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Show 58 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. colonies or separate settlements of Indians in farming communi-ties) : These people are indtlstrious and are trging to do somethingfpr themselves. They are perfectly oompetent to take orme of their rations, and should he allowed to draw far a long time in sdvsoee. I t is impossible for thein to work their crops in tbe summer or to take proper care of their stock in winter, if each family is required to go to the agenoy for its supplies. The foregoing remarks apply with equal force to the Kiowa Agency, in the Indian Territory, and to the San Oarlo! Agency, in Arizona, so that I need not repeat, but will conclude with asking particular atten-tion to what the agent of Pine Ridge Agency, Dakota (also a large agency), has to say : In the matter of issuing rations to t,he Indians of this agency, it ie impraatiei~ble to comply with the law as it now stands. Entire satisfaction is givin by our present modeof issue, wbioh tiistributes the rations as fair as aonld be dona by any other plen; Weekly issues to heads of families could be made praoticable only bg looating the Indiana within a. few miles of the commissary. The advantage.of issuing to heads of bands is that one person can draw rntious for the entire band just as well as if eaoh head of family was prewnt. For each head af family to visit the agency every week to procure his rations would in s majority of cases oooupytwo-thirds of his time traveling hack and forth. " * " At it time when the sole ooonpation of the Indian was to draw his rations and smoke his pipe, living as he did nnder the very shadow of the commissary, it made little difference. * Now, whatever may be the result, we ore earnestly working for the Indiana' advanoement, and the firat step is to get them sct~tteredo ut on farms suitable for tilling. This has been successfully ~oompl i sheda long t h e several creeks running throogh the reservation, but it was oeoessary to locate many of the better farmers as muoh as sixty miles from the sgenoy. * * " I ttost we will be permitted to continue our present mods of iaaoing anbsistence ; without this nothing can he done. Should.we now b0 compelled to issue in aocord-anoe with this set we will be forced hack to the place of beginning. I think it will be plain to those who read the foregoing that it is neither practicable nor desirable to apply the provisions of the act to any of the agencies referred to above; and further. that as Indians , a t other ration agencies become advanced, and more generally'in-terested in farming, it will be good policy to gradually extend exemp. tion from its requirements, until every ration agency is relieved. Therefore, in order that agents who in good faith and by permission of this department hare made issues of subsistence to chiefs and head men for their tribes or hands, instead of to heads of families, may be relieved from suspensionv made to their accounts by the Treasury De-partment, and in order that the manner of making suoh issues may be adapted to the changing condition of the Indians, I respectfully repeat office suggestion of May 23,1889, that Congress be requested to insert in the act making appropriations for the expenses of the Iodian de-partment for the next f i~cayl ear, some such item as the following : That section 4, sot of Maroh third, eighteeu hundred and seventy-five, a8 amended by section two, act of Mamh third, eighteen hundred an11 seventy-seven, is hereby further amended by adding the following: |
