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Show 10 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS Anolher: We have succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectations. Over 300 have been secured emdovment outside of the Government work. Thev are em~lovedo n the A . . " railmad, by ranchmen, in cutting woad, shearing sheep, and other minoroccupations. They are paid by the railroad $1.50 per day; by ranchmen 530 per month aud hoard; for chopping wood, $1 per cord; shearing sheep 7 cents per headl, and other labor in proportion. * * * The result of all this is that the Indians have lived better than ever hefore. * * No one has suffered by the reduction of rations, but on the other hand there has been less diacontGnt and complaint than I have ever before known. * * In conclusion, I beg to recommend that the present policy of >. handling the Indians at this agency be continued. I And still another: I I could have secured employment for practically all the able-bodied Indians in this agency if they would have accepted it. * * Some of these pretended friends of the Indians, inetead of encouraging them to accept this work, even at small wages, have been assiduously trying to discourage them from going. * * * Con-cerning those who did go to work off the reservation, I would say that they gave perfect satisfaction to their employers, who have informed me that they would rather have them than white laborers. * * * The general effect on the Indians - of the work done on the reservation has been a very good one. It has been very satisfactory from all standpoints. I An inspector says: Above all else I believe the best lesson an able-bodied Indian can have iato con-vince him that he must work or starve. If he complains that there is no work to do, the Government should be prepared for him with labor on roads, irrigating - ditches, coal fielda, lumber camps, ete. For such work let him be paid a moderate sum in cash. To pay in rations or to pay more than the Indim earns are hoth emom which experience has proven should not be repeated. But if the Indian says he is hungry, let him be shown the "Government wood pile" and be compelled to work his way through it. A superintendent of thirty years' experience writes: 1 Your letters * * * point toward the fact that the Indian Office expects iu the ne&r future to discontinue the gratuitous issue of rations. Any time during the last twenty years I would have hailed this step 98 a. boon to t h e Indians. * * The policy of the Goverument in issuing so much to them gratuitously has dwarfed their energies, cultivated their dependence, and encouraged their extravagance. After over thirty years of imuing gratuitous rations, after distributing many carloads V of farming implements, wire for fencing, and wagons and harness, after receiving two cash annuity payments, * * * these Indians to-day farm less than they have at any time for the last fifteen yam, and are less willing to do a day's work for the Y money than at any time for many yeam. There are very few who are not in debt. There is more drunkenness than at any time since I knew them. The gratuitous issues, along with their cash annuities and the lease money derived from leasing their allotments and renting their houses built for them by the Government, made y their resources so large that they were not campelled to work for a. living, and as they were not obliged to work they did not do so for recreation, and as they were. idle they naturally fell into the habit of gambling and drinking as a. pastime. * * 1 heartily indorse the policy proposed by the Indian Office of giving them an opportunity to earn their own livingand in furnishing them plenty of work to do. |
