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Show REPORT OF THE COMXIESXOSER OP INDIAN AFFAIRS. 5 citizens, by whom they are sumunded. Many are well educated, and the possessors of good, cultivatedfarms, and others managers of a pros: perous business. A large number of those residing in Michigan and Kansas, afi also the Winnebagoes in Minnesota, have become citizens, and the roba abilities are that most of those remaining in Kansas and ~e b r i i s kwi ill, iu n few years, it'rlot rcruo\.erl to the lrrilian courrtry and thcre brougl~tu nder a terrirorial form of government, become merged into the ritizcn vonu1:ition and rhcir tribd cristenrr be extineuiahecl. Other ~ndiani,'a s in Oregon, California, Nevada, and tge several Territories, with the exception of the wilder and unfriendly part of them, hereinbefore noted, have been quiet and peaceable; but there is no very marked change in their condition to report. A few Seminoles yet remain in Florida, and quite a large number of Cherokees jet reside in North Carolina and several of tlie adjacent States. Measures are now being taken to remove t,he latter to the country of their brethren in the Indian country west of Arkansas. The aggregate of the population of Indians within the boundaries of the United States, iucl~tding Alaska, is estimated at 350,000. Ey the statistics furnished, regardlng those nuder the care of agents, it is shown that with nearly all the tribes there is adecrease in number from year to year, arising from causes so well known, and often repeated. With those most advanced in civilization there is, however, a percepti-ble increase. The true policy of their preservation from utter eutinc-tion, before many years pass, it is generally admitted, is to prepare them as rapidly as possible to assume the relation of citizenship ; by granting them increased facilities for the education of the young j by habituating them to industrial pursuits, and by the incentive to labor incited by a sense of ownership inproperty, which all allotment of their lands in severalty would afford, and by the benign and elevating inflo-ences of Christian teachings. One of the most potent agencies for the civilization of the race is that of education. T1m me,ans provided under treaty stipulations, and by special appropriations by Congress, are found to be entirely inadequate for the establishment and maintenance of any larger number of schools. Where, in many cases, buildings are required to be erected for school purposes, the funds &pplicable are barely sufficient for that object, so that when they are furnished and operations have commenced, other requirements for a successful carrying on of the schools cannot be met, and the undertakings either prove a failure or produce results scarcely apprecia.l~le. The $100,000 appropriated by Congress July the 15t11, 1870. for educatidnal uurnoses amone tribes not wrovided with means the act appropriating said sum the money is to be expended aruong the tribes having no educational fund. Many of these tribes are wild and roving, witl~out any fixed habitation where schools eould be perma-nently established; others are opposed to schools; and others again manifest no desire to have them. In order to utilize this gift of the Government to the best possible advantage it is respectfully recom-mended that legislation be had by Congress giving discretionary power to the Secretary of the Interior to distribute the fund at such times and among such tribes as he shall be satisfied will produce the most bene-ficial results, whether the tribes have any other provision of this ehar-acter or not. Since the date of the last annnal report of tlds office, by direction of the President of the United States. the office of several su~erintendents has been discontinued and the agents subordinate there6 now report |
