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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. PIX tinct race ; we shall hear no more of him as a 'c ward of the nation7'l but like the alien and the negro, who by our laws are admitted to the great family of American citizens, each individual must stand upon his own bottom, enjoying equal rights and bearing equal responsibilities. It is confidently believed that the present policy of the Government toward the Indian is fast bringing the younger class of Indians up to the point where they can see the advantage of citiaensbip. This is strikingly illustrated by the attitude of some of the youth now being educated at the Carlisle Training School, one of whom, writing upon the subject, says : I want to be admitted into eitieenship, but I would like to know what real right8 I will have, what benefits 1 may enjoy, or under what punishment must I suffer. Speaking of losing his rights as an Indian if he shoulcl become a citi-sen, the same writer says: Lnae ms rights as an Indian! What are the ri hts that an Indian has? Ia it the drawing of ratious and beef every week? Xo &e Indians have no righb. Then how isit that I shall loserng Indian rights t Is it uot the Government pollcy to aban-don a11 tbisl Same of the good people do not want Indians to become citizens of the United States, because they want to treat them as separate nations. The negrods became citizens while they were jnat as ignorant ss osn be, even now. Why cannot the Indians be allowed citizenship I Free us from the right8 of support and ignor-anoe. and wive us the riehts of civilized citiaenalli~. We are bound to be aitisens. 8nd khg nzt now t While such sentiments are very natural to a young Indian whose aspirations have been awakened by a liberal education, and which would be common to the Indian race if they had equal advantages and alike edncation, such a new depvtnre to the vast mass of the Indians would now be ihopportnde, and ipstead of bringing blessings, would entail disaster. Take, for instance, some of the quiet and peaceable Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Under the treaty of Guadalonpe-Hi-dalgo, and the decisions of the courts, they are held to be entitled to the rights of citizenship; but a personal acquaintance with their '&gov-ernors," as they style themselves, reveals an incapacity which, for the present, must wholly unfit them to exercise the rights of an American citizen. Tlrcy are rather objects of sympathy and governmental gum-dianship. In a recent csse (Elk us. Wilkins, 112 U. S. Reps., 94) the Supreme Conrt of the United States decided that an Indian born a member of one of the Indian tribes within the United States, which st.ill exists and is recognized as a tribe by the Government of the United Statss, who has voluntarily separated himself from his tribe and taken op his resi-dence among the white citizens of a State, does not thereby become a oitizen of the United States, and cannot makehimself a citizen without the consent and co-operation of the Government. In view of this de. cision a bill was introduced in the last Congress by Senator Dawes de-claring every Iudian born within the'territorial limits of the United States, who has voluntarily taken up, within s&id limits, his residence' separate s,nd ansrt frnm anv t , r ib~nf Tndian~t herein. and. who has |