INDIAN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES and support of Indian schools, though appro- | excessive paternalism as defective as the other priations were earlier voted by Congress for the aid of individual Indian students at various institutions. Indian Territory.-When, after the war of the Revolution, a strong tide of migration set westward, the Federal Government realized the importance of establishing permanent relations with tribes which till then had played but an inconspicuous part in its calculations. No definite program was announced, but, broadly speaking, the plan was to hold out the olive branch alike to all; those who accepted it willingly were to enjoy such favor as the Government had to bestow, and to be encouraged, by gifts and instruction, in the pursuit of agriculture and the kindred arts of peace; those who were reluctant, but not powerful enough to resist by warfare the beneficent aggression of the whites, were to be subdued and civilized by compulsion; and those who were incorrigibly bostile were to be exterminated. The working-out of this plan involved the negotiation of many treaties (see INDIAN TREATIES), mostly based on a theory of race segregation which found its highest exponent in the establishment, soon after 1830, of the Indian Territory. Here, beyond what in those days seemed likely to be the uttermost limits of civilization, the Government planted five of the most advanced tribes or "nations," the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, guaranteed them against outside molestation, and gave them an opportunity to prove their capacity for managing their own affairs on lines generally parallel to those pursued by the people of the United States. The experiment, continued through more than sixty years, ended in a most deplorable collapse. The worst native elements obtained control of the legislative and executive machinery, connived at the immigration of an equally undesirable class of whites, and exploited the natural resources of the region for their private profit. The so called "national governments" were only the aboriginal patriarchies under new forms and titles; their courts being weak or venal, the territory was presently overrun by fugitives from justice from the neighboring states, till outlawry became the rule, and Congress was forced to take notice of an intolerable situation and adopt a radical plan of reorganization, the final fruits of which have been the admission of the Indian Territory into the Union as part of the state of Oklahoma. Reservations. Another device, most widely followed, was that of gathering the tribes on reservations (see INDIAN RESERVATIONS) where they could more easily be kept out of mischief among themselves, protected against the machinations of evil-minded outsiders, and instructed in the elementary industries, under the care of agents appointed by the President. This plan, however, proved on the side of had on the side of excessive liberty. The Indians did not take kindly to methodical habits of work under their instructors, who were too often incompetent to teach; as an inducement to remain peaceable, they were lavishly supplied with rations of food and clothing; these goods having to be bought under contracts awarded to the lowest bidders, an opening was made for all sorts of scandals, turning on the bad quality of materials furnished, outrageous prices obtained by combinations between bidders, the use of false weights and measures, favoritism in the award of contracts, and trickery in inspection and distribution. The agencies were so far from Washington that for many years investigations were almost prohibitively expensive, and visits from responsible officers very infrequent. The Indians who enjoyed the gratuities became pauperized and worse; for in many cases they learned that if the source of supply seemed a trifle sluggish, it could always be started into activity again by a threat of revolt. Not a few of the agents, too, having been clothed with extraordinary powers in orders to maintain their supremacy and that of the Government on their reservations, were lured thereby into acts of petty tyranny; and as they were commonly men of enough political importance at home to command a ready hearing at Washington, while the Indians had no means of presenting their grievances except through the agents and then only by speaking as tribes and not as persons, the situation in the Indian country grew more and more unsatisfactory. Citizenship: Dawes Law.