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Show 6 EEPORT OF THE COMMISBIONER OX INDIAN AFFAIRS. to lead an idle life, and, after giving him a fair start,-leave him to take care of himself. To that it must come in the end, and the sooner steps are taken to bringit about the better. That there will be many failures and much suffering is inevitable in the very nature of things, for it is only by sacrifice and suffering thai the heights of ciyilization are reached. CUTTING OFF RATIONS. In pursuance of the policy of theDepaitment to cut off rations from all Indians except those who are incapacitated in some way from earn-ing a support, this office isvued an order in June last to the six great Sioux agencies directing the agents to erase from the ration rolls all Indians who had become self-supporting and had therefore complied with t,he Black Hills treaty of 1877. And further, to issue rations to other Indians only in accord with their actual needs and to inaugurate, wherever it is possible, the policy of giving rations only in return for labor performed, either for then~selveso r for the benefit of the tribe. While a sufficient lapse of time has not taken place to determine the great benefit this action will have on the industrial and educational progress of these Indians, the results obtained so far have been very gratifying, as well as surprising. At one agency 870 persons were declared entirely self-supporting and were dropped from the ration rolls; at another, 400; at another, 300. Of course a lalge number of these were "squaw men" and their families. Some were not only self-supporting, but able to live in comparative affluence; som,e had grown wealthy through the ration system. At first the order caused consid-erable dissatisfaction among those it affected, as naturally it would, but it was well received by the majority of the Indians. It would seem rather a sad commentary on the ration system to see Indians iriving into the agency regularly in buggies and carriages to receive a gratui-tous distribution of supplies from an indulgent Government "to keep them from starving." Eince the issuance of the above order to the Sioux a somewhat similar order has been issued to all other ratiou agencies. These agencies receive rations under a somewhat different arrangement, as in almost every instance the ration is a gratuity and not stipulated by any treaty, as in the case of thesioux. Here the order has bxen better received and the result has been equally surprising. The office feels that a great stride has been taken toward the advancement, civiliza-tion, and independence of the race; a step, that if followed up, will lead to the discontinuance of the ration system as far as it applies to able-bodied Indians, the abolition of the reservation, and ultimately to the absorption of the Indiin into our body politic. The application of the present policy to Indian reservations is not by any means entirely new except in the general applicatton. A very |
