OCR Text |
Show REPORT 1 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. DEPART~NOTF THE INTERIOR, OFF~CEO F INDI'AANFF AIRS, Nomber 23,1868. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith &he heusual annual report of this officel briefly reviewing the condition of our Indian affairs and rela-tions dunng the interval between the date of the last report and the present time, and presenting,such suggestions and recommendations as are deemed essential for the proper management of the service. For information in detail in regard to the various tribes, I respectfully refer to the reportsof &he superintendents and ageutsof the government having direct charge and supervision of them, which will be found among the documents accompanying this report, believing that they will furnish a history of no ordinary interest, and present a sufficient view of the practical working of the system adopted for civilization of this peo-ple, as will tend to encouraged who may have any concern in their pres-ent and future condition to hope for increasing good results. The Indian population within the bounds of the United States is about 300,000, exclusive of those in Alaska Territory. It is sad to think that they are decreasing from year to year, fading so rapidlg away from tbe nations of the earth. The causes thereof, as well as of much of the misery and degradation prevailing, may be mainly attributed to intes-tine wars, the entailment of loatbsome diseases by ~iciouws hites, and to the effects of indulgence in the use of spirituous liquors ; and these evils, it is feared, will continue to exist to an alarming e.xtent despite the efforts to remove or even mitigate them. It may be said that a large portion of our wilder Indian tribes show a strong disposition to emerge from their savage state and throw aside their barbarous customs. They see the urgent necessity of the change in the advancing tide of the white race and in the disappearing of the buffalo and other game; hence they understand their only hope for the future is in the abandonment of their present mode of life for that bet-ter one of industrial pursuits. With the semi-civilized, slow progress is made in their improvement. The causes are so well known, having been fully set forth in previous annual reports, that it is unnecessary here to reiterate them, and until the obstacles in the way are surmounted or removed it i8 not reasonable to look for any great change. A civilization of any account with them must be a xork of time, patiently and hopefully prosecuted; of liberality on the partt of the gov-ernment. and a faithful and ~ r omuftu lfilment of all its obligations and A - - , . promisei. 1 This work also should enlist the sympathy of all lovers of humanity |