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Show REPORT OF THE COMJb18SIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XXXIX ervations; a grand'total of upwards of 17,400,000 acres, or about one-serenth of all the Indian lands in the United States. This might seem like a somewhat rapid reduction of the landed @,state of the Indians, but wheu it isconsidered thac fox the most part thelaud relinquished mas not being used for any purpose whatever, that scarcely any of it was in cultivation, that the Indians did not ne.ed it and wocld :lot he likely to need it at any future time, and that they were, as is be-lieved, reasouably well paid for it, the matter assumes quite a different asliect. The sooner the tribal relations are broken np and the reserva-tion system done away with the better it will be for all concerned. If there wereno other reason for this change, the fact that iudiviclualowner-ship of property is the universal custom among the civilized people of this cduntry would be a sufficient reason for urging the handful of In-dians to adopt it. As a general rule, I would not advise the purchase of the surplus lands until the Indians have been located upon and absolutely secured in their individual holdings. Give them their patents and see that they are fairly started in the paths of civilization, with their children in school, and then it will be time enough to negotiate with them for thesale of the surplus. There is always a clamor for Indian lands, but there is no such pressing need for more land for white settlement as tojustify undue haste in acquiring it. It is true the general allotment act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into negotiations with Indians for the purchase of their surplus nnallotted lands in advanoe of the rnmple-tion of the individual allotments, if, in the opinion of the President, it shall be for their best interests to do so. In some cases, this may be desirable, but as a rule, I think it better that they should take their allotments first. Their lands are becoming more valuable every year, so that they can lose nothing, in a pecuniary sense, by withholding the sale of so much as they may have to dispose of until after this has been done. Nor is it good policy to remove Indiau tribes from one place to an-other, especially from one State or Territory to another, merely to sat-isfy the selfish ends or to suit the convenience of the whites. It creates discontent, destroys the na,tural attachment for the soil, disturbs what-ever progress in localization and settlement may have been made, and retards progress in every way. I fully agree wxth .the late distin-guished General of the Army (General Sheridan) that ib every section of couutry should control the bad elements of its own population-not endeavor to foist them upon other more fortunate district8-and this is especially true of the Indians, who should, as far as possible, be con-tnolled where they now are." There was a time when in the rapid settlement of the Western coun-try it became necessary to remove some of the tribes that were subsist-ing mainly by the chase and yet occupying vast areas from which the Kame had practically disappeared. But the conditions are changed. Game can no longer be depended upon as a food supply, and there is |
