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Show I I 10 REP~RT OF TBE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN. AFFAIRS. 1 I By pl&g the superintendent of the school in charge of affmrs, @ansferring to him something of the duties that have devolved hitherto upon the agent, and constituting him their chief counselor, director, and leader, the Indians would be spared many of the evils that might result -from 600 hasty an abolition of the agency system. At the same time there would be the doing away of the agency proper and the saving of the expense connected with it. The superintendents of the large agency boarding schools are genera ally menof high personal charwter andlargebusiness capacity. Many of them are under bonds, are fully competentfor the dischargeof what-ever duties would devolve upon them as agents, and in mimy cases could fulfill them without materially interfering with their work in the schools. This plan would make the school rather than the agency the center of the Indians' thoughts, hopes, and life; would bring them into . close relationship with these institutions of learning, and woutd thus .- dignify the cause of education and hasten the promotion of intelligence among them. aRMP OYFICERS as AGENTS. The Indian bill of July 13,1892, contains the following proviso regard-ing the appointment of Indian agents: Provided, That from and afterthe pasaage of this eot the President aha11 detsil officers of the United States Army to act as Indian agents at all sgenoies where va-cancies from any cause may hereafter occur, who, while aoting a8 auoh egenta, shell be under the orders and direotion of the Secretary of the Interior, except at agencies where, inthe opinion of the President, the publioserrice would be better promoted by the appointment of a oivilim. ' I regard the policy of substituting Army officers for civilians with grave apprehension. It'should be home in mind that the work of an Indian agent is civil rather than military. He is an administrator iq civil affairs; has to do with education, with the promotion of civiliaa-tion, with the adjudication of qnestions pertaining to the rights of per-son and property, and hiswhole businessis suchas callsfor a civilianls. training, experience, and ideas, rather than for that of one wlio has been trained as a soldier. That there have been Indian agents who have failed to comprehend their duties and who have not discharged them with efficienoy, or who have not been men of high character, above suspicion, is doubtless true; but the records of the Army show that such men sometimes wear uniforms. It certainlg is a very severe commentary upon our civilim-tion if it can be truthfully said, or if the idea is even prevdent, that there can not be found in the United States fifty-seven men taken *om civil life who are well qntllified in character, attajnments, and ex- . ecutive force to administer affairs at as many agencies. So far as the substitution 3f military officers for civilians is an ex- . . pression of a, desire to rid the Indian service of what is popularly known |