he had prepared in duplicate, asking that his appointment of eleven chiefs and thirteen headmen be confirmed. His request for the appointment of these twenty-four chiefs and headmen out of a total of thirty-five adults which constituted his party did not seem to him unreasonable, as his argument in support of his application, which he urgently set forth in their presence, was that they were all hereditary chiefs, good and true men-true to him and superior to any of the old chiefs of the agency; that the Great Father had written to him before he left Fort Randall to the effect that he, Sitting Bull, was now to return to his own country and to live among his people; that he would be the head man, the big chief of the agency; that a good house would be built for him to live in; that he and his people would have cattle and wagons, horses and buggies; that he might gather his people from all the other agencies and have everything he desired. I heard his inflated nonsense through to the end, and then gave him some sound advice, telling him that to be honest with him I must be frank, and must therefore say to him that the Great Father never wrote him any such letter as he claimed, in fact never wrote him any letter or made any such promises as he had stated, or authorized any such promises to be made; that the Great Father recognized the most industrious Indian who was endeavoring to benefit his condition and set a good example to his people as the biggest chief, and that he and his people would receive their proportionate share of all goods and supplies that came to this agency for distribution among the Indians; that he would be assisted and encouraged in every way possible with the means at my disposal, and be treated in all respects in the same manner as other Indians of the agency, but that he must not expect anything more than others equally deserving. After hearing my reply he was considerably crestfallen, and replied that he was greatly surprised at the very beginning. I thereupon carefully and clearly explained to him his status, together with the rules and regulations governing the Indian service, which I informed him I should endeavor mildly but strictly to enforce, and that it was better for me to put him on the right path in the beginning than to allow him to labor under such erroneous ideas as he had just expressed. Before he left the office he appeared better satisfied, but did not visit me again for several days. During this interval I had a field of about twelve acres plowed for his people to plant in, and when ready I notified him that he must commence planting the following day, and at the appointed time he reported with his people ready for work. I sent two white employés to instruct them, staking off a separate piece of ground for each family. Sitting Bull worked with the others, using a hoe, but rather awkwardly, and in two days they had their fields nicely planted. I visited him in the field while at work, and he seemed pleased that I found him laboring, and, in reply to the question if he found planting so very difficult he answered, "No," that he was now determined to become a farmer in earnest. Sitting Bull is an Indian of very mediocre ability, rather dull, and much the inferior of Gall and others of his lieutenants in intelligence. I cannot understand how he held such sway over or controlled men so eminently his superiors in every respect, unless it was by his sheer obstinacy and stubborn tenacity. He is pompous, vain, and boastful, and considers himself a very important personage; but as he has been lionized and pampered by the whites since the battle of the Little Big Horn, I do not wonder at his inflated opinion of himself. I, however, firmly believe that Sitting Bull will never again cause any trouble, he having been thoroughly subdued; moreover, his influence is very limited now, and I hope to be able to turn what little he has towards the advancement of his people. Apart from those who were prisoners with Sitting Bull at Fort Randall, the late hostiles at this agency are all doing well, and are among the best disposed and most industrious Indians here, the noted war chief Gall being one of my Indian district farmers. The late hostile element is gradually being absorbed by the association with and the influence of the older agency Indians. They are locating upon claims, cultivating fields, building log-cabins, and doing as well as could be expected with the means at their disposal. They labor under the disadvantage of having no teams with which to advance in agriculture, and of which they stand greatly in need, and I would recommend that a reasonable number of ox-teams be furnished them as soon as practicable. EDUCATIONAL. There have been two boarding-schools conducted by the Government at this agency throughout the past year, one an industrial farm school for boys, located 16 miles miles south of the agency, and the other an industrial school for girls, located at the agency. There were 51 boys who attended the farm school during the year, with an average attendance of 37 pupils, and 52 girls attended the girls' boarding-school, with an average attendance of 40 pupils, being a total of 103 children who attended these 5916 IND- 4 schools, with an average attendance of 77 pupils for the eleven months for which this report is rendered. These schools have done good service, and the progress of the children, especially of the girls, has been very satisfactory. At the farm school the boys have not been so constant; they have, however, done as well as could reasonably be expected; but owing to the inconstancy of the children and indulgence of the parents, the attendance of the larger boys has not been what was desired, and it can only be remedied by compulsory attendance. Owing to the inadequate building the attendance at the girls' school could not have been increased, as the log building used was not suitable for the purpose, it being old and poorly constructed, and was kept crowded to its utmost capacity throughout the entire school year. There has, however, been a new building