NUMBERS OF THE INDIANS. 



HAS THE INDIAN IN THE UNITED STATES DECREASED IN NUMBERS FROM 



1822 to 1386 ? 



OPINIONS. 



" The present number of Indians in tlie United States does not exceed three hundred 

 thousand, but it is possibly as large now as when the Europeans began, the settlement 

 of the North American Continent. Different tribes then existing have dwindled, and 

 some have become extinct, but there is reason to believe that the vast territory now 

 occupied by the United States, if not then a howling wilderness, was largely an un- 

 peopled solitude." (Julius H. Seelye, Amherst College, December 10, 1880.) 



" The great body of the Indians of North America have passed through stages of 

 culture in the last hundred years achieved by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors only by the 

 slow course of events through a thousand years. The Indians of the continent have 

 not greatly diminished in numbers, and the tribes longest in contact with civilization 

 are increasing." (J. W. Powell, Chief of the Bureau of Ethnology, First Annual 

 Report, 1879-80.) 



" The Indian tribes of the continent — with a few exceptions — have been steadily 

 decreasing in numbers." (Feancis A. Walker, "The Indian Question," page 152, 

 1874.) 



FACTS. 



INDIAN POPULATION TO 1886. 



At the date of European settlement the Indian population of the 

 present area of the United States was variously estimated, and as low 

 as 1,000,000; in Mr. Jefferson's time at 1,000,000 to 600,000; in 1822 

 (Eev. J. D. Morse), at 471,136; in 1832 (Drake), at 313,000; in 1840, at 

 400,000; in 1855 (Commissioner of Indian Affairs), at 350,000; in 1866 

 (Commissioner of Indian Affairs), at 295,774 ; in 1867 (Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs, special report), at 306,475; in 1868 (Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs), at 298,528; in, 1870 (Census), at 383,577; in 1872 (Com- 

 missioner of Indian Affairs), at 300,000 ; in 1877 (Commissioner of Indian 

 Affairs), at 250,864; in 1880 (Census), at 255,938; in 1883 (Commis- 

 sioner of Indian Affairs), at 263,565; in 1884 (Commissioner of Indian 

 Affairs), at 264,369 ; in 1885 (Commissioner of Indian Affairs), at 259,244; 

 in 1886 (all exclusive of Alaska), 247,761. 



CONCLUSION. 



The conclusion is that the Indian is gradually decreasing. 



' ' According to the official reports of the last eighteen years the average decrease of 

 the "civilized" or 'partially civilized' [Indians] has been a little less than 2,000 a 

 year." (Wm. Bakrows, D. D., Audover Review, August, 1886.) 



862 



