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Show I - 12 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. wander away, should beplaced beyond dispute. Without this, whenever these neoale become restive under comnulsion to labor. thev will break away in their old roving spirit, and sbay off in smali banks to neigh-boring cornmunit.ies, upon which they will prey in a petty fashion, by be.e,-e in.e. and stealins. until thev bave made themselves so much of a ~~ ~~ ~ ~ rllllsnnce t l lnt the 1:;;~ is illvol<cd~ ~gnintsltl eu~,o r their apprel~ensio~ls ot' violenee brrume extitell, rnllei~r l l e~w ill pnss on, to become the ~wsrs of orl~rril ild I I I O P ~d~i st~t l~t ~n~~~t~i i tnlni tai ewso. rtl.in the twol~uudrcd ~ ~ ~ - ~ - ~~-~~ and seventy-five thousand Indians \vest of the kiisissippi, the Ul~ited States bare all the elements of a large gypsy population, which will in-evitably become a sore, a well-nigh intolerable, a,ffliction to all that re-gion, unless the Governmer~t shall provide for their instruction iu the arts of life, which can only be done effectually under a pressure not to be resisted or evaded. The right of the Governnlent to do this cannot' be seriously questioned. Expressly excluded by the Constitation from citizenship, the Government is only bound in its treatment of them by cousiderstious of present l~olicya nd justice.. Even were the constitu-tioual incapacity of these, people not what it is, and were there nothing in the history of the dealings of the United States with them to form a nrecedent for t,lleir being nlaced uuder arbitrarv control. still. the mani-zest necessity of self-proZ&tion would amply justify the bov&nmel~t in alrg and all measures required to yrevent the miserable conclusion I have indicated. . . THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF THE INDIAN QUESTION. I bave purposely divested these remarks of what is commonly known as ' I sentiment," and have refraiued from appealing to the higher con-siderations of human and Christian charity, not because I have not re-spect for such considerations, nor because sentiment is out of place in deslingaith such a question, but beca.use I believe that the Indian policy of the Government, past and prospective, can be fully justified before the country by arguments addressed solely to self-interest, v d because it has appeared to me that a certain class of the community have become a little wearied of anneals. in behalf of the Indians.'to se~~timentwsh ich are, perhaps, ra&r tho fine for popular daily use. Xothiug that the Government is doing toward the Iudiaus but can be viudicatecl on erounds of uraotical ~fsefulness and economy as com-pletely as the expenditures-of our American communities for-the eduoa-tion of the young. I know of no stronger proof that could be offered for the satisfaction of the couutrv that the Indian nolicv of the Government. notwithstaudina so much &out it that appeG.8 wkimsical and contradi~toryi,s really ts be justified OIL com~~lon-seupsori nciples, tban the fact that for several years bills making approprictions -for 'the necessarily heavy expendi-tures iuvolved, have run the gauntlet of the appropriation committees of both House and Senate, without losing a single original feature of value. No one who understands the constitution of those committees, iltld ~ I I O L V Xth eir rei~~l i i~tors ssI :~ugl~ta~ti'yr pn~ri.;it)llf or an?. srrricc vl~i rhra llllut give a11 ~ t ~ ~ i n i s r ; ~rIei~ldaoll>~f lo~r itself, will nee11 hrml1gt.r assurance that when the details of the Indian nolicv come to be ax- ],l;~illrdp, oint b.r point, to nlen veraed in pliblic nif;~ir<an d i l l tllr metb-ods 01' butii~~estdll, ~.y; crtLf oi~urlt o be bd~edu pon good practical reasons, .and not upon theories or sentiments. |