The advantages to the Indians of taking their lands in severalty are so important and far-reaching in their effects that I fear to dwell upon them in this report lest I be accused of drawing a roseate picture born of an enthusiastic imagination. Every Indian may own a homestead! For it will be his homestead if he takes land in severalty and dissolves the tribal relation. Contrast bis situation with that of millions of white families in the country, to say nothing of the larger number of homeless people in the Old World, and of the negroes of the Southern States. What a heritage! A homestead his own, with assistance by the Government to build houses and fences and open farms; with a fund preserved and guarded by the Government for years to assist in teaching him and his children the arts of civilization; with the title to the homestead held in trust for a generation, if need be, so as to protect him from the selfish greed and relentless grasp of the white man; with the means not only for material development and progress, but also for the liberal education of his children. If this policy were adopted systematically by the Government it would be strange if in five years from its inauguration and establishment there should be an Indian of any tribe in the whole country who would refuse to accept so favorable and advantageous a measure.

Every step taken, every move made, every suggestion offered, every thing done with reference to the Indians should be with a view of impressing upon them that this is the policy which has been permanently decided upon by the Government in reference to their management. They must abandon tribal relations; they must give up their superstitions; they must forsake their savage habits and learn the arts of civilization; they must learn to labor, and must learn to rear their families as white people do, and to know more of their obligations to the Government and to society. In a word, they must learn to work for a living, and they must understand that it is their interest and duty to send their children to school. Industry and education are the two powerful co-operating forces which, together, will elevate the Indian, and plant him upon the basis of material independence. They will awaken the spirit of personal independence and manhood, create a desire for possessing property, and a knowledge of its advantages and rights. An Indian who has gone upon land, opened a farm, built houses and fences, gathered around him some stock, and become selfsustaining, is prepared to understand the advantages of educating his children. Agriculture and education go hand in hand. The labor of the adults and the education of the children will drive away the gaunt specters of want and poverty, which for generations have haunted the humble tent of the Indian, and in their stead will bring to his doors plenty, comfort, and home life.

In proof of the soundness of this position that the Indians can easily be made self-sustaining by agriculture, I refer to the progress made this year by the Apaches on the San Carlos Reservation, in Arizona,

showing a most rapid improvement among them in learning and adopting the improved methods of agriculture. At the rate of improvement made this year by these Indians it will be only a year or two until they (the Apaches), the wildest tribe on the continent, will be self-sustaining and independent. I can also cite the advance made in the last few months by the Cheyennes and Arapahoes of the Indian Territory. Since the cattle have been moved from their lands, and they see that the Government intends that they shall abandon their indolent, thriftless habits and go to work, a marked improvement has begun. More than fifty have recently taken up lands for the purpose of farming them, and a general disposition to work is manifested. The same is true of many other tribes, as the records of this office for many years will attest.

Another idea connected with all this is that as you throw responsibility upon the Indians, it teaches them self-respect and individuality, and develops in them higher manhood. The success of the experiments that have been made of establishing Indian police, and courts of Indian offenses, to regulate internal and domestic affairs on reservations, is referred to more particularly in another part of this report. This throwing responsibility upon the Indians who are selected to decide among themselves upon the rights of their fellow Indians, has had an elevating and restraining influence upon them and has made them more law-abiding.

INDIAN CITIZENSHIP.

When the farm and the school have become familiar institutions among the Indians, and reasonable time has intervened for the transition from barbarism or a semi-civilized state to one of civilization, then will the Indian be prepared to take upon himself the higher and more responsible duties and privileges which appertain to American citizenship. A wider and better knowledge of the English language among them is essential to their comprehension of the duties and obligations of citizenship. At this time but few of the adult population can speak a word of English, but with the efforts now being made by the Govern ment and by religious and philanthropic associations and individuals, especially in the Eastern States, with the missionary and the schoolmaster industriously in the field every where among the tribes, it is to be hoped, and it is confidently believed, that among the next genera tion of Indians the English language will be sufficiently spoken and used to enable them to become acquainted with the laws, customs, and institutions of our country, and to regulate their conduct in obedience to its authority.

When this point in their upward progress has been attained they will be a part and parcel of the great brotherhood of American citizens, and the last chapter in the solution of the Indian problem will be written. After that we shall hear no more of the Indian as a separate and dis

ict race; we shall hear no more of him as a "ward of the nation"; it like the alien and the negro, who by our laws are admitted to the reat family of American citizens, each individual must stand upon his wn bottom, enjoying equal rights and bearing equal responsibilities. It is confidently believed that the present policy of the Government oward the Indian is fast bringing the younger class of Indians up to the point where they can see the advantage of citizenship. This is strikingly illustrated by the attitude of some of the youth now being educated at the Carlisle Training School, one of whom, writing upon the subject, says:

I want to be admitted into citizenship, but I would like to know what real rights I will have, what benefits I may enjoy, or under what punishment must I suffer. Speaking of losing his rights as an Indian if he should become a citizen, the same writer says:

Lose my rights as an Indian! What are the rights that an Indian has? Is it the drawing of rations and beef every week? No, the Indians have no rights. Then how is it that I shall lose my Indian rights? Is it not the Government policy to abandon all this? Some of the good people do not want Indians to become citizens of the United States, because they want to treat them as separate nations. The negroes became citizens while they were just as ignorant as can be, even now. Why cannot the Indians be allowed citizenship? Free us from the rights of support and ignorance, and give us the rights of civilized citizenship. We are bound to be citizens, and why not now?

