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Show 4 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. are stipulated to be paid in cash annuities. Facts show that ordinarily the Indians who have received the rnost monev in this form are in the most unfavorable condition forc~vilization. T T I ~ bounty of the Goveru-ment, has ~aur)erizad them, and in some cases has tended to brutalize more t l ~ a u t oC ivilize. There are instances vliere for many years tribes have been recriviug fi.on~ $3UO to $500 cavh aonually to each family of four or five peFsonn, aud i i ~al l such gases the Indians have made 110 use of the soil which t l ~ e pr o ssess, aod are aunually reduced to extreme r a n t within a short time after receiving annuities. These Indians would probably hare l~eeu fat. better 08 to hare bad only their lands, out of which the5 might have dug a li\-iug, it' compelled by huuger, tha,n to have received this bounty in a form that te~idsto perpetuate idleness and poverty. I recou~~ueutdh at bereafter the appropriations to fulfill these promises for a~~uui t ieosf cash in haud he made for the same amounts, to be expended, in each case, under the direction of the Sec-retary of the Iuterior, for purposes of civilizat.ion of the tribe, reserving to the discretion of the Secretdry the power to pay cash anuuities when-ever, in his judgmel~t, it is found expedient. If. the ol~ject ios~ll~ol ild be made, that this is a violation of a treaty n.t,i~nn,la t,ion. the answer is. that the Government is bound to consider the ~~ ~~~ .~ ~ brst iliftLrt.sts ot its \vor(Is. A1111 it; i n preriit11.1y t';~rs, wrong 111ct1iods Ii;i\.e bccli ;icloprt!~lo, r it' tile prestLrltc oiiditiot~: tiid cxigel~ricsr ci~uire;I ~ I i I l e r 1~1~w~t1t1 1,od t '~lc:~l iwt~itc11 tile Iii~li:~ti~n ho rilcr to secure t1teiri111- pro~ementa nd greotest gGod, then both justice and humanity require that the change he made. A satisfactory experiineot of this rhethod has been made under a treatF with the Si s seto~au~d Wahpeton Sioux, in a,ccordance with which the inonej-spaid to these tribes, in payment for their lands sold to the Government, have been expended iu goods and provisions, whicl~ have been issued to Indians only in return for labor on their part, the labor hei,ug, in most cases, for themselves; and thus a threefold benefit has been procured. They have actually received the value of the money ; they liare received the products of their own labor, and; best of all, they have learned to labor. If a similar use earl be made of sums of money now paid to vagrant Indians, aud practically squandered by them within a few days, a large incentive to industry will he gained. ! WANT OP INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY-RIGHTS. The third binderance is foiind in themaut of individual property-rights among Indians. A fundamental dittewuce between barbarians and a civilized people is the difference between a herd and an individual. A11 barbarous c~istoms tend to destroy individuality. Where everything , is held in com~non,t ,hrift aud enterprise have no stin~nluso f reward, and thus individual progress is re~~derevtelr y improbable, if not i i~~pos. sible. The starting-point of indivi(1ualism for an Indian is the personal possessior~ of his portion of the reservation. Give him a house within . a tract of Iat~d,w hose corner-stakes &re plainly recognized by himself and his neighbors, and let whatever can he produced out of this landed estate be considered propert,y in his own name, and the first principle of iudnstry and tlirift is recognized. In order to this first step, the survey , and nllotmeut in severalty of the lands belonging to the Ind~ansm ust be provided for by cougressional legislation. LAW AMONG INDIANS. The fourth hiudewnce is the absence of law for Indians. Tbe first couditiou of civilization is yrotect,ion of life and property through the |