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Show I1 REPORT ON INDIAN AFFAIRS. life affords a better snd surer subsistence than s precarious deiendence upon the ohsse. A desire for the acqnisitionof individual property will soon spring up, snd should be grstified by appropriating to each adult a limitad qrutntity of lsod for his exclusive use. A title thereto shoold be assured to him. and farming utensils furnished. He will then learn to cul' tivste the soil. The mechanic arts will folio;. The schoolmaster, and above 811 the mis-sionaw, with the blessings and hopes of rel i~on,w ill crown snd perpetuate the work. he nnoccu~iedc ount& west of the ~ i s s i u riis of such vast e i t w t~ha t larne reeians. if properly selected, at points remote from.ths great lines of trnvel, may be reserved without detliment to any public interest. Long before the tide of emigration will rench them, thay can, by an equitable srrengement with the Indians, be reduced to the dimensions required by the actual waubs of an ngrioultural papulation. The selection of suitable sites. and the removal of the Indians to them, eannot be accam-plished in the short ,time allotted to the commissioners appointed by the set of Congress of Jnly last. Two commissions, eseh consist in^ of not lass than three persons, should be an.o .o inted. and sdcauate means nlseed at the disoasal of the Secretam of the Interior for the effioient oompletion of the work. No coosideration of the time or expenditure likely to he required should be suffered to dafest im object of suoh surpassing importance. A guar&ntee against the useless consnmption of time or money should be found in tho character of the per-sons selected. The cost will he very inconsiderable eompmed with that of a war. Had a tithe of our outhv in militar"y az~ eraiionss e"a inst the 1ndians durin-e the n.resent vem been .honestly and judiciously applied to purposes of peace, the necessity of s. resort to force would ,have been avoided. It is more humane and eeonomiml to subsist Indisns than to fight them. A wise and just policy will soon relieve us from either necessity. The salaries of the sunerintandsnts of Indisn atfairs and-Indian agents sre inadequate. Inoreased compensation would enable the department to secure the services of men of undoubted ca.na cit-v and intenrit-v , and tend to remove the temntation to commit those frauds which, before and since the transfer of the Indisn Buresn to this depertment, were and still are imputed to officers performing duties and sustaining relations to the Indians such as ,devolve wo n this class of ~ u b l i cse rvants. I take nleasnre. however. in besrin"a testimonv to the ability nnd fidelity of many now in the Indian service. Same of those of the greatest merit have announced their intention to resign on account of the insufficienoy of their pay. Loss to the ~overnmenat nd serious wrong to the I n d i ~ nws ould be prevented by au appro- I priation for tbe eutployment of special agents, to investigate and cancer, at remote pOHt3, frauds and abuses which esnnot be properly dealt with by t1.e inrtrumentalitics now nnl$,rt |
