Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1894 — ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY HOKE SMITH. [ARTICLE]

ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY HOKE SMITH.

The annual report of Secretary Smith of the Interior Department, was given to the prrss, Thursday. The leading subject discussed appears to be the Indian question. Upon the subject of allottments the Secretary says: Ido not question the advisability of allotting lands to Indians in severalty, but I do most seriously question the propriety of this course before the Indians—have progressed sufficiently to utilize the rand when taken. The allotments should be made to the Indians in severalty for the good of the Indians, for the advancement of the Indians, not for the purpose of obtaining land connected with the Indian reservation to satisfy the' insatiable desire of border men, who obtain it frequently, not for homes, but for speculation. I urge a treatment©! Indian land based solely upon the purpose of realizing from it for its owners the highest possible value. what is best for the Indians—to keep their land or to sell it. If the members of a tribe have reached a state sufficiently civilized to be able to progress stifl further by selling a portion of their land, then sales should be made, but the land should not be purchased from the Indians at the best bargain the United States can make. Upon the subject.pf Indian schools the Secretary says: “Education should be practically directed with a view to tile probable fiitnfe, of the Indian. If he is to remain away from iris former home and to enter the struggle of life in our cities and towns, as any other citizen, then his education should be as broad and as liberal as possible. But if he is to return to his reservation, to the place of hjs birth, and to commence his active life in the development of the resources of the reservation, then his education should be directed especially with a view to the life he will lead upon the reservation, and to the possibilities of the reservation itself.”

The General Land Office is discussed at length and a change in the system of surveying is recommended. The great importance of the special service division is urged. On the subject of forest reserves the report says: "On account of the small appropriation for special agents it has thus far been impossible to detail any of them for the protection of the forest reserves which have from time to time been created. Practically, this great extent of reserved lands is no more protected by the government than are the unreserved lands of the United States, the sole difference being . that they are notsubject to entry or other disposal under'the public land laws.” Congress is urged to make sufficient appropriation to employ at least one superintendent on each reserve and upon the larger reserves to provide a sufficient force of assistant.' to prevent public property from being wantonly destri) The report shows that the entire number of pensioners upon the rolls June 30, 1894, was 969,544. The estimate for the fiscal year, 181'6, is $140,039.0J0. Pensioners added to the rolls during the year were 89.085; number dropped. 37.951. The greater part of the cases now pending in the bureau are old cases. Many of them have been pending for years, and have been examined one or more times prior to the present administration. Upon examination it has been found, in many instances, that proof was not sufficient to sustain a pension. The attention of the applicants having been called to the defect, in some cases efforts have been made to supply the needed testimony. Tiie Secretary says the work accomplished in eighteen and a half months is unprecedented in the history of the department, being moie than twice the number of cases disposed of in a like period by the prior administration. The report shows that the total disbursement to date for the eleventh census amounts to $10,365,676. In the last annual report it was stated that something less than $503,000 would be ample to finish the census. It is now apparent that $275,000 will complete the work. The Secretary ends his report with an earnest recommendation for an additional building for the Interior Department.