Jasper Republican, Volume 2, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1875 — Commissioner Smith’s Report. [ARTICLE]

Commissioner Smith’s Report.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Smith, in bis annual report, says that the reports of the Indian Superintendents and Agents convey unmistakable evidence of a year of advance in the civilization of the Indians. Their testimony is almost uniform to the fact that the civilization of the Indians' is not only entirely practicable, but fairly under way. Forty-two thousand six hundred and thirty-eight Indians are self-supporting. Their corn crop last year was 2,404,000 bushels; potatoes and other vegetables, 421,000 bushels; fields under cultivation, 323,000 acres—a larger era by 7,000 acres than ever before reported, and nearly 200,000 acres more than in 1871. Nearly 10,000 more Indian families are now living in houses than five years ago. The Commissioner expresses the opinion that a general Indian war will never occur in the United States. In reference to the Black Hills country the Commissioner recommends that legislation be now sought. from Congress offering a fair and full equivalent for the country lying between the North and South Forks of the Cheyenne River in Dakota. The tree equivalent to be offered the Sioux as helpless wards of the Government for the Black Hills will be found by estimating what 800 square miles of gold-fields are worth to us. and what 3,000 square miles of timber, agricultural and grazing lands are worth to them. The Commissioner says the need of the Indian Territory is a government of the simplest form possible, and suggests that a government similar to that provided tor the Territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio, preliminary to the organization of a General Assembly, would be best adapted for that Territory at present. He recommends that the matter be again brought before Congress. The Commissioner opposes the transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War Department, but recommends that the purchasing, inspecting and transporting of goods and supplies required to subsist the Indians be done by that department. The Commissioner speaks in the highest terms of the aid afforded by the different religious bodies of the country, and earnestly hopes that Congress will remove the difficulties which have heretofore been experienced in procuring the enactment of laws and necessary appropriations for the training and education of the Indians. None but the very best men, he says, should be appointed as Agents, and he expresses a hope that the Government will still be Inclined to call upon the religions bodies of the country to name the men. It is not expected that a deficiency for this year will arise exceeding $200,000. The cost of maintaining all the Indians except the wilder tribes will steadily de-, crease from this time until they cease to be a burden to the Government. It is not improbable, however, that such an additional expenditure will be required in bringing the wilder tribes into the beginning of civilization as will make the totals of the appropriations for three or four years to come equal to those of the last three years, and perhaps greater.