Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1886 — INTERIOR DEPARTMENT. [ARTICLE]

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.

Synopsis of the Annual Report o) Secretary Lamar. The annual report of the Secretary of the Interior commences with a resume of operations in the Indian Bureau. Out of an estimated Indian population of 260,003, less than JOO have been in revolt during the year; the average school attendance is about sixteen hundred greater than ever before, and there bus been a general improvement in their moral and industrial condition. The Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservation, in the Indian Territory, furnishes a striking illustration of this improvement. Of these Indians Secretary Lamar says: “There has been an increase of over 1,500 acres in cultivation ; farms have been fenced by Indians. who have built for this purpose 106 miles of fencing. Tlmy Have cut andput trp tor winter use more than 400 tons of hay ; have hauled -over 1,(100,000 pounds of freight from the railroad to the agency, and have over 15(1 more of their children in schools. Nearly all of the ‘ squaw men ’ on this reservation have become legally married to their Indian wives, in conformity to the requirements of this department. " The report says that, while the work of elevating the race is bearing fruit, there must be radical changes ig our Im ian policy’ before they can bo incorporated into our political and social systems as citizens In tins' connection the Secretary reconmi elide passage of the bill for the appointment of a commission to inspect and report on Indian affairs, which is now before Congress. During the year about eight hundred Indians have received title to laud allotments, and a number have taken up homesteads. Congress is asked to pass a geueral law regulating the allotment in severalty of lands to Indians. The Secretary also recommends that the army appropriation act be mortified so that army officers may purchase grain, hay, and other produce from Indians near the posts. The Secretary considers it desirable that a law be enacted authorizing Indians to pasture cattle on their reservations at a reasonable compensation for the benefit of the trib?. Of the Indian Territory the Secretary Bays: “It is certainly of the greatest importance, and no less for the interest of the Indians themselves than for the people of the adjoining States, that the vast area of country should have extended over it, as early as may be practicable, the universal laws of the land, and its large population and immense property interests be brought under the influence and oplßration of those laws as administered by the judicial establishment of our country, so that lawlessness may be punished, and peace and good arder preserved through and by the courts of justice, and not by the agency of the executive departments, aided by the military force of the Government ” - ’ - ■ Secretary Lamar recommends that the salary of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs be increased from 84,009 to $5,000 per year. The expenses of tire Indian Bureau-tor the fiscal year were $5,190,751. i The total area of public lands disposed of during the year was 21,614,419 acres, for which $9,031,081 was received. The Secretary renews his recommendation that the minimum price lor sales of land at private cash entry be increased, in order to prevent the increase of large tracts in the hands of a few individuals. Me also recommends the establishment of a date after which claims founded on alleged Mexican land grants be barred from presentation. The recommendations contained in the last report, that the desert-laud laws be modified, and that the timber-culture act be repealed, are renewed. Legislation for husbanding the timber resources of the country is urged. Considerable space is given to the nn, lawful inclosure of public lands by cattle-men. The Secretary says in this connection : “Whatever appliances, however, the law has placed in the hands of the executive will hereafter be invoked, it necessary, to put a final end to thia enormous plundering of the public domain.*