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Show ~,- * tFs - ;, ..,: .;... -: ~''. ,* : -,.<3< .;-~!:- .. -.-+-~. ~, :ry. :w.: ~, -. ' .~ I' .?+. =* . ,.z-.? . ;.. .. , -~.. i- ' . , . . '~, ' . . 46 REPORT OF TEE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN '~FFAIRS. portion, where the Carrizo Mountaing lie, without disadvantage to themselves. On the contrary, a sale of this land for a reasonable anm and a judicious investment of the same would prove beneficial to them. I t is proposed to negotiate with tllem at an early date for the ces-sion of this portion of their reservation. RESERVATIONS SHOULD NOT BE REDUCED TOO RAPIDLY. While perhaps it is possible to push sueh work too rapidly, I do not hesitate to say that the ultimate de~tructiono f the entire system of reservations is inevitable. There is no place for it inonr present con. dition of life, and it must go. The millions of acres of Indian lands now lying absolutely unused are needed as homes for our rapidly in-erepsing population and must be so utilized. Whatever right and titie the Indians have in them is subject to and must yield to the de-mands of civilization. They should be protected in the permanent possession of all this land necessary for their own support, and what-ever is .&&kefnr om them should be paid for at its full market value. But it ran not be expected under any circumstances that these reserve. tions can remain intact, hindering the progress of civilization, requir ing an army to protect them from the encroachments of home-seekers, a n j maintaining a perpetual abode of savagery and auirualism. The. rndians themselrelr are not slow to appreciate the force of the logic of events, and are becomi~lg more and Inore ready to listen to proposi-tions for the reduction of the reservations and the extingnishment of their title to such portions of the lalid as are not required for their own use. The same considerations, l~owcver,w hioh suggest the possibilit,~o f pushing the allotment of lands too ri~pidly also suggest the desirabil-ity of moving with c(tution and dleiberatiou iu reducing the reserve-tions. If they are broken up too snddcnly and vioieotly, the harm rcsultiug to the IniIians would not he, by any means, counterbalanced by the benefit conferred upon other people. The ultimate swallowing np of the Indians by our civilization will be to them a decided benefit. Those Indians on reservations who live close to white settlements and come into vital relatiollship with civilized people make the greatest progress. They learn by contact and ohservation, and in many cases adopt the better ways of their more intelligent neighbors. There are, of course, exceptions to this, as our civilizatiou bears, nnfortunately, many elements of evil as well as of good. The Indians are quite as ready to copy the vices of the white man as his virtues. Gambling, intemperance, impurity,falsehood, laroeng, idleness, are not peculiar to the Iudians, and oftentimes are intensified by the precepts and exam-ples of those who claim to belong to a superior race. Nevertheless, the fact remains that in general the building of towns, opening of farms, construation of railroads, establishment of schools, building of roads and bridges, etc., which are common incidents of the throwing open I |