-At a critical juncture, under the leadership of the late Senator Dawes of Massachusetts, Congress extended to the Indians at large, by the general allotment act of 1887, a plan which had already been tried under special legislation in the case of a few tribes. The Dawes law authorized the President, at his discretion, to carve up any reservation, allotting to each member of the resident tribe or tribes a farm of 40, or 80, or 160 acres, according to certain stated conditions, and to issue to him a patent under which the Government was to hold his land in trust for him for 25 years and then present him with a title in fee. The trust patent conferred upon the allottee all the privileges of a citizen and voter except the right to alienate or encumber his land, and protected the land from taxation during the life of the trust. From that hour may be said to have begun the Government's recognition of Indians as individuals, as distinguished from so many undivided parts of a tribal unit, and the first step was made toward the establishment of a permanent policy in dealing with them officially; the public sale of land which remained unallotted brought into the neighborhood a thrifty class of white settlers, whose development of its resources profit INDIAN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES ed the Indians not less than themselves; and | fitting their children to cope with the new the proceeds of the sales were divided between social order. Legislation of very general scope the Indians per capita or placed at interest in the United States Treasury to their credit. Obstacles to Progress. Meanwhile, active measures had been taken by the Government for combatting the two great obstacles to Indian progress, ignorance and intemperance. The unfortunates, confined on reservations where they could not hunt game after the fashion of their ancestors, having no literature or other resources of amusement enjoyed by more advanced peoples, sought distraction in gambling and drink. Of the two forms of dissipation, gambling was the less harmful, for they had no large possessions to lose; but the fiery liquors which were smuggled into the reservations wrought deadly havoc, exciting the drinkers to deeds of violence and leaving a trail of disease and decadence everywhere. The federal statutes, as well as the complementary enactments of most of the western legislatures, furnished penalties enough to break up the traffic in intoxicants among Indians whenever courts and juries were disposed to do their full duty, and Congress presently began the practice of making a special appropriation for suppressing such trade. The superstitions of the Indians, pivoting largely on their conceptions of a connection between necromancy and the healing art, made them easy victims to the wiles of their socalled medicine men. Interwoven with all this was their employment of dancing as a remedial measure as well as an instrumentality of worship, their faith in the influence of certain signs and symbols, and their almost universal assumption that any notable departure from ancient Indian customs in matters of dress, food, housing, family life, and the like, would presage the downfall of their race. Grouping these conservative forces together as serious impediments to the Indian's progress toward civilization, the Government for a long while made the mistake of trying to abolish them by prohibitive rules and the punishment of his poor attempts to hold fast to some of these decaying remnants of his old life. Even his native tongue, his harmless ornaments and trinkets, and his manner of wearing his hair, came under the ban of condemnation. Naturally this crusade stirred all the resistent impulses within him, since it failed to appeal to his reason; and in course of time it had to be abandoned as not only having no logical foundation and involving a great waste of energy, but because it came to be recognized as a worse obstruction than the supposed evils it had set out to abate. Schools. School work on the reservations moved at a slow pace for several years, for obvious reasons. The adult Indians, too old to take readily to their changed circumstances, and unable to see that the future held any thing for their race, were indifferent about was enacted, designed to make school attendance compulsory; a system of government schools was set up, affording all the advantages offered by the mission schools, but excluding secretarian religious instruction; and, to increase the attractions of these institutions, free lodging, clothing, food and medical attendance were furnished, as well as free tuition. In short, the pauperizing influences of reservation life were extended to school life, though possibly with more of an excuse for their existence. In the same way that the ration system had to be reduced in later years to a minimum, so the unnatural superfluities of the school system are now undergoing a steady process of elimination. The Government schools, after taking over from the mission schools the main part of the burden of Indian education, are in their turn making way for the local common schools of the districts in which the Indians live, provided they are near enough to the Indian homes to be available for daily attendance by the children; and many other efforts are now making to stimulate among the Indians and the white settlers in those parts of the West which still have the frontier character, a spirit of neighborly coöperation, both for their own present interests and for those of the younger generations who are destined to live so near together. In The Indian allotee, clothed with the privileges but shielded from the responsibilities of citizenship, fell an easy prey to the designs of the spoilers. Liquor-dealers who had been toc prudent to trifle with a red ward, openly defied the Government to prevent their selling intoxicants to a red citizen as freely as to a white one, and won a technical victory in the courts; unscrupulous traders encouraged him to run into debt and mortgage his ballot as security