| OCR Text |
Show , REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. CI I Cheyenne and Arapaho, and Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita, Okla-homa. ' Theestablishing oE these new, independent communities will of ne-cessity increase for a time the number of farmers required for their 1 'instruction. The estimates submitted by the various agents forsuch additional farmers as are required for the year ending June 30, 1891, amount to over $62,000. The sum appropriated by Congress is $60,000. In view of the progress now being made in the allotment of lands, and of the importance that the Indians should be prepared for this step by intelligent instruction in the proper use of their land, and considering that evev acre put under cultiration yields a substantial return for the labor and money expended, I recommend that for the fiscal yearcnding ' June 30,1892, the sum of $100,000 be appropriated for the pay of ad- ditional farmers. The Indians should be given distinctly to understand that the em-ployment by the Government of white farmers is a temporary expe-dient, to be abandoned at an early day. They should be taught that thev must very soon depend entirely upon themselves, and that their future prosperity will depend largely upon the use they are now willing to mate of the opportunities for learning to farm oEered to them by the Government. IRRIGATION. Large bodies of lands now included in reservations are practically . worthless for farming purposes, without irrigation. The spread of the white population over the public domain, the reduction of reservations, the confining of Indians to crer-narrowing borders, makes the problem of their support one of increasing difficulty and urgency. White people are able to combine in the creation of expensive and extensive irrigating plans, which the Indians can not do. From t.he attention which I have been able to give to the subject, I am led to believe that by the ex-penditure of moderate sums of money in constructing reservoirs. and irrigating employing Indians to perform most of the labor, and instructing them in the oonstrnction, care, and use of these reservoirs and ditches, large numbers of them may be prepared for self-support. I t is my purpose during the coming year to pay special attention to this matter, collect suitable data, and lay before you in my next annual re-port some plan of operation. The matter can not safely be deferred any longer. What has already been done iu this C~rection warrant% be-lief iu the advisabilitr of doing much more. |
