THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 112462 1901. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1902. THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. WASHINGTON, D. C., January 31, 1902. SIR: We have the honor to submit the Thirty-third Annual Report of the Board of Indian Commissioners. We no longer need to report upon Indian "outbreaks" or "wars. It is altogether improbable that an attempt at war upon the whites will ever again be made by any Indian tribe. Serious rioting is not to be anticipated, for the Indians have learned to expect just and humane treatment from the Government, and they know the uselessness of violence and the wisdom of peaceful protest when they think themselves unfairly treated. AN UNBROKEN ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SHOULD MEAN MARKED PROGRESS. For the last thirty years nothing has interfered with progress in civilizing the Indians more seriously than has the frequent change of men and measures in the administration of Indian Affairs. For the first time in our history a Commissioner of Indian Affairs is now completing his fifth year in office. The time and strength of a Commissioner for the first two years or more of service must be almost wholly engrossed in learning the details of his official duties, in withstanding political and commercial pressure to make unwise appointments or contracts, in mastering the routine of his work and acquiring some personal acquaintance with appointees and some detailed knowledge of needed improvements in the service. As a rule, when a good man in this place, by experience, has become fitted for the greatest usefulness and efficiency, with a change of administration he goes out of office. His successor has the same lessons to begin over again. Not infrequently good pieces of work begun, reforms undertaken, by one Commissioner have been ignored or undone by his successor because the new Commissioner did not comprehend the importance of the measures. Too often what a good Commissioner has sought to accomplish has thus failed under his successor. The true objects for which the Indian Bureau exists have been ignored. It is with especial gratification, therefore, that we cooperate with the present Commissioner as he goes on with the work which five years of experience have fitted him to do efficiently. With the general policy of the department as indicated in the reports and the official 3 |