for payment; shrewd assessors found him out and appraised his personal effeets for taxation at valuations which would make up for the exemption of his land. 1906, therefore, at the instance of Representative Burke of South Dakota, the Dawes allotment law was amended so as to defer citizenship till the expiration of the trust, but with a provision for the release of the trust whenever the Secretary of the Interior is satisfied of the allotee's competency to manage his own affairs, without waiting the prescribed term of twenty-five years. This amendment, although it could not unmake the Indian citizens already qualified under the law of 1887, swept away for future purposes the absurd feature of that law which, while branding an Indian as not intelligent enough to be allowed to dispose of his own property, gave him a ballot wherewith to dispose of the property of his competent fellow citizens. It also enabled the Government to stand effectively between the incompetent allottee and his tempters and oppressors, to INDIAN RESERVATIONS prosecute dramsellers and swindlers in his behalf, and to make the trust period a period of real tutelage, in which he should be trained for the citizenship he was to receive at its close. Out of the new departure has grown up a practice of letting the more intelligent Indians, while still wards of the Government, transact a constantly larger and larger share of their own business. Encouragement to Leave the Reservations.— Along with this change, another has taken place. Whereas reservations were established for the express purpose of confining Indians within their limits, the Government is now not only putting no obstacles in the way of their going and coming with substantially the same freedom enjoyed by other persons, but offering them every incentive, where remunerative employment is lacking on the reservations, to go out into the world in search of it. Large gangs of Indian laborers are now employed every year in railroad building, digging irrigation canals, logging in the forests and working in the harvest fields. In all these occupations they come into close contact and active competition with white laborers, see how people live in civilized communities, and gradually outgrow race prejudices which were only intensified by the old custom of segregation. Summary. Thus, from a vague and inauspicious beginning, the United States Government has little by little developed an Indian policy which is today pretty well charted and faithfully followed. Summarized in simple terms, its aim may be stated as follows: (1) To push, with all the speed consonant with safety, the allotment of the lands on Indian reservations everywhere, for the purpose of giving every Indian his separate homestead and getting rid, at the earliest practicable day, of the reservation system and all its associations; throwing open the surplus lands to white settlement, and in every proper way promoting and hastening the development of the western country, so that the Indian may enjoy his share of its benefits. (2) To wipe out, as soon as may be, the inconsistencies and anomalies of the old treaty system, and put the financial relations of the Government and the tribes upon a rational business footing until the last annuity can be commuted and cancelled, the last dollar of the interest-bearing trust funds distributed, and the books closed forever. (3) To reverse the old ideal of race segre gation, and fuse the Indians as rapidly as practicable into the general body politic, with the same privileges, rights and duties as all other citizens; and, to this end, to encourage closer social relations between the white and Indian races, in the belief that the Indian will acquire civilization more readily by absorption than from precept. (4) To recognize the successive stages of evolution between the primitive Indian and the Indian fitted for citizenship, by adapting to each stage those means of control or guidance best suited to its needs, ranging from close guardianship, with direct rewards and penalties, up to the most general oversight and advice, supported by no sanctions except the operation of the law of cause and effect. (5) To emphasize as little as possible the administrative or disciplinary details between the two extremes, and limit the Indian's freedom of thought and action and mode of living no more than that of a member of any other race subject to the laws of the republic. As will be seen, the existing policy is to no small extent automatic. It is also moderate, avoiding alike the non-progressive practice of treating the Indian as a child who would never mature, and the perils of over-haste in forcing upon him the responsibilities of maturity before he is even crudely equipped to meet them. This quality of moderation constitutes its appeal to the intelligence and the humanity of the American people. See ABORIGINES; BOUNDARIES, INTERIOR; CITIZENSHIP; DECLARATION OF INTENTION TO BE NATURALIZED; FAR WEST; FRONTIER; PUBLIC LANDS; TERRITORIES; WARS OF THE UNITED STATES; and under INDIAN. References: Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, Annual Reports (1894-1905), and Index to same (1906); Garrick Mallery, "The Former and Present Number of Our Indians" in Am. Assoc. for the Advancement of Sci., Proceedings, 1877; F. E. Leupp, The Indian and His Problem (1910); W. H. Hailmann, Education of the Indian (1904); E. S. Curtis, Am. Indian (1907); E. S. Ellis, The United States (1892); G. W. Maypenny, Our Indian Wards (1880); "Handbook of Am. Indians" in Bureau of Am. Ethmology, Bulletin No. 30 (1910), II; G. W. James, What the White Race May Learn from the Indian (1908). FRANCIS E. LEUPP. INDIAN RESERVATIONS Purpose.