502 



GOVERNMENTAL POLICY 



[b. a. e. 



breeding of reindeer, which have very 

 largely multiplied. Not only has a new 

 vocation thus been opened to the natives, 

 but a valuable means of support has been 

 given to the rapidly increasing popula- 

 tion of the territory (see Jackson, Rep. 

 on Introd. of Reindeer, 1904). 



On May 22, 1792, the following decla- 

 ration was made in instructions given to 

 Brig. Gen. Rufus Putnam, who was sent 

 to negotiate with the lately hostile In- 

 dians near L. Erie: "That the United 

 States are highly desirous of imparting to 

 all the Indian tribes the blessings of civil- 

 ization, as the only means of perpetuating 

 them on the earth; that we are willing 

 to be at the expense of teaching them to 

 read and write, to plow and to sow in 

 order to raise their own bread and meat 

 with certainty, as the white people do" 

 (Am. State JPapers, i, 235). The first 

 treaty providing for any form of edu- 

 cation was made on Dec. 2, 1794, with 

 the Oneida, Tuscarora, and Stockbridge 

 Indians, who had faithfully adhered to 

 the colonies during the Revolution. 

 Two persons were to be employed to 

 instruct them in the "arts of the mil- 

 ler and sawyer" (U. S. Stat, ii, 48). 

 The Committee on Indian Affairs re- 

 ported to the House of Representatives 

 on Jan. 22, 1818, in favor of increasing 

 the number of trading posts and estab- 

 lishing schools on or near the frontier 

 for the education of Indian children as 

 measures that " would be attended with 

 beneficial effects both to the United 

 States and to the Indian tribes" (Am. 

 State Papers, ii. 151). In 1819 the first 

 general appropriation ($10,000 a year) 

 for Indian education was made. The 

 maintenance of shops, supported, how- 

 ever, by tribal funds, was one of the 

 means used for industrial training, and 

 many tribes through treaty stipulations 

 supported and still support the schools 

 on their reservations. The money ap- 

 propriated by the Government for Indian 

 education from 1819 to 1873 was mainly 

 expended with the cooperation of vari- 

 ous missionary societies that had estab- 

 lished missions. From 1873 to the 

 present time the Government has main- 

 tained public schools for the Indians. 



About 1875 the Indians began to mod- 

 ify the tribal form of government by 

 depriving chiefs of power and transfer- 

 ring their authority to a representive 

 council, limited in number. The move- 

 ment met with opposition in some tribes, 

 but was accepted in others as a means 

 of countervailing undue conservatism and 

 giving to the progressive element a voice 

 in the management of tribal affairs. 

 About the same time Congress passed a 

 law prohibiting agents from distributing 

 supplies and ammunition to able-bodied 



Indians, between 18 and 45 years of age, 

 except after the performance of some 

 service "for the benefit of themselves or 

 the tribe, at a reasonable rate to be fixed 

 by the agent in charge and to an amount 

 equal in value to the supplies to be de- 

 livered." The Secretary of the Interior 

 might "by written order except any par- 

 ticular tribe or portion of tribe from 

 the operation of this provision when he 

 deems it proper or expedient" (U. S. 

 Stat., XVIII, 176, 449, 1875). 



A court of Indian offenses was insti- 

 tuted in 1882 in order to familiarize the 

 Indian with some of the methods which 

 his white neighbors use in trying and 

 punishing offenders. Though the prac- 

 tice of this court has been crude, it has 

 yet assisted in preparing the Indian to 

 conform to the general customs of the 

 country. The judges are appointed by 

 the Indian bureau to serve one year. No 

 compensation is given. The agents all 

 report faithful service on the part of the 

 Indian judges. 



The method of establishing reserva- 

 tions has not been uniform, some having 

 been created by treaty, some by Executive 

 order, and others by act of Congress; but 

 those established by Executive order 

 without an act of Congress were not held 

 to be permanent before the general allot- 

 ment act of 1887 was passed. The vari- 

 ous Indian titles recognized by the Gov- 

 ernment are (1) the original right of 

 occupancy, alienable to the Government 

 only; (2) the title to reservations, which 

 differs from the original title chiefly in 

 the fact that it is derived from the United 

 States. The tenure since the act of 1887 

 is the same as before, and the power to 

 alienate or transfer is subject to the same 

 limitation, the absolute title being in the 

 Government. Another class of titles is 

 ' (3) where reservations have been pat- 

 ented to Indian tribes, as those to the 

 Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek nations, 

 or where grants made by Spain have 

 been confirmed by treaty, as in the case 

 of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. 

 The right of the Indians on reservations 

 to sell timber or to grant mining privileges 

 has been restricted, though it is now 

 being gradually extended. 



The policy of the United States in deal- 

 ing with the Indians has, as a rule, been 

 humane and just. The chief exceptions 

 are: First, that arid orsemi-arid lands have 

 been selected for some of the reservations, 

 defeating the effort to change some tribes 

 from the hunter to the agricultural stage 

 and entailing misery and death; second, 

 that the pressure brought to bear by 

 white settlers to eject the Indians from 

 their favorite sections, where they were 

 promised permanent homes, has too often 

 been successful. See Agency system, Dutch 



