Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1882 — INDIAN BUREAU. [ARTICLE]

INDIAN BUREAU.

Report of the Commissioner of lniH«i» Affairs. Commissioner Price, of the Indian Bureau, in his annual report to the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1882, says: “Land has been opened to cultivation, houses for Indian residences built, schools opened and operated, and in many cases and in various ways the cause of civilization generally advanced. The difficulty of procuring. Agents of the right stamp is regarded as one of the most import nt causes which operate to retard the improvement of the Indiana” The co-operation of the religions societies is regarded by the Commissioner as a very important auxiliary in the civilization of the Indians, and he points to the benefits derived from their work during the past few veara The present appropriations are regarded as entirely too small to compass ends to be obtained within a reasonable time.' The Commissioner says: “If $1,000,000 for educational purS oses given now will Bave several millions i future, it is wise economy to give that million at once, and not dole it out in small sums that do but little good. ” The evils of cash annuities are commented upon, and an instance given where, after a cash payment rto the Utes, $2,000 were spent for firearms, ammunition and whisky in Salt Lake City, and in a short time nine-tenths of the payment went in the same direction. The funds appropriated by Congress in the regular appropriation bill for the support ot the Indians proved entirely insufficient, mainly owing to the high price of b es and flour. The total number of Indians in the United States exclusive of Alaska is 262,366. The Commissioner comments in severe terms upon the iniquity of tbe liquor traffic among the Indians, and quotes many instances of trouble arising from it. He recommends greater stringency in the laws on the subject, and says those sections of thfe statutes which allow army officers to introduceliquor Into the Indian country should be repealed. The report declares there is urgent necessity for additional legislation to prevent intrusion upon Indian landa Exclusive of the five civilized tr lies, the wlio e number of Indian pupils attending school the past year has been 8,51:8. Of the-e 468 were in attendance at the Carlisle, Hampton and Forest Grove training-schools. Of the remainder, 4,510 attended reservat on boar iug-schools and 3,997 reservation day-schools. The average attendance lor the year was 5.249. Industrial training is carried on at agency board-ing-schools, and is receiving more and more attention each year. In connection with fifty-seven schoo s, 1,4-8 ’acres are under cultivation. Biacksmitiling, tai oring and harnes making are taught at four schools. Seven teach shoemaking, ten carpentering, and fifte n r sing and care of sro k. Training in tese branches is l 1 reatly stimulated by the succe s of experiments at Carlisle, Hampton and Forest, . .rove. An appropriation of not less t.ian SSO,(X) should be made by Congress a its next session to properly equip the exist, ng agency schools for industrial work The whole number of schoo. sin operation is It 1 or five leas than last year. An Irish antiquarian has reconstructed from old title deeds and surveys the fact that Dublin once had its Thing, or popular assembly of Scandinavian freeholders; its Thingmount, or. hill on which the assembly met, had its hangman’s hill close by. The Scandinavians settled Dublin in' force. The late Mr. Charles Haliday showed in his recently published book that the old names stood as testimony to that fact up to a comparatively late date. Paul Boyton figures up that ho has sg,ved seventy-two persons from, drowning in his day, and the largest reward ever offered him was a silver-plat-ed watch worth about $3.