OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMIBSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XI EVIL OF CASH ANNUITIES. In mau'y cases the law now requires money to be paid to certain tribes of Indians. In a majority of these cases, if the law left it in,the discretion of the aepartrnent to pay in cattle or sheep, instead of cash, tbe result would be much more beneficial to the Indian. This is emi-nently trne in the case of the Uintah and other Utes. The country oocuyiccl by them is a good grazing country, bu't not well adapted for agricnltural purposes. If, instead of compelling payment to them in money, as the law uom stands, they could be paid in cattle, they could in a few years become self-supporting. The money paid to them does them but little good. In one dax, immediately after a cash payment was made to the Utes, tm-o 'hc-sand dollars were spent for firearms, ammnnition, and wl~iskyin bslt Lake City, and in a very short time nine-tenths of the payment went in the same direction. If they are che wards of t,he nation, me should see to it that they get only such things as are beneficial, aud not such as are injurious. While upon this subject I wish to call attention to the fact that there is no law to punish any one for selling firearms to Indians, and the con-sequence is that the worst and most troublesome Indians arc armed with the best breech-loaders that can be found in the market. It is hoped a stringent law may be passed to prevent, as far aspossible, this cause of trouble and loss of life. INCREASE IN TRE CLERICAL FORCE OR TIIE BUREAU. For many years cou~plaiut has been made bg the accounting ofEcers of the Treasury that the accounts rendered quarterly by the Indian agents were so u~llch delajecl iu the Indian 'Bureau that in a majority of cases, before afiual settlement could be. reached, the sureties on the bonds and the witnesses mhoae testimor~y would be necessary in estab-lishing facts connected with suspensions in these aocounts could not, on acconnt of death or some other cause, be reache.d. Congress very wisely at the last session made an appropriation of $1,000 specially for the purpose of bringing up these aocounts. With the aid thus af-forded I hare been able to bring them up nearer to date than they have been for many yea.rs. This has resulted in much saving of trouble and a much better understanding of the conditiou of the current business at the agencies, and, it is safe to say, the saving of money to the govern-ment. I reut~lrein this connection to make a suggestion which, if followed, will be of much pecuniary advant.age. I refer to the f&t that an immense amount of work is done in this bureau for outside parties, for which not one cent is paid. Other departments of the government charge for copies of papers and documents, but the Indian Bureau does all this work, amounting to thousaiids upon thousands of pages, for nothing; and the time of clerks, for whose salaries alq~ropriationas re made, is |