Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1880.djvu/6

4 More extensive observation and study of the matter gradually convinced me that this was a mistaken policy; that it would be vastly better for the Indians and more in accordance with justice as well as wise expediency to respect their home-attachments, to leave them upon the lands they occupied, provided such lands were capable of yielding them a sustenance by agriculture or pastoral pursuits, and to begin and follow up the practice of introducing among them the habits and occupations of civilized life on the ground they inhabited. It became also clear to me that the maintenance of the system of large reservations against the pressure of white immigration and settlement would in the course of time become impracticable. The policy of changing, shifting, and consolidating reservations for the purpose above stated was therefore abandoned, except in cases where the lands held by the Indians were not capable of useful development, and other lands better adapted to their advancement could be assigned to them.

The policy which, during the larger part of this administrative period, was pursued as a fixed line of conduct is the following: to respect such rights as the Indians have in the land they occupy; to make changes only where such lands were found to be unsuitable for agriculture and herding; to acquaint the Indians with the requirements of civilized life by education; to introduce among them various kinds of work, by practical impulse and instruction; gradually to inspire them with a sense of responsibility through the ownership of private property and a growing dependence for their support upon their own efforts; to afford to them all facilities of trade consistent with their safety, as to the disposition of the products of their labor and industry for their own advantage; to allot to them lands in severalty with individual ownership, and a fee-simple title inalienable for a certain period; then, with their consent and for their benefit, to dispose of such lands as they cannot cultivate and use themselves, to the white settlers; to dissolve, by gradual steps, their tribal cohesion, and merge them in the body politic as independent and self-relying men invested with all the rights which other inhabitants of the country possess.

Having thus fixed the ultimate end to be accomplished as well as indicated in general terms the means by which it is to be reached, in the shape of a clearly-defined policy, the department proceeded not only to continue the promotion of those civilizing influences which already had been set to work, but also to add others which so far had not been adopted.

AGRICULTURE AND HERDING.

In their agricultural pursuits the Indians have made commendable progress during the period of this administration. The uncivilized Indians have during the past year broken 27,105 acres of land; they have cultivated 168,340; they raised 408,812 bushels of wheat, 604,103 bushels of corn, 224,899 bushels of oats and barley, 375,843 bushels of vegetables; they cut 23,245 tons of hay; they owned 211,981 horses; they