OCR Text |
Show 10 REPORT OF THE greater number of reservations have been established and a much heavier expense incurred than the condition and circumstances of the Indians required, as has probably beeu the case in respect of all the reservations or Indian colonies that have been commenced. In the outset it was the confident expectation that the heavy expense atteud-ing these colonies would rapidly diminish, from year to year, and that, after the third year at furthest, they would require but little if any outlay on the part of the government, the Indians in the mean-time being taught to support themselves by their own exertions. This expectation has not been realized ; neither have the expenses been diminished nor the Indians been materially improved. The fault has not, however, it is believed, been in the system, but in the manner in which it has been carried out. Too many persons have been employed to control, assist, and work for the Indians, and too much has been done for them in other respects. They have not beeu sufficiently thrown upon their own resources, and hence the colonies have not become any more competent to sustain themselves than they were when they first rammenced. Time and experience having developed errors in the administration of the system, the proper reforms are now being introduced. No more reservations should be established than are absolutely necessary for such Indians as have been, or it may be necessary to displace, in consequence of the extension of our settlements, and whose resources have thereby been cut off or so diminished that they cannot sustain themselves in their accustomed manner. Great care should be taken in the selection of the reservations, so as to isolate the Indians for a time from contact and interference from the whites. They should embrace good lands, which will well repay the efforts to cultivate them. Xo white persons should be suffered to go upon the * reservations, and after the first yesr the lands should be divided and assigned to the Indians in severalty, every one being required to remain on his own traut and to cultivate it, no persons being employed for them except the requisite mechanics to keep their tools and imple-ments in repair, and such as may be necessary, for a time, to teach them how to conduct their agricultural operations and to take care of their stock. They should also have the advantage of well conducted manual labor schools for the education of their youth in letters, habits of industry, and a knowledge of agriculture and the simpler mechanic arts. By the adoption of this course, it is believed that the colonies can very soon be made to sustain themselves, or so nearly so that the government will be subjected to but a comparatively trifling annual expense on account of them. But it is essential to the success of the system that there shoald be a sufficient military force in the vicinity of the reservations to prevent the intrusion of improper persons upon them, to afford protection to the agents, and to aid in controlling the Indians and keeping them within the limits assigned to them. It would materially aid the department in its efforts to carry out the system successfully, in respect to the Indiana in California, if that State would, like Texas, so far relinquish to the general government her jurisdiction over the reservations to be permanently retained there, as to admit of the trade and intercourse laws being put in force within |