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Show ; I IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS ! ' In One of Which Secretary Lamar Re- i views the Indian Question and j Suggests a Solution. j - i j Which Is, the Savage Must Be Civil-j Civil-j ized and Absorbed, or His Extinc-j Extinc-j tion Will Surely Come, And in the Other Treasurer Jordan . Balances Uncle Sam's Books and Devotes Some Attention to j Silver Coinage. Secretary of the Interior's Report. - Washington, December 6. The annual report of the Secretary of the Interior reviews re-views at great length the relations of the Indian tribes to the Government, and the settlers residing near their reservations, and the outbreaks of the year and the causes of them are considered. The recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the less guilty of the rebellious Chiracahuas should be transported to an island of the Pacifio ocean, as a penal colony, to earn I their own living by fishing, stock raising, etc., or be sent to a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, is endorsed. It recommends that the Southern Utes be located in Indian Territory, and that the Piutes of Oregon be settled on homesteads and given farm implements imple-ments and other assistance. The subject of the , : LEASING OF THE LANDS BY THE INDIANS To cattle companies is taken up, and after showing the passive consent of the late Secretary Sec-retary to such leases, and the evil that has resulted from the practice, the Secretary says: From all the facts developed on the subject, I am' convinced that the assistance rendered by the respective Indian agents in the making of these alleged leases was di rected more for the interests of the cattle men than that of the Indians placed under their cure and supervision. While many of the Indians favor the leasing of their lands for grazing purposes, others opposed and protested against such use and occupation of their reservations, and refused to participate in the making- of the alleged leases, or to accept any share of the money received thereunder. Sufficient influence, however, seems to have been brought to bear upon a majority of the respective tribes to induce them to enter into J the arrangements made. In my judgment, not the least among such influences were the encouragement and persuasions of the re spective Indian apents, or some of them at least; and in many instances I fear they have shared in the profits of these speculative specula-tive transactions. After speaking of the encroachments en-croachments of railroads on Indian rights the Secretary says: It is evident that THE INDIAN BACE HAS BEACHED A CBISIS In its history. The Indian cannot longei exist in this country in a savage or semi-civilized semi-civilized jtate, nor can he longer recede before the advancing state of civilization. It has already surrounded him. The movements move-ments of population eastward and northward north-ward and southward have gone on with unprecedented rapidity, until every ev-ery - reservation is . closed in and pressed upon by colonies of settlers, miners, ranchmen and traders. The practice prac-tice of moving the Indian to more distant reservations can be continued no longer. He must make his final stand for existence where he is now, and unleas he can adapt himself to the necessities of the new conditions con-ditions and partake of this all-pervading civilization his extinction, will be sure and swift. The need of a permanent scheme of Indian management to meet this emergency is pressing upon the government with imperious im-perious urgency. The Indian race is no longer a source of danger to the peace and security of this great Republic. Most of the reservations are encircled by powerful communities, com-munities, and those upon the frontier are in the hands of our military forces. Nor is the Indian any longer an obst acle to our national progress or to our material development, so far as the interests of our own people are concerned. Apart from the needs of the Indian population, THE INDIAN PBOBLE1I COULD BE EASILY SOLVED By simply withdrawing all government supervision su-pervision over these people and conferring upon them the rights of American citizenship. citizen-ship. Those who would not pass away would be soon absorbed into American society. After incorporating into our body politic 4,000,000 of blacks in a state of slavery, and investing them with citizenship and suffrage, suf-frage, we need not strain at the gnat of 260,-.000 260,-.000 Indians. It would merely be an additional addi-tional morsel, and a very small one. Such a course, however, would be more cruel and destructive to the Indian in the hapless condition con-dition to which the extension of settlements will soon reduce him than a war of extermination. exter-mination. . I recommend that a portion of every reservation reser-vation be divided up into Beveral tracts of suitable size for farms, to be allotted to each individual as his sole and separate estate. The provision should be made against the power (until after, a time) of selling or mortgaging the same, or even leasing it to any but Indians living within the same reservation. Without legislation of this kind all efforts to make the Indian support himself by his own labpr will prove fruitless and unavailing. To overcome HIS NATUBAL AVEBSTOV Tn T.lunp There must be an incentive, "given alone by a sure guarantee that the fruits of his labor should be enjoyed in security. No man will clear forests, inclose fields and cultivate them, and rear houses and barns, when at any moment he may be removed and carried off against his will to some distant and unknown un-known region. The ownership of land, free-holding, free-holding, tends to inspire individual independence, inde-pendence, pride of character, personal industry, and the development of the domestic domes-tic virtues. Provision should be made that tne Indian accepting a patent for his land shall not thereby forfeit any of his rights as a member of his . tribe, nor the protection and benefit which the laws of the United States extend to Indians generally. I favor the policy recommended by my predecessor m this office, Secretary Kirkwood, of reducing re-ducing to proper size the existing reservations reserva-tions when entirely out Of proportion to the number of Indians thereon, with the consent of the Indians, and upon just and fair terms; and, second, of placing by patent the titles to these diminished reservations as fully under the protection of the courts as are the titles of all others of our people to their lands. The surplus portion cut off should be subject to sale, and the proceeds invested for the benefit of the Indians. The execution of it should be cautious and ten tative. My recommendation that only a portion of each reservation be divided intc separate tracts as stated above, is based i upon the conviction that we must lead the . Indians to holding lands in severalty by ripening their right of occupancy under ! their communal system into a fee simple by a gradual process, and not by the sudden abolition ab-olition of a system which is with them a religion re-ligion as well as a law of property. Those who. urge the speedy breaking up of tribal relations, the obliteration of the reservation system, and the localization of individuals upon separate allotments of land as a general gen-eral policy, overlook the important fact that THE INDIAN BACE IS NOT HOMOGENEOUS. It consists of numerous widely separated tribes, speaking different languages, and varying greatly in customs, habits and conditions, con-ditions, fiom the enlightened commonwealths common-wealths of the Five Nations to the wild fierce,' roving bands who eke out bv plunder the scanty subsistence they derive from the chase and government rations. Any general policy adapted to the advancement of one j tribe would be disastrous and destructive to another. Each must be managed as its peculiar pe-culiar circumstances and conditions require. Ahe becretary recommends the appointment of a commission of not more than six men of integrity, intelligence and experience, and of such ability as to be able to comprehend com-prehend the course of treatment and methods of management best adapted to SSSfJ speedy progress of the respective tribes and bands, to visit each of the reservations reser-vations and investigate and report the con- j Xi&ruliar cirBistances,and the needs of the Indians residmg thereon. The Secre- ! Tir16 order to desfroy the Fl w 8- uaw men" tfae passage tin.ffdmg tha wnever anIndian ' woman shaUmpj-ij a citizen of the United Fhiftf-M deemed a citizen, and that all children born of such marriage sh&U b deemed citizens. Under the provisions of this law no Indian woman would marry! such a man with the certainty of losing her membership with her tribe and her right to remain on the reservation. THE CONDITION OF THE INDIAN SCHOOLS, - The report says, is gratifying. The Winnebago Winne-bago and Crow Creek reservation trouble is reviewed, and it is announced that the President's Pres-ident's order withdrawing these lands from, settlement has been almost universally obeyed. The exceptions, if any exist, are . cases in which a removal would cause suffering. suffer-ing. . The story of the Oklahoma invasions is retold, and it is stated that these unlawful movements have rendered it unwise at present pres-ent to open negotiations with the Indians owning the title to these lands for the purpose pur-pose of opening them to settlement.- - |