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Show I COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 23 tion, tlvrir sctrlcmt:nt nro~~nitds Lorderr-tlw t!vil+w hir11 i11vnri:ibly. !ttmd in~ntr-tlinrt. conr.1l.t of the two mceq-r p6~1.niciou*s ypreln or' ~ I I ~ ~ ' I I ~11I~!1. IIr?tIdIi~~n d ', t~o the~ w-bit~r-s. 2-n-d, 11~-11: ti~lt llt rr f ~ c ttl lnr rhv tjrm hra bcr!t rut%n.tl 18, t.dl irrro decay, and the buildings to become dilq~ihtedt,h ere are now not exceeding two Irnndred in all, the remdinder having wandered off becicse it was no longer possihle to remain. This reservation, judging by the report of the superintend- Ing agent, ou$~t t,o be abandoned, for the reason that it has not the natural facilities to adapt it to the purpose intended, inasmuch as there is no fishery, and the timber is twelve miles distant, objections which at the time of its estah-lisllment were not so insuperable as now, because at that time all the adjacent region was not occupied by whitea. I have mentioned this reservation particn-larly, because it combines objections which, to some extent and in greater -or less degree, exist with reference to all the others, and is a forcible illustration nf the necessity that all Indian reservations should be large in area, and so located as not to be liable to come in immediate contact with white settlements, which contact is seldom or never beneficial, and in many instances causes an sctual degradation of the Indians. There are, as I am informed, many unsettled claims for expenditures made in behalf of the Indian service in California, which require immediate attention. lfeasures must also he taken to cause the removal of whites from such reserva. tions as it is deemed advisable to retain, and to provide for the payment of such improvements thereon as axe of utility to the Indians. Under a law recently passed by the Shte legislaiure, Lvge numbers of Indi-ans have been nominally "indentured" for long terms of years to white masters. This "indenturing," if my information as to the character of the law and its ; practical operation is corrcct, is hut another name for enslaving those who are so : unfortunate as to become its ohjects, since, by its operation, Indians of any age ; under thirty, and of either sex, without their consent, or, if they be minors, that of their parents, are "indentnred" to white masters, who thereupon become entitled to "the care, control, custody, and earnings" of those thus "indentured," whom, in considera.tion thereof, they undertake to '.fee& clothe, care for, and protect," hut no security is required that this undertaking shall he performed, nor are any penalties prescribed.for its violation. A law like this is subject to enormous and ontrngeons abuses, and may be made the means by which the most wicked oppression may be perpetrated, and I oaunot believe that it was enacted with due consideration and deliberation, or that its provisions will not, at the earliest practicable moment, he so amended as .to prevent its conversion by wicked and uusclupulous men to the purposes of a cruel oppression, disgraceful alike to a community in which it is permitted, and to a State under colorof whose anthority it is perpetrated. I wish, however, to he understood as not objecting to a law for the "indenturing" of Indian youths to discreet and respectable ; whites, with such safepards incorporated therein as will secure for the Indian / apprentice the same benefits and advantages as are deemed indispensable in the case of white children. The law to which I have alluded is (if my information is correct) grossly deficient in this respect, and all proper remedies should at once he resorted to to rescue those who, under color of its provisions, have become victims of the avarice of base and designing men. The statemcut, as made by Superintending Agent Haneon, of the causes which lcd to the emplopent of United States and volunteer force3 agthst the Indians in the frontier portions of Hnmboldt and Mendocino counties, and of the crimes that are committed in the wake, and, as seems to he the cnse, under the guolasi protection of those forces, presants a picture of the pen-ersion of power and of cruel wrong, from which humanity inatillctively recoils. This so-called 'f Indian war" appeaxs to he a war in which the whites alone are engaged. The Indians are hunted like wild and dangerous beasts of prey; the parents are "murdered," and the children "kidnapped." Surely some plan may be devised whereby the |