erected this summer, with a capacity for one hundred children, which is now being fitted with tables, desks, &c., and which will be occupied during the coming week. There are now, during vacation, 40 girls remaining at the old school, who will move into the new building as soon as it is ready for occupancy. On November 15 last Right Rev. Bishop Marty established a mission at the Cannon Ball settlement, about 25 miles north of the agency. He stationed an ecclesiastic of minor orders there, who has conducted a day-school in connection with the mission, and who reports that since the opening of the school 45 Indian children have attended, but owing to their irregular habits the average attendance has been only about 10 pupils. The building in use is much too small, but a better and more commodious one is in contemplation. Considerable good is being accomplished, however, by the establishment of this permanent station at that point. On January 1, 1883, Rev. T. L. Riggs, of the Dakota mission of the American Missionary Association, opened a day-school at Antelope's settlement, on the Grand River, about 30 miles southwest of the agency, and stationed a native teacher there, Mr. Edwin Phelps, a Sisseton Sioux Indian, who reports 54 children as having attended his school, but he also complains that their unstableness brought the average attendance down to about 20 scholars. His building is also too small, but Mr. Riggs contemplates erecting a more suitable one before the winter sets in. The new school building recently erected will be occupied by girls of all ages and boys up to 12 years of age. This, together with the farm school for the larger boys, will enable us to provide for 160 boarding scholars, but with 870 children of schoolgoing ages at this agency it still leaves 80 per cent. of the children unprovided for. The Indian settlements extend for a distance of 60 miles along the Missouri River, and to give them necessary educational facilities there should be six day-schools established at different points adjacent to the principal settlements, which would give the Indian children an opportunity of attending day-schools near their homes. Many children will attend day-schools who cannot be induced to enter a boardingschool to begin with, and as their prejudices are gradually overcome at these dayschools they could then be brought into the boarding-schools, the day-schools thus serving as preparatory schools for the boarding-schools, through which system of schools for Indian education, where the child is entirely separated from its home and surroundings, it is alone possible to permanently benefit the rising generation. After the children have attended the agency schools for some time, those displaying the most talent and proper health condition could be sent to training-schools away from their homes, and the beneficial effects which a three years' course (five years would be better) would produce would make itself felt among the masses after a few delegations are returned to their home agencies. When at Washington in the month of February last I visited the Indian training-school at Hampton, Va., where there are ten pupils from this agency, and I was much interested and pleased with the work being done in training the Indian youth. Such system of education cannot help but prove a boon to the Indian race; but in order to make a three years' course beneficial to all the returned student must not be lost sight of after his arrival at his home, but should be bolstered up so as to have strength to work out the leavening process. The work ingrafted should not be allowed to decay for want of proper nourishment, and all necessary pruning should be carefully continued at their home agencies. CHURCHES AND MISSIONARY. The missionary work of this agency is under the direction of Right Rev. Bishop Marty, of Dakota, who has three priests, one ecclesiastical student, two brothers, and eight Sisters of Charity stationed here, at an annual expense of about $2,000. In addition to this he has this year made improvements on the priests' residence, at a cost of $820. There are two very nice church edifices here, one at the agency and the other at the farm school, 16 miles south; also a station at the Cannon Ball settlement. The missionaries are zealous workers among the Indians, and their chapels are usually well filled at the Sunday services with attentive and apparently interested congregations. They report 276 baptisms during the year, of whom 60 were adults. The American Missionary Association have established a mission station at the Grand River settlement, under the superintendency of Rev. T. L. Riggs, of the Dakota mission, where a day-school is maintained under his direction, expending since January 1, 1883, about $250 in the work. SANITARY. The sanitary condition of these Indians has been good. No epidemics have visited the agency, yet the deaths exceed the births considerably, there being 106 deaths to 89 births during the past eleven months. This is attributable to a variety of causes, but chiefly to the present transition state of the Indians, living in log cabins, which are poorly ventilated, together with change of living and imperfectly prepared food; also neglecting to report cases of sickness until after their own medicines have failed. The want of a suitable place to treat the sick is also an impediment in the way of successful treatment, as was recently demonstrated here in the case of one of the late hostile chief, Crow King, who is one of our best Indians. He was taken sick with pneumonia early in June last, and was treated by the agency physician at his home without any very satisfactory results. One afternoon his wife came to me for permission to take her daughter, who was at school, to visit her father, whom she said was then dying. I immediately went to his camp, which is situated about 3 miles from the agency, the doctor accompanying me. On our arrival there we found several "medicine men" in his lodge, who had given him up as past recovery, and who were evidently waiting for him to breathe his