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Show REPORT OF 'WE, C031MI8SIOSER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. IX Y and aspirations. Ee is proud of his maullood, and when he comes to understand the matter hewillcheerfully and proudly accept therespon-sibilities rrhicl~b elong to civilized manhood. Within a very short time many Indians mill be invested with American citizenship, including of course the sacred right of the elective franchise. In fact many Indialls became citizens on the date of the passage of the law, for it provides tha,t- Every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to whom allotmenteehsll have been mode nnder the provision8 of thisact or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United Btates who has voluntarily taken up, within ssid limits, his residance separate and apart front any tribe of Indians therein, aud has adopted the habits of civilized life, is herehy de-elaled to be a citizen of the United Stales, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges, andimmunities of suohoitizens * *' " without inany manner impairing or other-wise affecting the:ight of any snoh Indian to tribal or other property. That hit.herto, under tribal relations, the progressof the Indian toward civilization has been disappointingly slow is uot to bewondered at. So long as tribal relations are maintained so long will individ.ua1 responsi-bility and welfare he swallowed up in that of the whole, and the weaker, less aspiring,and more ignorant of the tribe will be the victims of the more designing, shrewd, selfish, and ambitious head-men. Any people, of whatever raceor color, would differ little from oar Indians under like conditions. Take the most prosperous and energetic community in the , most enterprising section of our country-New England; give them their lands in common, filrnish them annuities of food and clothing, sen$ ,, them teachers to.teach their children, preachers to preach the gospel, farmers to till their lands, and phrsicians to heal their sick, and I pre-dict that in a few years, a generation or two at most, their manhood would be smothered, and a race of shiftless paupers would succeed the now universally known bL enterprising Yankee?' This pauperizing policy above outlined was, however, to some extent necessary at the beginning of our efforts to civilize the savage Indian. He was taken a hostile barbarian, his tomahawk red with the blood of the pioneer; he walt too wild to know aqy of tho arts of civilization. Eenee some such policy hap to be resorted to to settle the nomadic In-dian a,nd place him nuder control. The policy was a tentative one, and thewhole series of experiments, expedients, and makeshifts which have marked its progress have looked toward the policy now made possible and definitely established by the allotment act. - Now, as fast ad any tribe becomes sufficiently civilized and can be turned loose and put upon its own footing, it should be doue. Agriculture and education will gradually do this work and finally enable the.Government to leave the Indian to stand alone. This policy is now being entered upon wit,h fair prospects, and I have no doubt that the provisions of the act can he steadily executed until all the Indians are brought within its benefits, and that the outcome will be all that the friends of the measure imtici-pated. |