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Show I ' REPORT OF THE COMMISSION2R OF INDIAN AFFAIRR. 57 effect that it must be governed by the literal'rcquirements of the act, and although admitting the wisdom of the position taken by this office, added t h a t V " It now ilearly appears to be the duty of thiri (the honorable Second Anditor'a) oEoe to insist eit,her that the termsuf theact be complied with or &at t,he law be moditled to suit tKe pr2bcticd difficulties ofthe oaae. Doubtless on proper repre-sentation of the facts, Congress wouldinvest the administrative department with an-thority to make nneeessary exceptions to the literal operation of the statute. * With the v i e l~sen tertained therefore by this office in regard to this subjeot, there seems to be no reoourae open but to require Indian agents to not in strict conformity with the requirements of the seztion in question, or have the law itaelf so emended as to relieve them from an embarrassing position. In view of this decision and to enabic the Department to lay the whole matter intelligently before Congress, if such action should be . decided upon; the agents whose Indians are most affected by this ruling . were called upon to report to this office whether it was practicable to apply the role at their agencies, and the advantages or disadvantages that would most likely result from a persistent effort to enforcc it. I ' give below the substance of three replies. The agent 'of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agendy, in the Indian Territory, says that his Indians are uow located in colonies at different points on the reservation, from 12 to 75 miles from the agency head- . quarters where the commissary is, on small farms under instruction of practiced white farmers who reside with them, and that tocompel these Indian farmers to come to the agency for rations would result in the abaudonment of three-fourths of their farms and the camping of the Indians round the commissary as of old. To issue beef from the block to heads of families each week would require the services of at least twenty trained butchers and much more clerical hclp than is now needed. The Indians take good care of what is given to them, and a11 are well satisfied with the issue of their subsistence to the headmen of the tribe. The agent of Uintah and Ou r a ~A gency, Utah, says that to enforcc the law at his agency would totally destroy the farming and indnstriil interests of his Indians, who are scattered on little farms all over the ' reservation, which col~taiuos ver 4,000,000 acres. Some are GO and some 7q miles from the agency headquarters. When coming to th6 agency their custom is to bring the whole family and to leave the farm deserted, so that whatever tends to keep them at home and at work is most bene-ficial and should be one of the main objects kept in view by the agent and the Department. The agent says that the euforceme~o~ft t his sec-tion would be rl~inousto the working Indiaus, and that this matter of issues of subsistence should, in justice to the Indiaus, be left to the dis-cretion of the Department. An Indian inspector in speakiug of one colony of Indians at the Rosebud. Agency, Dakota, says (and his remarks apply toall other |