last that they might possess themselves of what property he had left. Crow King was very low indeed, but the doctor thought by having him where he could be properly nursed that there was a possible chance for his recovery, but that he would certainly die if left where he then was. I had a wagon prepared, with a mattrass in it, and brought him into the agency, where he was kept in the doctor's office, with a white man remaining constantly with him until he was convalescent, and in ten days he was up and well. This wonderful cure, as the Indians considered it, has had such a good effect that a young man about 30 years of age who has been suffering some years with an injured foot, growing constantly worse, was prevailed upon to come into the agency and have the limb amputated below the knee. The operation was successfully performed on the 8th instant, and the patient is now doing well. I have cited these facts to show the necessity for a hospital at this agency, where the sick could be more successfully and humanely treated, and where the services of a physician would be rewarded by more satisfactory results. CONCLUSION. In concluding this report I desire again to call attention to the evils wrought to the service by the "free-ration" system, which the Indians of the Great Sioux Reservation are entitled to under the existing treaty, the treaty providing without any distinction for indolent and industrious alike. The Indians, however, are only receiving about three-fourths of the ration stipulated in the agreement, but they demand the whole and are by right entitled to it. This system, however, encourages idleness and perpetuates pauperism, which, together with the holding in common of such a large tract of land as contained in the Sioux Reservation, with the claimants located at and subject to five distinct agencies, cannot but be detrimental to the service and prolongs the work of civilization. The claim of the Indians to this reservation, believed by them to be an absolute title vested in themselves, but held by the Government to be a tenure in legal effect equivalent to a tenancy for life only, affords but little encouragement to the industriously inclined, by offering no inducement to individuals in so far as obtaining titles to lands occupied and improved by them, with no avenues of escape by which they might with their own exertions be recognized as men entitled to the rights of citizenship whilst enjoying reservation privileges, together with the protection of direct laws which is accorded to the people of all nations coming to our shores, of whom there are many whose language and customs when they arrive are as different from ours as the Indians are, but the influence which the privileges of citizenship exert soon amalgamates them into the body politic. And is it not possible that the slow progress of the Indian race is as much due to their segregation from the privileges of citizenship as to all other causes combined? There is a powerful uplifting influence in the consciousness of equality and independence before the laws, and that the Indian is capable of better things has been clearly demonstrated; yet the vast majority of our Indians are still held under special circumscribed laws and deprived of the rights and privileges so freely enjoyed by all others. Thus the Indians, "the original native Americans," are the only people debarred by our otherwise beneficent Government and liberal national laws. The solving of the Indian problem lies in appropriate legislation which should observe faithfully the fulfillment of all treaty promises made to the Indians. The Indian will not be the first to break an engagement that he has made if the conditions are carried out with a moderate degree of fairness. But I am forced to the conclusion that it would be much better for both the Government and the Indians if there were no treaties in existence, as the Indians would not then be expecting the fulfillment of promises which are rarely ever realized as they understood the conditions to be. Moreover, as the Government has the care of the Indians and is in duty bound to provide for them, and as insufficient appropriations are yearly made by Congress, regardless of many existing treaties, would it not be better that all existing treaties with the Indian tribes be abrogated and have annual appropriations made to provide for the wants of the different tribes, without the Indians being enabled constantly to complain that the promises made in their treaties have not been fulfilled? Recognizing the necessity for some more direct and definite laws for the Indian, and with their ultimate civilization in view, I would add that in my opinion no special or intermediate code of laws should be enacted. There should be no halting short of equality and independence before the law, and they should not be any longer circumscribed by special laws that have to be surmounted before the desired end can be attained. To advance the Indians, with a view to making each step permanent gain, the reservation boundaries should at least be contracted so as to give but sufficient lands for the actual requirements of the respective tribes residing thereon; then sell the residue of the reservations, creating a sinking fund of the proceeds for educational purposes and other beneficial objects; make the issue of rations contingent upon industry and good behavior; encourage all in their efforts to better their condition; and, finally, extend the protection of direct laws, with the rights of citizenship made possible under certain conditions, for while some will doubtless fail to realize this expectation, yet I believe that the larger majority will eventually become useful and respected citizens. The enfranchisement of the Indian would awaken for them a keener interest by the different political parties of the entire country as well as in their immediate neighborhood, who would become more interested in their welfare, and which would be a powerful factor in their advancement as well as in protecting them in their rights as citizens of the United States. All statistical information connected with this agency is contained in the reports herewith transmitted. