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Show , 40 REPORT OF THE COMMIBSIONER.~F INDIAN AFFAIRS. upon the manner of its administration. In matry cases it In-ings unut-terable woe, and in all it is liable to leave the lndians worse off than before. It certainly would be a great mistbrtune to them as a body to i. thrust severalty and citizenship upon them suddenly ; they ought to be prepared for the great change; it should come to them gradually, and certainly should be &companied nith such safeguards as are dictated by common sense 6nd humanity. Land in severalty without education may prove a bane rather than s, blessing. EARLY ALLOTXENTS. The policy of dividing, lands owned or occupied in common by an In- ' dian tribe among its several members was inaugurated by act of March 3,1839, which authorized division of the lands of the Brothertown In- , dians (Wisconsin) by a commission of five of their principal head men, and for the issnance of patents in fee simple to the Indians and their heirs and a;ssigns. The act also provided that upon the filing of the report of this com-mission, with a map of the allotments, and the transmission of the same to the President, the Brothertown Indians should be deemed citizens of the United States, and be subject to its laws,and to those of the Terri-tory of Wisconsin. . . By law or treaty this policy was subseqnbntly applied, with various modifications as to the tenure of the lands allot,ted, the statlls of the dlottees, the right of alienation, ete., to several other tribes, notably the Ottawas and Chippewas, the Pottawatomies, the Shawnees, and the Wyandottes. The Brothertown Indians (remnants of the Mohican and other New Pork tribes) long since passed from the notice of this office, and, so far as the other tribes are concerned, the records show that where their lands were conveyed in fee simple, with no restrictions as to alienation, they soon parted with them without sufficient consideration, and squan-dered what little they received. The disastrous result of this policy in several cases has led this office to insist that the right of alienation should be limited iu some manner, so that Indians can not improvi-dently dispose of their lands. PROGRESS IN ALLOTMENTS. i In 1887 the first genera1 law was enacted (24 Stats., 388), and by its provisions lands were to be given to the several members of a tribe (ex-cept married women), in quantities differing according to the age of the allottee, or status as the head of a family, or otherwise. DiEcult.ies having arisen in regard to its administration, Congrass was asked to amend the act so as to provide for the allotment of the same quantity of land to each member of the tribe. This was done by the act of Febrnary 28, 1891 (26 Stats., 794), which secures the only |
