OCR Text |
Show VIII REPORT OF THE COMXISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. preciate the sicuatiou, and are anxious to put theu~selresi n condition to meet the new order of things which they see is certain to come, and which will either elevate them in the scale of being, or exterminate them. Chief Eeokuk, son of the celebrated chief of that name, said to one of our special agents only a fern days ago, " We want schools, churches, and laws, to make our people abandon the mild, roving life of Indians, and become a settled, industrious, and pe.aceable people." Within the last few months the Pottamatomie Indians have prepared -and submitted to the department for hpproval, a code of laws for their own government, thus clearly indicating tllat the thoughts of the Indians are being turned in the right direction. UXJUST DISCEI31INATION BETWEEN INDIAN TRIBES. I called attention in my last report to the fact that the Indians who obey law and try to conform to our customs, and to cultivate habits of industry and sobriety, are not encoura,ged as they should bej while Iu-dians who are lazy, turbulent, and insubordinate, get what they demand. If the Indians are in fact the wmtls of the nation, it is the imperative duty of the government to treat them as a prudent and kind guardian should treat a ward, and this can only be done by rewarding the good and punishing the bad. Rewards should be liberal and promptly given, and pl~nishments should be sharp, quiok, and positive. No delay in either case; let the eflect follow the cause with certainty and rapidity. Delay in either &me lessens the eflect intended to be produced. I feel that I cannot too strongly urge this, because unless a dierent policy in this respect is pursuedin the future from that practioed in the past, bad Indians will increase and good ones decrease. They must be made to know that vice will not be rewarded, nor will virtue be pun-ished. We are to-day feeding with a liberal haud, and at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, a tribe of 1nd;ans who have made in-solent demands, and defiantly threatened war unless their demands were complied with, while at the same time we are allowing quiet and peace. able Indians to striiggle with adverse circumstances on the verge of starvatiou, The Indians see this and the effect must necessarily be had. SURVEYS OF INDIAN RESERVATIONS. Onc friiit~fusl ource of troubleand conflict between Indialis and white people arises from the fact tbat in very many cases it is impossible ts tell where the reservation lines are. The Indians claiin the line to be in oue place and the white man, who is a farmer, a miner, or a herder, claims it to be in another. The only remedy for this is by surveying anil plainly marking the boundary lines; this rrould save much trouble and many lives. I made an earnest request for nu approprhtion of $100,000 for this purpose at the last session of Congress, but 0~15$-5 ,000 was given. In IS80 it Tas estimated that there were not less than 6,000 miles of mlsorveyed ~.eservationb oundaries. But little change has oc- |