OCR Text |
Show done, and oolnDeience and fidelity in the discha :ge of duty would very ' materially hasten tho successful accomplishment of the wise ends of the Government. (10) Time.-The great forces now at work; lard insseveralty with its accompanying dissolution of the tribal relation .md breaking up of the reservation; the destruction of the agency system'; citizenship, and all that belongs thereto of menhoorl, iudepeudeoco, rivilege, ;mtl duty; ed-ucation, which seeks to bring the youog Indians into right relationship with the age in which they live, and to put into ;heir hiilrds thetools by which they may gain for $hemselves food and clothing and build for themselves homes, will, iE :hllomed to continue undisturbed a reasonable length of time, ahcotuplish their beneficent ends. They should be fosteri,d, strengthened, maintained, and allowei! to operate. Other iorces scarcely less powerful than thestr, namely, the progress of our own civilization, which is invading tho res#:rvations and surroun(l-ing the Indians on every side, the progress of Christianity through the active roissiooary efforts of the churches, the changed conditions which have forced upon the Indians themselves the necessity of greater efforts towards self-help and improvement, combine aud ooBperate with the orgmized efforts of the Govern~nent o bring about their uplifting. Bow long it will take for the work to be completed depends partly upon' , the wisdom of Congress when ma k i ~ ~negc essary laws, partly upon the will of the Executirein making appointments and giving direction to Indian apdirs, partly upon the fidelity and intelligence of agents and others cliosen to superintend the work, partly upon the vigor and e5- aiency of the schools and those employed to teach industries, partly upon the zeal of Christian churches and humanitarians, and largely upon the spirit of those of our people who fiod themselves in facto-to-face relationship wit11 Indian families and individuals, on the reserra-tions and elsewhere. It is not safe to prophesy, and in view of the past hundred years it uiapbe unwiae. to predict; yet I will ventare to say that it is possible,.before the close of the present century, to carry this matter so far towarcls its final cousnmmation as to put it beyond the range of anxiety. Not everything can be accomplished within t,hat time, but enough can be done so that the Oomrnissioner who writes the seventieth annual repo1.t can speak of the 111dian solution instead of the Indian problem. THE POLITIOAL BTATUS OF THE INDIANS.* I n the adn~inistrationo f the affairs of this office1 am constantly con-fronted with difficult proble~rls arising out of the uns~ttled political status of the Indians. These perplexities will increase rather than dimin- 'Sinoe this paper wasprepared I have had the pleasure of reading in the Atlantie Monthly, for October, the first of a series of papers, sntitld, "APsople without law," by Prof. J. B. Theyer, LL. D., of Harvsrd University. |