Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1873.djvu/62

742 of competition and every incitement to labor incident to ordinary life in this country ; the unwillingness of the Indians to take their lands in severalty; the persistent refusal of the Choctaws to give negroes their rights as citizens of the Territory, together with the strong pressure from parties interested in railroad enterprises and investments in lands, will be quite likely to induce legislation of some kind for this country.

If the inhabitants of the Territory would adopt the Okmulgee con- stitution with the amendments suggested by the President, upon this a, satisfactory government could be created for this country. Then if the Indians would have their lands surveyed and allotted to them in sever- alty, the first steps toward citizenship would be fairly taken. Every consideration of justice seems to require that the treaty obligation which the Government has assumed toward these nations shall be ob- served. No circumstances can be supposed to exist that will justify the nullification of these obligations, but if it is found, on careful ex- amination, that the highest interests of both' the United States and the Indian nations of this Territory require a. change in their relations which is not provided for by the different treaties, then the question is fairly raised whether the Government may not assume the responsi- bility of making the changes in such form as shall secure every right which these Indians can reasonably ask for themselves, and as will also commend itself to the moral sense of the country. The attempt to ad- minister justice for all the Territory through the United States courts at Fort Smith has been largely a failure, and sometimes worse. If the adoption of a territorial constitution by the Indians does not provide a remedy, then a United States court should be established, at some convenient point in the Territory, to take cognizance of all cases of complaint arising between the citizens of the United States and inhab- itants of the Territory, and between members of the different tribes and nations in the Territory.

Special attention is invited to the report of John G. Ames, who was appointed n special commissioner to inquire into the condition and ne- cessities of the Mission Indians in Southern California. These Indians under the Mexican government, enjoyed civil and property rights, at were abundantly able to take care of themselves from the products of the soil. But under our Government these rights were not considered as transferred, and they now find themselves liable to have the Lands which they have cultivated for generations taken from them by white settlers. It would seem that there is no alternative, in any just settle- ment with these Indians, but to secure for them, in the way proposed in the report of Agent Ames, the land to which they are entitled, or its equivalent, upon which they will be able to subsist themselves with- out help from the Government.

The effort during the year to instruct the Indian women among the Chippewas in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the art of weaving has al- ready succeeded so fer as to make it certain that, by the introduction of looms among all Indians where the herding of sheep is practicable, a new industry may be brought within the reach of the Indians, which will be of large service in the slow process of civilization.