Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1875.djvu/13

Rh when an Indian outside of a reservation shall commit an offense he should be made subject to the police and criminal laws of the State in which such offense is committed. Some form of territorial policy should be established for their government when the number and compactness of their population would render such an organization proper. The individuality of the Indian as a member of the community should be recognized, and the absurd fiction of tribal sovereignty in which that individuality is now merged, should be abolished. Courts should be organized for the administration of justice over such territory. The individual ownership of property should be encouraged under temporary restrictions on alienation, and the privileges of citizenship made accessible upon such terms as good policy may prescribe. The evils that result from the absence of provisions like this are apparent. Community of property is fatal to industry, enterprise, and civilization, and exemption from legal responsibility for crime has stimulated depredations, robbery, murders, and assassination.

In regard to the inspection and delivery of supplies, they remark:

They also recommend—

The minor recommendations of the commission, such as require no legislation, and need only departmental action, will be carried into execution as rapidly as possible, so far as they meet my approval.

PENSIONS.

The annual report of the Commissioner of Pensions shows that the number of pensioners on the roll continues to decrease, as was anticipated in the last annual report of this Department. The greatest number was reached during the year ending June 30,1873, since which time the roll has undergone a steady decrease. There has not, however, been a corresponding reduction in the annual "charge to the Government on this account, for, while the roll has decreased 1,420 in number during the last fiscal year, the total annual rate is $44,733.13 in excess of that of the preceding year. This result is owing, principally, to the