aroused concerning the duty of the Government in this behalf. The success attending all efforts in that direction, whether put forth by the Government or through the aid of charitable persons and associations, is most encouraging. The fact that the attempt to educate the Indian is not confined to a knowledge of books, but that the effort is being made to give him a practical education that will enable him to supply his own wants by his own labor, has won to the cause of Indian education many who saw but little advantage to the Indian in a literary education alone. The appropriations last year for the education of Indians were far below the actual wants of the service; yet I am able to report a great improvement in the condition of Indian schools, an increased attendance of pupils, and an increased interest among the Indians, both adults and youths. The Department located an Indian school at Lawrence, Kans., to be conducted on the plan of Carlisle, Hampton, and Forest Grove. The citizens of Lawrence donated to the Government for the purposes of this school 280 acres of choice land in the immediate vicinity of the city, of the cash value of something over $10,000. The buildings are now in course of construction, and when completed will accommodate about 340 children. It is desirable to increase their capacity to 500. The contract price for the buildings is $45,000. The superintendent of Indian schools reports the school buildings of Chilocca, Ind. T., and Genoa, Nebr., as about ready for occupation. The capacity of each of these schools is 150. It will be economy to increase their capacity to 400 each. In addition to the above, it is proposed to establish boarding-schools at Devil's Lake, Rosebud, and Sisseton, Dak.; Washakie, Wyo.; Wichita, Ind. T.; and Siletz, Oreg. Some of these are in course of erection. Ten new day schools have been established during the fiscal year. The capacity of the boarding schools now established, including Carlisle, Hampton, and Forest Grove, is 5,025, and of the day schools 4,000, making the total 9,025. The capacity of boarding and day schools, old and new, is about 11,000. In my former report I urged the necessity of putting at least one-half of the children of school age in manual-labor schools, and keeping them there until they should be sufficiently instructed in the industrial arts to support themselves. It has been demonstrated during the last year that even more than that proportion of the children can be put in manual-labor schools, if suitable appropriations are made for that purpose. Accommodation should be provided for at least 10,000 children in addition to those now in manual-labor schools, which would secure to about one-half of the children of school age the advantages of at least a partial education, while under present appropriations only about one-fourth have any school advantages at all, three fourths growing up in ignorance and vice. If it is wise to educate one-fourth, it is difficult to see why it is not wise to educate all. Certainly this ought to be done, unless the expense is too great for the Government to bear. In my former report I endeavored to show that such expense was within the true principles of governmental economy, in the following manner: The care, support, and education of 10,000 Indian youths during the fiscal year 1884 ought not to exceed $2,500,000, and with the increased number of children there ought to be a reduction in the cost, and the expense of 20,000 children ought not to exceed $4,000,000 per annum. To the 20,000, costing annually $4,000,000, ought each year to be added not less than one-fourth that number, which, at the same expense per capita, will necessitate an additional appropriation of $1,000,000, and the account will stand thus: 10,000 children, fiscal year 1884, computing the cost at $250 each... 30,000 children, fiscal year 1887, at $200 each 25,000 children, fiscal year 1888, at $200 each $2,500,000 4,000,000 5,000,000 6,000,000 5, 000, 000 The per capita allowance is greater than the cost at the agency boarding-schools, but these schools are not kept up more than nine or ten months, while this estimate is for attendance for the full calendar year. At the close of the fiscal year 1887 10,000 children, having completed their school course, can be discharged, leaving, with the 5,000 to be added for the fiscal year 1888, 25,000; 10,000 of these may be discharged at the end of the fiscal year 1888, leaving, with the addition of 5,000, 20,000 for the fiscal year 1889; and every year thereafter one-fourth of the whole number may be discharged and the like number added. Thus, at the end of the fiscal year 1888 there will have been discharged 20,000 children, who will be able to care for and support themselves; and the total expense of the education of this number with those remaining in school will not exceed $22,500,000, or about two-thirds of the amount of money expended for the suppression of Indian hostilities during the years 1864 and 1865. Since 1872, a period of only ten years, the cost of Indian hostilities and military protection against Indians is estimated by the military authorities at $223,891,264.50, or an annual expense of $22,389,126.45. To this must be added the yearly appropriation for subsistence, which averages about five millions