and are wanting in ability to compel the performance thereof; yet their very weakness and lack of disposition to complain ought to stimulate the Government to sacredly perform all the provisions of treaties providing for the education and advancement of these people. Not only a direct regard for our plighted faith demands this, but our interest also demands it.

In my last annual report I called attention to the various treaties providing for the education of Indian children. I submitted a statement of the sums required to fulfill such treaties. It appears that there was due at the close of the fiscal year 1884 the sum of $3,759,400. I again submit the statement showing the amount due at the close of the fiscal year 1885:

Statement showing amounts which should have been appropriated up to June 30, 1885, to fulfill educational provisions of the treaties with various Indian tribes.

In my former reports I have recommended the disarming of the Indians. I desire to again call attention to the subject, and repeat what I said in my last report concerning this matter:

If we subsist the Indian, he has no use for fire-arms, and it is not economy to allow him to retain his arms for the purpose of supplying himself with game; far better to give him a sufficiency of food, and require him to remain on his reservation. If the Indian is disarmed he will cease to be an object of terror to his white neighbor, and the friendly relations that ought to exist between the white settler and his Indian neighbor will not be wanting. It is unsafe to trust an Indians with a gun; the very possession of it incites in him a desire to use it. The unarmed Indian is as safe in any country as the unarmed white man. It is the possession of his weapon and the knowledge that he may be tempted to use it that created hostility towards him on the part of the settler. Disarm him and put him under the protection of the law, and his person and property will be as safe as that of his white neighbor. His arms ought not to be confiscated; for every rifle give him an ox of twice its value to till his field-cows, sheep, or horses as he may need. The propriety of doing this cannot be doubted; the beneficial results will be readily seen.

Once disarmed, he will not only "cease to be an object of terror to his white neighbors," but will have less desire to exhibit himself before them, and be more inclined to settle down and become self-supporting. His gun and horse are the great hindrances to his civilization. The horse enables him to wander around the country, and the gun to secure a precarious living, which he ekes out by beggary and theft.

CRIMES ON THE RESERVATIONS.

I again desire to call attention to the necessity for legislation for the punishment of crimes on the Indian reservations. Since my last report the Supreme Court of the United States decided in the case of "Ex parte Crow Dog," indicted for murder, that the district court of Dakota was without jurisdiction, when the crime was committed on the reservation by one Indian against another. If offenses of this character cannot be tried in the courts of the United States, there is no tribunal in which the crime of murder can be punished. Minor offenses may be punished through the agency of the "court of Indian offenses," but it will hardly do to leave the punishment of the crime of murder to a tribunal that exists only by the consent of the Indians of the reservation. If the murderer is left to be punished according to the old Indian custom, it becomes the duty of the next of kin to avenge the death of his relative by either killing the murderer or some one of his kinsmen. The laws of the State or Territory wherein the reservation is situated ought to be extended over the reservation, and the Indians should be compelled to obey such laws and be allowed to claim the protection thereof.

COURT OF INDIAN OFFENSES.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under my direction, in 1883, established a tribunal for the punishment of crimes among the Indians on their reservations, and entitled it a "court of Indian offenses." Experience has demonstrated the great value of this tribunal in maintaining order on the reservations. Where the courts have been organized, the beneficial effects thereof have been apparent, not only in maintaining order, but in teaching the Indian to respect the rights and property of his fellows. The agent at the Umatilla Agency, Oregon, says:

This court has worked admirably, and made radical changes, especially among the young men of the tribe, for the better, as all disorders or offenses that come before the judges here are inexorably punished.

Such is the testimony of other agents where the courts have been established.

These Indian judges have so far rendered gratuitous services to the tribes and the Government, but in some cases their labor is arduous, and as the most enlightened and advanced of the tribes are selected for the work, it is no inconsiderable tax on their time and good nature, for which they should receive a fair reward. I therefore concur with the Commissioner in recommending that suitable appropriation be made for the payment of the judges of the courts of Indian offenses, and that

authority by law be given to them to maintain order and punish minor offenses committed on the reservations by Indians and for the settlement of controversies between Indian and Indian.

LEASING OF INDIAN LANDS.

In my last report I called attention to the occupation of certain Indian reservations by stockmen with their herds, under an arrangement made with the Indians. I declined to treat these arrangements as leases made on the part of the Indians, but did treat them as licenses on the part of the Indians recognized by section 2117 of the Revised Statutes. I do not understand that the parties so occupying these lands with the consent of the Indians are there in violation of law, but their condition is not a satisfactory one either to themselves or the Department. The Department in allowing them to remain reserved the right to put them off of such reservation, notwithstanding such permit or license, if the Department considered it necessary to do so in the interest of the Indians. How far the Government may disregard the license so given by the Indians is a question that need not be discussed until it is presented, but should the Department attempt such exclusion against the wishes of the Indians, it would certainly lead to trouble. The amount paid for such privileges is understood to be about 2 cents per acre for the lands so occupied. This amount is not a fair compensation at this time for the use of such lands, or for at least a considerable portion thereof. Much of the land so occupied could be leased at from 4 to 6 cents per acre. The Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians attempted to lease 3,867,880 acres of their reservation, leaving unoccupied by stockmen about 430,000 acres. From the land so occupied by stockmen the Arapahoes and Cheyennes received last year 2 cents per acre, amounting to $77,357.60, or an average of $12.33 per capita. As it is believed that this reservation might be leased at from 4 to 6 cents per acre, the amount may be increased to $24.66 or $36.99 per capita. It is believed that the cattlemen will very readily consent to double or treble the price now paid if they can have some assurance that they will not be disturbed at the whim or caprice of the Indians. The amount now received, $12.33 per capita, is a sum quite sufficient, if the Department could control its payment to the Indians, to aid very materially in their support and civilization. A family of five persons would receive $61.65 per annum at 2 cents per acre. At 6 cents per acre the amount realized would go far toward their support without further aid from the Government.

