Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1879.djvu/8

6 part with what they cannot cultivate and use themselves, for a fair compensation. It will open to progress and improvement large districts now held by Indians, which will then be of no real advantage to them and are now to nobody else.

It must be kept in mind that this cannot be done in a day. We are frequently told that the tribal relations must be broken up; that the reservation system must be abandoned, &c. Whatever is to be the ultimate end and result of the policy stated, it is certain that habits grown up in the course of centuries will not at once yield to a mere word of command. It is equally certain that the introduction of industrial habits, that settlement in severalty, the foundation of permanent homes, the conferring of individual title, and thereby the practical individualization of the Indian, must be accomplished first, and in accomplishing these necessary ends the influence of tribal authority has in many, if not in most cases, whenever well taken advantage of, been found of great usefulness in the progress of improvement. An attempt to accomplish these objects at once all over the country, without the intermediate stages, by military force, would undoubtedly result in many cases in Indian wars of unprecedented magnitude and bitterness, which would require a much larger army than we at present possess, and prove in the end not only the most inhuman, but in blood and treasure the most expensive of all methods. Recent experience has convinced me that all the desirable ends can be most successfully reached by watching and improving every favorable opportunity for giving a wise and vigorous impulse and lending a helping hand to the best capacities of the Indians, and that this method will bring about general good results in a shorter time than would be reached by the heroic treatment.

In fact the progress made during the last two years has been greater than might have been anticipated, and it encourages the hope that the ends above indicated may be accomplished in a comparatively short space of time.

One of the peculiar disadvantages under which the conduct of the Indian service labors consists in the circumstance that every mishap, every untoward accident, whether the service be responsible for it or not, will at once attract public attention and criticism, the latter sometimes unreasoning and by no means based upon a sufficient knowledge of facts, while the good that is done and the success achieved are apt to pass entirely without public notice. Of the results of the policy pursued by this department, I can speak partly from personal observation made on a tour of inspection undertaken a few months ago, and partly from the reports furnished by the inspectors and agents in the service.

AGRICULTURE AND HERDING.

There has been much theoretical speculation as to what kind of practical work the Indians are best adapted for. By some men, whose views claim authority, it is asserted that the natural transition from the state