While such sentiments are very natural to a young Indian whose aspirations have been awakened by a liberal education, and which would be common to the Indian race if they had equal advantages and a like education, such a new departure to the vast mass of the Indians would now be inopportune, and instead of bringing blessings, would entail disaster. Take, for instance, some of the quiet and peaceable Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Under the treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo, and the decisions of the courts, they are held to be entitled to the rights of citizenship; but a personal acquaintance with their "governors," as they style themselves, reveals an incapacity which, for the present, must wholly unfit them to exercise the rights of an American citizen. They are rather objects of sympathy and governmental guardianship.

In a recent case (Elk vs. Wilkins, 112 U. S. Reps., 94) the Supreme Court of the United States decided that an Indian born a member of one of the Indian tribes within the United States, which still exists and is recognized as a tribe by the Government of the United States, who has voluntarily separated himself from his tribe and taken up his residence among the white citizens of a State, does not thereby become a citizen of the United States, and cannot make himself a citizen without the consent and co-operation of the Government. In view of this decision a bill was introduced in the last Congress by Senator Dawes declaring every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States, who has voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and anart from any tribe of Indians therein, and who has

adopted the habits of civilized life, to be a citizen of the United States, and entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citi

zens.

While I consider desirable the enactment of some law whereby the Indians who have dissolved their tribal relations and are sufficiently prudent and intelligent to manage their own affairs, can become citi zens of the United States by some process similar to that provided for the naturalization of aliens, still it seems to me this bill is too broad in its operations, and would make citizens of those who are totally unfitted for such responsibilities. Any action taken in this direction must be gradual. The Indian must be educated up to a point where citizenship would be an advantage and not a disadvantage to him. He must be brought up to that standard where he can understand the white man's law, its benefits to him if he obeys it, and its penalties if he violates it.

The treaty of the United States with the Kickapoo Indians provided a mode by which aspiring Indians could become citizens of the United States, which was to accept or receive their part of the reservation lands in severalty in fee-simple, with power of alienation, they being first required to appear in open court and take the oath of allegiance (as in the case of the naturalization of foreigners), and also by proof to satisfy the court that they were able to manage their own affairs, had adopted the habits of civilized life, and had been able for five years to support themselves and families. (13 Stat., p. 624, Art. III.) I do not believe that the above entire legislation was wise or salutary. The power of alienating their lands should not be given to the Indians for many years after they are allowed to exercise the rights of American citizens in all other respects. The history of the Kickapoos and some of the Shawnees and Pottawatomies, and some tribes in Michigan and Wisconsin, who have taken lands in severalty without a restrictive power of alienation, and who have disposed of them, and are now for the most part pensioners upon the bounty of the Government, or are without visible means of support, is sufficient to demonstrate the fact that the Indians in general are not sufficiently advanced in education and civilization to make it safe, and to their best interest, to give them citizenship and title to their lands with unrestricted power of alienation. What I would impress is the fact that there are but few Indians outside of the civilized tribes, who are prepared to own lands in severalty without the Government retaining a lien upon the same as trustee for twenty-five or thirty years, allowing no power of alienation by them either to white men or to their own race.

CONCENTRATION OF INDIANS.

Many theories have been advanced by as many theorists as to what policy it is proper to pursue with the Indian. I rejoice to know that

one theory has been exploded which had its advocates, if not numerous, at least very noisy for a while, to wit, the theory that "the best Indian is a dead one." The enlightened Christian sentiment of this country-East, North, South, and West-has frowned down any such inhuman and unchristian sentiment.

The friends of the Indians have differed among themselves as to the best mode of promoting their true welfare, one view being to concentrate them upon the Indian Territory, which, under the provisions of the act of May 28, 1830, and various treaties, was set apart for the use and occupancy of the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and other tribes; a portion of which has by subsequent treaties been ceded to the United States for the purpose of locating friendly Indians and freedmen thereon, and upon another portion of which the Government is, by treaty stipulations, permitted to settle friendly Indians. From time to time several tribes and fragmentary tribes have been removed there upon these terms, and are now permanently settled and most favorably located.

The Indian Territory has an area of about 64,222 square miles, or about 41,102,280 acres. It is situated between the Arkansas River and the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude, and nearly in the center of the United States, east and west. Its climate is delightful, and its resources almost unbounded. While there are some poor lands within its limits, yet, taken as a whole, it is hardly excelled in its natural resources by any other portion of the United States of the same extent. Its soil is adapted to the raising of all the cereals, and cotton is cultivated with profit in some portions of the Territory, and its grazing resources and adap ability to raising stock are unexcelled. It has an abundance of water, with timber in different portions in limited quantities, while an abundance of coal of good quality is found.

The advantages of this country for the location, advancement, and civilization of the Indian is strikingly illustrated by the progress of the five civilized tribes. These tribes will compare favorably in wealth and prosperity with almost any agricultural or pastoral community of the same number of persons in any of the States or Territories, and rank fairly in education, intelligence, and progress. Each tribe has an organized government, divided into three branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial. They publish newspapers, carry on manufacturing and merchandising; they have their churches and ministers of the Gospel; they have their courts and judges, and lawyers, and stock-raisers, and farmers, and mechanics; they have their schools, seminaries, and other institutions of learning, built and supported by the tribal funds of the Indians, without other aid from the General Government, and in fact there is nothing in any civilized and enlightened community which they do not have.

Now, there is land enough in the Indian Territory, if all the Indians in the United States, excepting those in Alaska, were removed there,