Other tribes also have good grazing lands that might be leased at profitable rates, leaving the Indians a sufficient quantity of land for their own use, either for agriculture or grazing. Some legislation should be had on the subject to enable the Government to demand and receive for the Indians the full value for the occupation of their lands, and to prevent conflicts between rival claimants holding such licenses or privileges. Such occupants are not on the reservation in violation of law

if they have the consent of the Indians; yet should their conduct be such as to convince the Department that their presence is injurious to the Indians, it is quite difficult to say what would be the result of an attempt on the part of the Department to remove them if. the Indians continue to consent to their remaining. While there can be no objection to allowing the Indians of the Indian Territory to lease their lands for grazing purposes, there is a serious objection to allowing the Indians on reservations outside of the Indian Territory to lease lands valuable for agricultural purposes for the purpose of grazing only. If the reservation is larger than is required for the use of the Indians occupying it, there should be a reduction thereof, and all that is not needed for the use of the Indians should be opened to settlement. The time has passed when large and valuable tracts of land fit for agriculture can be held by Indians for either hunting or grazing lands to the exclusion of actual settlers.

There have been frequent complaints made by stockmen and settlers in the northern portion of Montana and Wyoming of depredations by Indians on their stock, necessitated by the want of supplies on the part of the Indians. I called attention to these complaints in my last report. I regret to say but little has been done to remove this cause of complaint. The game has been destroyed to such an extent that it is impossible for any considerable number of Indians to live by the chase, and it cannot be expected that Indians will starve in the neighborhood of extensive herds of cattle. White men would not under such circumstances, and we cannot demand of the Indians what we would not demand of the whites under like conditions. It may be said that the Indians should work and not steal for a living; but it must be remembered that these people have been educated to believe that theft is a virtue and not a crime, if the property stolen is the property of an unfriendly Indian or white man. Until we have given these Indians an opportunity to earn their living by some kind of manual labor we ought not to complain of their depredations. It is not, however, to be expected that the settlers and stockmen will submit to the loss of their stock because the Government has failed in its duty towards the Indians, and the inevitable result of such depredations is to bring on a conflict between the Indians and white settlers, and in the present condition of affairs the Indian is sure to get the worst of such conflict.

With valuable agricultural and pastoral lands in quantities far beyond his wants or ability to make useful, he is a beggar and dependent upon the Government; and when the Government fails to make suitable appropriation for his support, he is brought to the verge of starvation. Left to himself, he will continue in this wretched condition until the vices of savage life shall destroy his race. His destruction will not be speedy, but it will certainly come unless he can be induced to adopt the civilization of the age, which he has until recently scorned. At no time in the history of our intercourse with the Indians have they

shown a greater desire to abandon their savage life than during the last year. They have welcomed (with but few exceptions) all the agencies provided for their benefit, and have shown a commendable disposition to adapt themselves to the new order of things. They express not only a desire for improvement, but the determination to improve. They give up their children to go to distant parts of the country, to sections unknown to them, in order that they may secure the advantages of an education and become acquainted with the ways of civilized people. A great number in the various tribes have made an effort to contribute something to the support of themselves and families. They are asking for stock cattle, and declare their willingness to take care of them if furnished, and very generally profess a willingness to do whatever is required of them in order that they may become self-supporting. But, like all uneducated people, they are unstable in their opinions and resolves, and need much encouragement to enable them to keep in the way that they profess an earnest wish to follow.

In my last report I recommended that all the appropriations not made under the provisions of treaty stipulations should be placed at the disposal of the Department to be distributed as the necessities and wants of the Indians demand. Another year's experience and observation has strengthened my views on this question, and I believe if the non-treaty appropriations were placed at the disposal of the Department to be distributed at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior there would be less complaints about starving Indians, and that much good might be done by using such appropriation to assist those Indians who show the greatest disposition to become self-supporting.

CASH ANNUITIES TO INDIANS.

In my last report I called attention to the practice of paying to the Indians cash as interest on the funds held in trust by the Government. In some instances the Indians are capable of receiving and expending such sums of money in a judicious way, but in most cases the money so paid to them is wasted and often worse than wasted. Such payments should be made in stock cattle, agricultural implements, or by the erection of suitable dwelling houses for those willing to occupy and live in such houses. Whenever the Indian is capable of caring for this money due him, it should be paid to him in cash; but he will never care for it properly until he has been taught to labor and has learned the value of money by earning it.

INDIAN HOMESTEADS.

The Indian appropriation act for the current year contains a provision allowing the Indians to avail themselves of the homestead law, and appropriates $1,000 to aid the Indians in making selections of such homesteads. The provision is but temporary, and should be made perma