Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1881.djvu/8

VI them; and I would provide against alienation, either by the tribe of the tribal title, or by individuals of their personal title, for a limited time. As an additional inducement for heads of families to take land in severalty and engage in farming, provision should be made to aid such of them as do so in building houses thereon. The sum of $50, carefully expended by a judicious agent, will enable an Indian on many of the reservations, with his own labor, to build a house as comfortable as those occupied by many of our frontier settlers, and much more comfortable than the lodges in which they have been accustomed to live; and when so situated in his own house, on his own land, with a beginning made in the way of farming, a feeling of personal ownership and self-reliance will be developed and produce good results. And in building houses preference should be given to those who have selected land in severalty and made a certain amount of improvement thereon, and the offer of such aid should be held out as an inducement so to do. If a liberal sum was placed in the control of the Indian Office every year to be expended for this purpose exclusively, the effect would be excellent. A wise liberality in this direction would, in my judgment, be true economy.

There are now in the States and Territories west of the Mississippi River 102 reservations, great and small, on which are located, in round numbers, 224,000 Indians. The numbers on the different reservations vary from a few hundred to several thousand. There are attached to these reservations sixty-eight agencies, each with its staff of employes. There are also established near them, for the protection alike of the whites and Indians, thirty-seven military posts, with larger or smaller garrisons. The transportation of supplies to so many and so widely scattered agencies and military posts is very expensive, and our Army is so small that the garrisons at many of the posts are not sufficient either to prevent outbreaks or to suppress them promptly when they occur. It is my duty to say, and I say with great pleasure, that the military authorities have, when called upon by this Department, always responded with promptness and efficiency; but it must be apparent to all who have had occasion to note their operations, that they have been seriously embarrassed in their efforts to concentrate speedily at particular points sufficient force to meet emergencies. The peculiar conditions attending the transaction of public business for some months have prevented me from giving this subject the attention that in my opinion it deserves; but I am strongly inclined to believe that if all the Indians west of the Mississippi were gathered upon four or five reservations, our Indian affairs could be managed with greater economy to the government and greater benefit to the Indians.

In view of the facts stated as to existing reservations, I recommend that Congress be asked to create a commission of three or four eminent citizens to visit during the next year the reservations west of the Mississippi River, for the purpose of recommending to Congress, if they