainly entitled to our 

 sympathy and to a conscientious respect on our part 

 for their claims upon our sense of justice. They 

 were the aboriginal occupants of the land we now 

 possess. They have been driven from place to place ; 

 the purchase-money paid to them, in some cases, for 

 what they call their own, has still left them poor ; in 

 many instances, when they had settled down upon 

 land assigned to them by compact and began to sup- 

 port themselves by their own labor, they were rude- 

 ly jostled off and thrust into the wilderness again. 

 Many, if not most, of our Indian wars have had their 

 origin in broken promises and acts of injustice up- 

 on our part; and the advance of the Indians in civ- 

 ilization has been slow, because the treatment they 

 received did not permit it to be faster and more gen- 

 eral. We cannot expect them to improve and to fol- 

 low our guidance unless we keep faith with them in 

 respecting the rights they possess, and unless, in- 

 stead of depriving them of their opportunities, we 

 lend them a helping hand. 



I cordially approve the policy regarding the man- 

 agement of Indian affairs outlined in the reports of 

 the Secretary of the Interior and of the Commission- 

 er of Indian Affairs. The faithful performance of 

 our promises is the first condition or a good under- 

 standing with the Indians. I cannot too urgently 

 recommend to Congress that prompt and liberal 

 provision be made for the conscientious fulfillment 

 of all engagements entered into by the government 

 with the Indian tribes. To withhold the means nec- 

 essary for the performance of a promise is always 

 false economy, and is apt to prove disastrous in Us 

 consequences. Especial care is recommended to 

 provide for Indians settled on their reservations 

 cattle and agricultural implements, to aid them in 

 whatever efforts they may make to support them- 

 sslves, and by the establishment and maintenance 

 of schools to bring them under the control of civilized 

 influences. I see no reason why Indians who can 

 give satisfactory proof of having by their own labor 

 supported their families for a number of years, and 

 who are willing to detach themselves from their tri- 

 bal relations, snould not be admitted to the benefit 

 of the homestead act and the privileges of citizen- 

 ship, and I recommend the passage of a law to that 

 effect. It will be an act of justice as well as a meas- 

 ure of encouragement. Earnest efforts are being 

 made to purify the Indian service, so that every dol- 

 lar appropriated by Congress shall redound to the 

 benefit of the Indians, as intended. Those efforts 

 will have my firm support. With an improved ser- 

 vice, and every possible encouragement held out to 

 the Indians to better their condition and to elevate 

 t'temselves in the scale of civilization, we may hope 

 to accomplish at the same time a good work for them 

 and for ourselves. 



I invite the attention of Coneress to the impor- 

 tance of the statements and suggestions made by the 

 Secretary of the Interior concerning the depredations 

 committed on the timber-lands of the United States 

 and the necessity for the preservation of forests. It 

 is believed that the measures taken in pursuance of 

 existing laws to arrest those depredations will be en- 

 tirely successful if Congress, by an appropriation for 

 that purpose, renders their continued enforcement 

 possible. The experience of other nations teaches 



us that a country cannot be stripped of its forest* 

 with impunity, and we shall expose ourselves to the 

 gravest consequences unless the wasteful and im- 

 provident manner in which the forests in the Unit- 

 ed States are destroyed be effectually checked. I 

 earnestly recommend that the measures suggested 

 by the Secretary of the Interior for the suppression 

 of depredations on the public timber-land* of the 

 United States, for the selling of timber from th 

 public lands, and for the preservation of foresta, be, 

 embodied in a law ; and that, considering the urgent 

 necessity of enabling the people of certain Suit-sand 

 Territories to purchase timber from the public lands 

 in a legal manner, which at present they cannot do, 

 such a law be passed without unavoidable delay. I 

 would also call the attention of Congresft to the state- 

 ments made by the Secretary of the Interior concern- 

 ing the disposition that might be made of the des- 

 ert lands, not irrigable, west of the 100th meridian. 

 These lands are practically unsalable under existing 

 laws, and the suggestion is worthy of consideration 

 that a system of lease-hold tenure would make them 

 a source of profit to the United States, while at the 

 same time legalizing the business of cattle-raising, 

 which is at present carried on upon them. 



The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 contains the gratifying announcement of the ex- 

 traordinary success which has rewarded the agricult- 

 ural industry of the country for the past year. With 

 the fair prices which obtain for the products of the 

 soil, especially for the surplus which our people have 

 to export, we may confidently turn to this as the 

 most important of all our resources for the revival 

 of the depressed industries of the country. The re- 

 port shows our agricultural progress during the year, 

 and contains a statement of the work done by tin* 

 department for the advancement of agricultural in- 

 dustry, upon which the prosperity of oar people o 

 largely depends. Mutters of information are includ- 

 ed of great interest to all who seek, by the experi- 

 ence of others, to improve their own methods or cul- 

 tivation. The efforts of the department to increase 

 the production of important articles of consumption 

 will, it is hoped, improve the demand for labor and 

 advance the business of the country, and eventually 

 result in saving some of the many millions that are 

 now annually paid to foreign nations for sugar and 

 other staple products which habitual use has made 

 necessary in our domestic every-day life. 



The board on behalf of the United States Execu- 

 tive Departments at the International Exhibition of 

 1876 has concluded its labors. The final report of 

 the board was transmitted to Congress by the Pres- 

 ident near the close of the last session. As these pa- 

 pers are understood to contain interesting end valu- 

 able information, and will constitute the only report 

 emanating from the government on the subject of 

 the exhibition, I invite attention to the matter, and 

 recommend that the report be published for general 

 information. 



Congress is empowered by the Constitution with 

 the authority of exclusive legislation over the Wtv 

 triot of Columbia, in which the sot of government of 

 the nation is located. The interests of the District, 

 having no direct representation in (.'oiigres*, aro en- 

 titled to especial consideration and cans at the h*mla 

 of the General Government. The capital of the Unit- 

 ed States belongs to the nation, and it in natural that 

 the American people should take pride in theaeat of 

 their National Government, and desire it to b an or- 

 nament to the country. Much ban been done to ret 

 der it healthful, convenient, and attractive, but n 

 remains to be done, which its permanent inhabiunu 

 are not able and ought not to be. expected to d 

 impose upon them a large proportion of 

 quired for public improvements, which are in a irrm 

 measure planned and executed for the oonyenimc 

 of the government and of the many thousands of 

 itors from nil part* of the country who temporarily 

 reside at the capital of the nation, U an evident in- 



