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Show 20 REPORT OF THE ,*The tabular statements appended to this report contain much valu-able and useful information in relation to Indian affairs. A contract has been entered into with the publisher, for the execu-tion of the work connected with the printing of the sixth volume of the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes. Proceedings have been instituted in the Court of Claima, by parties holding drafts for large'sums of money, drawn by agents and sub-agents in California, for beef andflour, alleged to have been furnished for the Indian service there in the yeics 1851~an d 1852. It is under-s@ od that other similar. drafts are still outstanding. An act was passed on the 29th of July, 1854, appropriating a sum equal to. $242,036 25, for the payment of one lot of drafts of a like description. These ilrafts were all drawn without authority of law-a fact noto-rious at the time, and of which the parties to whom they were made payable had full notice. Having had occasion to examine the subject to some extent, there appear to me to be irregularities of such a character connected with these beef and flour transactions, that a Full and .thorough investigation into them should, I think, be instituted, especially as there appears to be no satisfactory evidence of Jhe issue of the articles to the Indians. The operations of this branch of the public service would be greatly promoted if the authority and means were placed at the disposal of the d artment, to keep constantly in i& employment a special agent of hig? c haracter for intelligence and integrity. Occasions frequently arise,requiring the services of wch an agent. Since the 4th of March, 1853, fifty-two treaties with various Indian tribes. have been entered into. These treaties may, with but few exceptions of a specific character, be separated into three classes: first, treaties of peace and friendship ; second, treaties of acquisition, with a view of colonizing the Indians on reservations ; and third, treaties of acquisition, and providing for the permanent settlement of the individuals of the tribes, at once or in the future, on separate tracts of lauds or homesteads, and for the gradual abolition of the tribal character. The quantity of land acquired by these treaties, either by the extinguishment of the original Indian titles, or by the re-acquisition of lands granted to Indian tribes by former treaties, is about one hundred and seventy-four millions of acres. Thirty-two of these treaties hsve been ratified, and twenty are now before the Senate for its consideration and action. In no former equal period of our history have so many treat,ies been made, or such vast accessions of land been obtained. Within the same period the jurisdiction of this o56e and the operations of its agents have been extended over an addi-tional area of from four to six thousand square miles of territory, embracing tribes about which, before that time, but little was known ; and by authority of several acts of Congress thirteen new agencies and nine sub-agencies have been established. The increased labor which has been thus devolved on the Commissioner of. Indian Affaira and the entire force of the bureau, as well as upon the superinten-dents and agents, has been Very great, and has swelled the business connected with our Indian affairs t? an extent almost incredible. The labor of this branch of the servlce has doubled since 1852, and |