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Show 1 VI REPORT OF THE COMXISSIONER OF INDI.4N AFFAIRS. After receiving his patent every allottee shall have thebenefit of and . be snhjeet to the civil and criminal laws of the State or Territory in which he may reside; and no Territory shall deny any Indian equal protection of law ; and every Indian born in the United States who has received an allotment under this or any olher law or treaty, or who has taken up his residence separate from a tribe and adopted the habits of civilized life, is deelared a citizen of the United States, but citizenship shall not impair any rights he may have in-tribal property. The provisions of this act shall not extend to the Five Civilized tribes, nor the Osages, Miamis, Peorias, and Sae and POX in the Indian Ter-ritory, nor to the Senecas in New Pork, nor to the strip in Nebraska added by Executive order to the Sioux reserve. For necessary surveys or resurveys of.reservations $100,000 is ap-propriated, to be repaid to the United States Treasury from proceeds of sales of such lands as may be acquired from Indians under the pro-visions of this act. The power of Congress to grant right of way to railroads, other high-ways, or telegraph lines through Indian reservations is notimpaired by this act. At the threshold of this work, outlined above, is manifest'the impor-tance of selecting practical and competent special agents to go among the Indians and settle them peacefully and satisfactorily on t.heir re-spective holdings. Many difficulties will necessarily arise on various reservations whuh will call for unwearying patienee, closeinvest.igation, and the utmost prudence and discret,ion, in order that equal and exact justice may be given allparties concerned, and in order that in the end . the work may command the confidence of the Indiaus themselves and the approval of the Government and the public. Therefore too great haste in the matter should be avoided, and if the work proceeds less rapidly than was expected the publie must not be impatient. There is danger that the advocates of land in severalty will expect from the measure too immediateand pronounced'success. Character, habits, andantecedents can not be changed by an enactment. The distance be-tween barbarism and civi1ie;htion is too long to be passed over speedily. Idleness, improvidence, ignorance, and superstition cannot by law be transformed into indusfiy, thrift, intelligence, and Christianity. Thus theveal work yet remains to be done and ean be accomplished only by I persistent personal effort. In fact;, the allotment act. instead of being I theconsnmmation of thelahors of missionaries, philanthropists, and GOV-ernment agents, is rather an introduction and invitation to effort on their part, which by the fact of this new legislation may be hopeful and should be energetic. Moreover, with this new policy will arise new perplexities to be solved and new obstacles to be overcome which will tax the wis-dom, patienee, and courage of all interested in and working for Indian advancement. The President has misely ordered that allotments be made only 011 reservations where the.Indians are known to he generally favorable to |
