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Show IV REPORT OF THE COMMIGSEONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. with its Indians has clearly established some points wliioh ought to be useful as guides in the fixture. There is no ouc who has been s; close observer of Indian history and the effect of contact of Indians wit11 civilization, who is not well satis- . fied that one of two things mnst eventually take pl~c et,o wit, either civilization or extermination of the Indian. Savage and civilized life cannot live and prosper on the same ground. One of the two must die. If the Iudians are to be civilized aiid become a happy and prosperous people, which is certainly the object and intention of our government, they must learn our language and adopt our modes of life. We are fifty millions of people, and they arc 0111~7 one-fourth of one million. /The few mnst yield t'o the many. We cannot reasonably expect them to abwdon their habits of life and modes of living, and adopt ours, with any hope of speedy success as long as we feed and clothe them without any effort on their part. In this connection I wish to call attention to the fact that in almost every case it is only the non-laboring tribes that go upon the war-path, and t.he stubborn facts of history compel me to say that the govem-uieut is largely to blame for this. The peaceable andindustrious Indian has had less consideration than ' the turbulent aud vicious. One instance in proof of this can be found at this moment in the case of the White River Utes (the murderers of Meeker) and the Utes on the Uintah Reservation. The White River Utes have just been moved to the Uintah Reservation alongside of the peaceable Uiutah Utes. We feed the White River murderers and compel the peaceable Uintahs to largely care for themselves. This course induces the Iudians to believe that if they are to get favors from t.he government they must refuse to work, refuse to be orderly and peaceable, and must commit some depredations or murder, and then a commission wiU be appointed to treat with them, and pay them in goods, l>rovisions, and money to behave themselves. This looks to an Indian very much like rewarding enemies and punishiug friends, and gives him a singular idea of our Christian civilization and our manner of adrninisteriug justice, which has so inuch the appearance of reward-ing vice and punishing virtue. Another cause of the unsatisfactory condition of our Indian a@airs is the failure of the government to give the Indian land in severalty, and to give it to himiu such a way that he will know that it is his. He has learned by painful experience that a small piece of paper called scrip is not good for much as a title to land. He has agaiu and again ear-nestly soli~itedth e government to give him a title to a piece of laud, that he might make for himself a home. These requests have, in a great mauy instanoen, beenneglected or refused, and thisistrue @ven in cases where., by treaty stipulations, the got~ernmenat greed to give the Indian a patent for hisland. Under this state of facts, it is not to be wondered at that t,he Indian is slow to eultivate.the soil. He says, when urged |