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES MCLAUGHLIN, The COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. YANKTON AGENCY, DAK., SIR: I have the honor to submit this my second annual report of the condition of the service at this agency. The Yanktons have occupied this reservation since 1859. The reservation contains 430,000 acres, three-fourths of which is susceptible of cultivation. The other fourth is bluff land, making excellent range for stock and protection from the storms of winter. The principal part of the reservation is rolling prairie, dotted with small lakes. The Yanktons are gradually turning their attention to farming and stock-raising, and the interest taken in farming at this agency this year is in advance of anything we have ever had, and the result of a persistent effort is very satisfactory. Many acres of the wheat harvested this year will yield at least 20 bushels per acre. Corn and garden vegetables are very promising, and will yield the greatest crop ever gathered on the reservation. Our agency is located on a high bench land, on the east side of the Missouri River, furnishing a very pleasant location for a healthful home. The industries carried on here are no small part of the agency work. The herding is under the management of Indians. The work of the carpenter, tin, blacksmith, wagon, and repair shops is done by Indian labor, under the supervision of a white superintendent and a white blacksmith. The religious instruction and influence upon this people has been as beneficial as the most sanguine could expect. Rev. J. P. Williamson, the Presbyterian missionary, has been with them for many years, in fact since his early boyhood, and holds the entire confidence of the tribe. The Episcopal mission has done a grand work. They have a boys' school, where the youths receive instruction under the direction of Bishop W. H. Hare, who makes his home here. The Episcopal mission church is in the charge of Rev. Joseph W. Cook, who speaks the Sioux and holds his day service in the Dakota. The agency boarding-school during the last year had a very fair attendance, con sidering the fact that it was only the second year of the school. The education of the children of this people is of no little importance. Every one engaged either in mission or Government work feels a deep interest in this subject, and a united and harmonious effort in that direction is doing great good. To break up the old Indian notion of marital relations is one of the most stubborn and ugly features of Indian work at this agency. Until within the last month we have had no place to confine and punish the disobedient. On the 9th of July I commenced remarking the land of the reservation, with a view of making individual allotments. Some of the older people of the tribe opposed it, and a council was held, at which I explained to them the object, and that it was the work of the Government. This satisfied them, and now a majority of the men are anxious to take allotments. One hundred and twenty-five persons have selected and been assigned land, and the work of allotment will be completed as soon as action by the Department has been taken. * Much distress exists among these people on account of pulmonary and scrofulous trouble. While it is true a great many have gone to work and made rapid advance in civilization, it is equally true that a large per cent. have not made the desired improvement. Many of the young men yet stroll about the camps dressed in the original Indian costume, and do but little work during the year. A great drawback to our Indians is the want of oxen, plows, and machinery. I very much hope that before another annual report is due from this agency the necessary machinery may be furnished them, and that their miserable hovels, covered with dirt, will be made more healthful and cheerful by being furnished with board floors and shingle roofs. Very respectfully, The COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. WILLIAM M. RIDPATH, FORT HALL AGENCY, Ross Fork, Idaho, August 20, 1883. SIR: Among the Indians under my charge, consisting of 1,085 Shoshones and 471 Bannacks, there exists a peaceable and friendly feeling. There has been no drunkenness, nor drinking, nor any disturbance on my agency during the year, except some petty differences which were easily settled. HABITS AND DISPOSITIONS. I find a great difference in the disposition of the two tribes under my care. The Shoshones are an industrious, good-natured, and quiet people; but the Bannacks are restless and roving, and much more difficult to control. PROGRESS. The condition of the Indians has very much advanced during the year, and would have been more so if greater facilities had been at hand for their use and encouragement. They have built four log houses and purchased some agricultural implements, which shows a disposition to civilization. EVENTS. Nothing especially has transpired during the year except the burning of the Government flouring-mill. There were 1,500 bushels of wheat and 12,000 pounds of flour, belonging mostly to the Shoshone Indians, in the mill at the time of its destruction. This circumstance created considerable excitement at the time and was a serious loss to the Indians on this reservation. It occurred on the morning of December 6, 1882. The day previous a Bannack Indian boy about 10 years old while idling about the mill was caught in the shafting. Before he could be released he was so badly injured that he died in a few minutes after being removed to his father's lodge. It created great excitement. The boy's father was absent at the time. One of his wives fled to the agency for protection. She said her husband would kill her and all he could find to avenge the boy's death. The miller also became frightened and dare not leave his house alone. The father on coming home talked very reasonably. He said his heart was bad when he found his boy dead, but he knew that no one was to blame and his |