a year. To this must also be added the loss of life and the horrors of an Indian war, only to be understood by those who have had the misfortune to be participants in or witnesses of them. This cannot be computed in dollars, but ought to be considered in determining the policy of the Government in its dealing with the Indians. I am confident that the expense per capita as above given is greater than necessary, and that if appropriations are made of the amount as above proposed, the number of children proposed to be kept in such manual-labor schools can be considerably increased. The total expense of the Indian service cannot be less than $5,500,000 annually, and such expense must increase instead of diminishing if the Indian is not made to do something towards supporting himself. He will do but little if he is left to himself, and if, forced by hunger, he does become a laborer, he will be without skill and only able to do menial labor requiring neither skill nor intelligence. His children will become beggars and thieves, adding to the expense of the country by increasing pauperism and crime. The education of the Indian is demanded, not only in the interest of the Indian, but of the white people of the country, who are yearly taxed to support a class who by education can be readily transferred from the list of non-producers to that of producers, and the public relieved from the burden of their support. Public sentiment will sustain liberal appropriations for a measure that promises to settle in a satisfactory way the "Indian problem," and answers once for all the question so often asked, "What shall we do with the Indians?” Many of the treaties contain provisions for the support of a school for every thirty children. It is not desirable to establish a school for every thirty children; but as this provision was in most cases, if not in all, inserted in consideration of the cession of land, and thus must be considered not as a gratuity but a payment to be made, it appears to be the duty of the Government to expend in the education of such children a sum equal to the sum called for in such treaty. The cash value of such provision can be readily ascertained. A careful examination of the treaties has been made to see what amount was required yearly to fulfill such treaties, and the records of the Department have been as carefully examined to determine what amount has been expended under such treaties. The difference between what was expended and what ought to have been expended is the amount due the Indians each year, under such treaties. The sum of the years is the amount now due. I submit a table herewith by which it appears that the sum total required to fulfill such treaties amounts to the sum of $3,759,400 to the close of the fiscal year 1884, and this after deducting all sums for educational purposes on account of such treaties. The estimates for school purposes submitted for the fiscal year 1885 contain an estimate for school-houses and one year's school under the treaties. The cost of such school-houses must come from the above amount, should Congress make the appropriation required, and still there would be due the Indians the sum of $3,256,400. This amount is, guaranteed by treaty to be expended for educational purposes. It ought to have been expended in part each year, but the Government cannot avoid the payment of this sum simply because it declined to pay according to its contract. These obligations are as sacred as the public debt, and every argument that can be used in favor of strict probity in dealing with the creditors of the Government can be used with reference to these obligations, and many reasons exist why these obligations should have had preference even of the public debt, but no excuse can be made for the failure on the part of the Government to comply with this condition of the treaties. With an abundance of money lying idle in its vaults, it is difficult to understand why so little attention has been paid to the pledges of the Government in this respect. The sum unpaid should at once be appropriated to be used for educational purposes, including stock, farming implements, tools, &c., for manual-labor schools. With this sum at the disposal of the Department, there can be but little difficulty in establishing schools among these tribes adequate to their wants. Statement showing amounts which should have been appropriated up to June 30, 1884, to fulfill educational provisions of the treaties with various Indian tribes. *Of this amount $503,000 represents school buildings at $1,000 each, and $3, 256, 400 represents teachers, fuel, school materials, &c., at $700 per school per annum. The superintendent of Indian schools recommends that at the agencies where manual-labor schools are not maintained there be established a semi boarding school; that is, where the children shall be furnished a midday meal. The expense of such a school will be but little more than the day schools, and it is believed that a better attendance can be secured than at the day schools, with greater advantage to the children. He recommends the establishment of twenty schools of that character at an expense of about $70,000. I concur in his recommendation. In my former report I urged the necessity of the creation of a permanent fund for the education