870 



UNITED STATES BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS 



[b. a. e. 



after a few years of practical direction by 

 the Commission, was adopted substan- 

 tially by the Department and is still in 

 use by the Indian Bureau, to the great 

 advantage of the Indians as well as of the 

 Government. 



In their first annual report to the Presi- 

 dent the Board indicated, besides these 

 reforms in business methods, certain lines 

 of work which they proposed to under- 

 take and certain reforms which seemed 

 desirable. They urged that the Indians 

 should be taught as soon as possible the 

 advantages of individual ownership of 

 property; that land in severalty should 

 be given them as soon as it was desired by 

 any; that tribal ownership and tribal rela- 

 tions should be discouraged; that individ- 

 ual titles to land should be made inalien- 

 able from the family of the holder for at 

 least two or three generations, and that 

 the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Ter. 

 should be taxed and made citizens of the 

 United States as soon as possible. They 

 advised that the system of treaties with 

 Indian tribes should be discontinued; and 

 that as soon as a just method to accom- 

 plish it could be devised, there should be 

 in the interest of the Indians themselves 

 an abrogation of existing treaties with 

 tribes. They declared it to be the imme- 

 diate duty of the Government to establish 

 schools and employ teachers, to introduce 

 the English language in every tribe, and 

 especially to educate the Indians in the 

 dignity of work, in the industries and 

 arts of civilization and the principles of 

 Christianity, that Indians might be fitted 

 for citizenship and be made citizens. 

 From the first, the object held in view 

 by the Commission has been the absorp- 

 tion of all Indians as soon as practicable 

 into the body politic as American citizens. 

 Their first report also commended the 

 President for his avowed purpose to select 

 Indian agents with a view to their moral 

 as well as their business qualifications for 

 their work, and aside from political and 

 partisan considerations. 



As early as 1878 the Commission made 

 a draft of a bill to allot land and secure 

 homesteads to Indians; and they stead- 

 fastly and earnestly advocated that re- 

 form, against strong opposition, until its 

 triumph in Congress under the wise and 

 effective leadership of Senator Dawes in 

 the general severalty act of 1887 which 

 justly bears his name. Now that more 

 than 70,000 Indians (besides the 65,000 

 in Indian Ter., citizens by virtue of the 

 Curtis act, which followed the Dawes act) 

 have become American citizens under the 

 provisions of the Dawes bill, it excites 

 wonder to recall the fact that until this 

 tardy act of justice to Indians in 1887 the 

 only people from any quarter of the globe 

 who could not become American citizens 



by birth, residence, or naturalization were 

 our own American Indians, the only 

 strictly native-born Americans by race. 



To assist in the Christian education of 

 the Indians was urged upon all denomi- 

 nations of Christians as a patriotic duty 

 by President Grant in 1869; and for many 

 years the Board of Indian Commissioners 

 cooperated in this work by holding twice 

 in each year (at the annual meeting of 

 the Board at Washington in January, 

 and at the Lake Mohonk Indian Confer- 

 ence — see Mohonk Indian Conference, — 

 called and entertained by Hon. Albert K. 

 Smiley, a member of the Commission), 

 a conference with the secretaries and 

 workers of the various religious organi- 

 zations which carried on missions and 

 schools among Indians. After appropria- 

 tions for Government schools had steadily 

 grown from $20,000 in 1877 to $3,757,909 

 in 1910 (a growth which the Board has 

 earnestly recommended and steadily fav- 

 ored), and after direct Government aid 

 had been withdrawn from all denomina- 

 tional schools, annual conferences at 

 Washington with representatives of mis- 

 sion societies were for a time discontin- 

 ued. When the Board was created, fewer 

 than 5,000 Indian children had any kind 

 of school facilities. Now the Govern- 

 ment provides school facilities for the 

 children of all Indian tribes except the 

 Navaho; and in 1910 more than 30,000 

 Indian children were enrolled in schools. 



In their first annual report the Board, 

 in speaking of the proposed policy of 

 education, said: "To expect the Chris- 

 tianization and civilization of any barbar- 

 ous people within the term of a few short 

 years would be to ignore all the facts of 

 history, all the experiences of human 

 nature." Now that for a full generation 

 this independent, nonpartisan Board has 

 continued to act as assistants to the Gov- 

 ernment, often as interpreters to the pub- 

 lic of the policy of the administration, 

 often by criticism and suggestion as ex- 

 ponents to the Government of the thought 

 and sentiment of the most intelligent 

 friends of the Indians, so much of prog- 

 ress is evident that the CJonimission with 

 great hope and confidence continue their 

 work which looks to the speedy abolition 

 of all tribal relations, and to the discon- 

 tinuance at the earliest practicable date of 

 all special supervision of Indians by the 

 Government. 



For the last 10 years the Board has 

 warmly advocated breaking up into in- 

 dividual holdings the immense tribal 

 funds now held in trust by the Govern- 

 ment. They advocate the fixing of an 

 early date after which no child born to 

 Indians shall have any right to a share 

 in tribal funds save as he may inherit 

 from others their divided interest under 



