OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. DEP~RTNENTO F THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAANF FAIRS, Washington, 8eptenzber 28, 1886. SIR : I have the honor herewith to submit the second annual report on Indian affairs nuder their present management. It is with pleasure that you, and through yon Congress and the American people, are invited to. mark the unmistakable evidences of progress made by many of the tribes within the last twelve months. , These evideucea are apparent from several standpoints. The excellent temper, subordination, and general tranquillity which, with two cr three exceptions, have everywhere prevailed among the Red Men under the charge of the Indian Bureau are of themselves a most auspicious omen of progress. The active inquiry among many of the tribes for fur-ther knowledge of the arts of agriculture; the growing desire to take lands in severalty; the urgent demand for agriculturalimplements with modern improvements; the largely increased acreage which the Indians have put to tillage, exceeding that of any preceding year; the uuprece-dented increase in the number of Indian children who have been en-rolled in the schools-these and many other facts fully establish the claim that during the past year the Indian race has taken a firmer step and a grander stride in the great march toward civilizat,ion than ever before in the same length of time. THE LLPEAOEP OLIUY~' AND ITS ECONOMY. Another year's experience and practical trial of this '&humanitarian and peace system" only adds cumulative testimony to the superiority of its methods of Indian civilization over any others ever yet tried. As a further and unerring evidence, I may refer to the fact that the progress above noted has been made without corresponding increase in m |