of Indians, and especially recommended that the net receipts of the sale of public lands be set apart for that purpose. I again urge the necessity of some provision for a permanent fund, and again recommend that the net proceeds of the sale of public lands be set apart for that purpose, if it is considered desirable to continue to dispose of the public land in any other manner than under the provisions of the homestead law. COURT OF INDIAN OFFENSES. Many of the agencies are without law of any kind, and the necessity for some rule of government on the reservations grows more and more apparent each day. If it is the purpose of the Government to civilize the Indians, they must be compelled to desist from the savage and barbarous practices that are calculated to continue them in savagery, no matter what exterior influences are brought to bear on them. Very many of the progressive Indians have become fully alive to the pernicious influences of these heathenish practices indulged in by their people, and have sought to abolish them; in such efforts they have been aided by their missionaries, teachers, and agents, but this has been found im possible even with the aid thus given. The Government furnishes the teachers, and the charitable people contribute to the support of missionaries, and much time, labor, and money is yearly expended for their elevation, and yet a few non-progressive, degraded Indians are allowed to exhibit before the young and susceptible children all the debauchery, diabolism, and savagery of the worst state of the Indian race. Every man familiar with Indian life will bear witness to the pernicious influence of these savage rites and heathenish customs. On the 2d of December last, with the view of as soon as possible putting an end to these heathenish practices, I addressed a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, which I here quote as expressive of my ideas on this subject: I desire to call your attention to what I regard as a great hindrance to the civilization of the Indians, viz, the continuance of the old heathenish dances, such as the sun-dance, scalp-dance, &c. These dances, or feasts, as they are sometimes called, ought, in my judgment, to be discontinued, and if the Indians now supported by the Government are not willing to discontinue them, the agents should be instructed to compel such discontinuance. These feasts or dances are not social gatherings for the amusement of these people, but, on the contrary, are intended and calculated to stimulate the warlike passions of the young warriors of the tribe. At such feasts the warrior recounts his deeds of daring, boasts of his inhumanity in the destruction of his enemies, and his treatment of the female captives, in language that ought to shock even a savage ear. The audience assents approvingly to his boasts of falsehood, deceit, theft, murder, and rape, and the young listener is informed that this and this only is the road to fame and renown The result is the demoralization of the young, who are incited to emulate the wicked conduct of their elders, without a thought that in so doing they violate any law, but, on the contrary, with the conviction that in so doing they are securing for themselves an enduring and deserved fame among their people. Active measures should be taken to discourage all feasts and dances of the character I have mentioned. The marriage relation is also one requiring the immediate attention of the agents. While the Indians were in a state of at least semi-independence, there did not seem to be any great necessity for interference, even if such interference was practicable (which it doubtless was not). While dependent on the chase the Indian did not take many wives, and the great mass found themselves too poor to support more than one; but since the Government supports them this objection no longer exists, and the more numerous the family the greater the number of the rations allowed. I would not advise any interference with plural marriages now existing; but I would by all possible methods discourage future marriages of that character. The marriage relation, if it may be said to exist at all among the Indians, is exceedingly lax in its character, and it will be found impossible, for some time yet, to impress them with our idea of this important relation. The marriage state, existing only by the consent of both parties, is easily and readily dissolved, the man not recognizing any obligation on his part to care for his offspring. As far as practicable, the Indian having taken to himself a wife should be compelled to continue that relation with her, unless dissolved by some recognized tribunal on the reservation or by the courts. Some system of marriage should be adopted, and the Indian compelled to conform to it. The Indian should also be instructed that he is under obligations to care for and support, not only his wife, but his children, and on his failure, without proper cause, to continue as the head of such family, he ought in some manner to be punished, which should be either by confinement in the guardhouse or agency prison, or by a reduction of his rations. Another great hindrance to the civilization of the Indians is the influence of the medicine men, who are always found with the anti-progressive party. The medicine |