Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1883 — INDIAN BUREAU. [ARTICLE]

INDIAN BUREAU.

Moral and Material Progress Made by the Indians in a Twelvemonth. I - - - ■ , 1 More than Five Thousand Young Bari barians Now at School and < Learning Rapidly. Following is a synopsis of the annual report of Indian Commissioner trice: A decided advance has been made in the march of improvements among the Indian tribes, particularly in the matter of industrial school education. Some tribes have been persuaded to send their children to school that heretofore resisted all efforts to induce them to do so. One question inSy now be considered settled bejond controversy, amt that is the Indian must be taught to work for his own support and to speak the English language, or give place to a people who do. Among the things needed to secure success and efficiency in solving the Indian problem are: 1. An appropriat'on to survey the boundaries of Indian reservations, so both the Indians and the white men may know where they have rights and where they have none. 2. A law for the punishment of persons who furnish arms or ammunitipn to the Indians. Nd such law now exists. 3. More liberal appropriations for Indian poljce. 4. An appropriation sufficient to defray the expenses of detecting and prosecuting the persons who furnish intoxicating liquor to Indians. No ardent spirits should be introduced into the Indian country under any pretense whatever, nor their sale permitted within twenty miles of an Indian reservation; but, under existing laws on the Subject, it is a notorious fact that ale, beer, and preparations of alcoholic stimulants disguised as medicines, are sold at the military posts to soldiers and civilians, and; although the posttraders are not permitted to sell it directly to Indians, yet it is an easy matter for the Indians to obtain it from the soldiers and civilians to whom it is furnished. The punishments imposed by law for this offense should be made more severe. The practice of approving contracts to collect from the Government money due the Indians is one that ought not to exist. It has for years been the practice to approve contracts by which outside parties have taken from the Indians hundreds of thousands of dollars for services which ought not to cost • the Indians one cent. During the last four years agreements have been entered into between Indians and different attorneys by which these attorneys were to receive from the Indians $755,221 for collecting from the Government money said to be due the Indians. It is the duty of the Government to see that the wards of the nation receive what is justly due them free of cost, and equally the duty of the Government to see that no unj ust claim is paid. Congress should confer both civil and criminal jurisdiction on the several States and Territories over all the Indian reservations within their respective limits, and make the person and property of the Indian amenable to the laws of the State or Territory in which he may reside, except in cases where such property is expressly exempted by treaty or act of Congress, and give him all the rights in the courts enjoyed by other persons. The recommendations for legislation for the protection of timber on Indian lands are renewed. During the year there was paid in cash, as annuity and otherwise, $745,000. Less than $200,000 of this amount was for the payment of annuities proper, many of which will expire in the near future by limitation in the various treaties. The increase in accommodations for Indian pupils which the school appropriations for the last-fiscal year mode possible has been followed by a corresponding increase of attendance of pupils. Exclusive of the five civilized tribes the number enrolled at the boardingschools during the year just closed is 5,143, an increase of 654. over last year. The attendance on the day-schools has been 5,014, an increase of 748 over the preceding year. Of the s,l43boarding pupi15,4,396 attended schools on the reservations or in their immediate vicinity. Boarding and day schools on the reservations have made a creditable record. Eight new boarding-schools have been opened, making the whole number now in operation, exclusive of training-schools, seventy-seven. The Indian tribes of Indian Territory having failed ta-jadopt freedmen into their tribe, as contemplated by the Appropriation act of 1882, it is recommended that legislation be asked authorizing their settlement in the Oklahoma district, under some well-de-fined jurisdiction and form of government, with power given the Secretary of the Interior to determine what freedmen should be allowed to settle thereon, or else that such stringent laws be passed as will compel the respective tribes to adopt the freedmen as provided in their treaties. The early attention of Congress is invited to the deplorable condition of the Indians in Montana, that steps toward assisting them may be taken as soon as possible. The report concludes with the recital of the agreement signed in Washington July last between Chief Moses and the Secretary of the Interior which will, the Commissioner says, if ratified by Congress, restore to the public domain 2,243,040 acres of land in Washington Territory upon terms favorable to the Government and for the best interests of the Indians.