OCR Text |
Show THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 7 subsist, in part, npon the l~roductosf their own labor. For the security . and happiness of these, nothing more need be done by government than to insure them the quiet, undisturbed possession of their present homes, keeping up possibly a single general reservation; and to effect this, no additional legislation is required. The Indians in northern California with some exceptions, are roving, thriftless, idle and debased, often provoking the vengeance of the settlers, who are thus excited to acts of violence. In this division of the State, some reservations, some retreats must be prepared for the reception of those who cannot obtain employment from our citizens, and hence become vagrants and nuisances to the community. Such Indians might be removed by force, if necessary, to the reservations, and there compelled to labor. With an anxious desire to devise some plan of operations which promises to secure the welfare of the Indians on the one hand, and relieve the treasnry from the support of a helpless and dependent population on the other, I would recommend as the most practicable policy the abolition of the superintendency, agencies, and sub-agencies, and the division of the State into two distinct Indian districts. For each division a single agent should be provided, with powel, to employ suoli assistants as may be authorized by the department. Whenever it is possible to procure employmentfor the Indians among our own people, the agents should be required to aid them in obtaining places. It should be the duty of the agents to protect the bands that are settled down in the quiet possession of their homes, and to instruct them in the arts of husbandry. It should also be the duty of the agents to collect all vagrants upon the reservation, and induce them to labor. This plan is recommended by its economy and by the prospect it holds out for the security of the Indians. |