-Indian reservations are areas set |ly an expedient for getting Indian disturbers apart by the Government for the sole occu- out of the path of white progress and perriitpancy of a tribe or tribes, or one or more frag-ting the development of the western country. ments of tribes, the land on each reservation The belief was general, also, in the earlier part being, at the outset, held in common by the of the last century, that the only hope for occupants. Their establishment was original- | peaceful relations between the white and red INDIAN RESERVATIONS and industrial staff, lived on the ground. His functions, beyond a few technical requirements a3 to accounting and the like, were never defined by statute, and he exercised a jurisdiction resembling that of a Pasha in an oriental province, though subject always to review by his superiors at Washington. On many reser races lay in keeping them well separated, and the reservation plan seemed the simplest means to that end. At one time the hope was entertained that if all the Indians could be collected in two or three large reservations, these might in due course be erected into Indian states and admitted to representation in Congress. Out of this theory grew the Indian Territory ex-vations, petty tribunals were set up for the periment (see INDIAN POLICY). The plan to which the Government finally settled down contemplated not only the separation of the Indians from the whites, but such a separation of the reservations from each other as to preclude any quick massing of Indians with hostile designs; and this purpose was furthered by regulations forbidding the entry of any non-Indian into a reservation, or the departure of any Indian from one, except by permission of the officer in charge. trial of Indians accused of misdemeanors; but as the native judges were selected by the agent, this was merely a device of indirection. The agent's modified despotism found its only justification in the practical necessity for a centre of authority somewhere in a wild region where no organized machinery of public justice could be called promptly into play for the preservation of order and the protection of human life and property. As civilization gradually crept into his neighborhood, however, his tacitly recognized powers shrank correspondingly. Also, as rapidly as practicable since 1893, the duties formerly performed by agents have been transferred to superintendents of Indian schools, who are subject to the civil service law and rules, till the entire agency service is now out of political control. Treaty and Executive-Order Reservations.According to the manner of their creation, reservations have been roughly classified as "treaty" and "executive-order" reservations. The former originated in conventions between Government and Indians (see INDIAN TREATIES) whereby, for example, a tribe agreed to exchange its home in one place for another With a view to economies in administration, selected for it by the Government, or accepted it was once the custom, whenever it could a gift of land as a guaranty for its good be- conveniently be done, to put one agent in charge havior. An executive-order reservation orig- of two or more reservations; but since the inated in a proclamation by the President set-upbuilding of the individual Indian rather than ting apart certain of the public lands for the use of a band of Indians otherwise homeless. Congress, also, has occasionally passed acts creating reservations, but these have been popularly classed with treaty reservations, because the latter have usually required legislation to make the creative treaties effective. In earlier days very sharp distinctions were drawn between treaty and executive-order reservations, as to such matters as the manner of extinguishing the Indian title, the control of the Indians over the natural products and resources, etc.; but the more recent tendency has been toward the reduction of such discriminations. In compensation for their confinement on reservations, and in view of the scarcity of wild game, most of the stronger tribes drew from the Government a stipulation for food-rations for an indefinite period, a provi- | sion which resulted in wide spread idleness, vice and pauperism among a once hardy and self-respecting people. In size, reservations vary from a few hundred acres to nine or ten million. The Navajo reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, is the largest, embracing nearly 15,000 square miles. As to fertility and mineral wealth they vary greatly, the Osage reservation in Oklahema being the richest for agriculture, stockraising and oil-production. Agents. Every reservation, as soon as created, was placed in charge of a Government representative styled an agent, who was appointed by the President, and, with his clerical the mere domination of the tribe has become the chief interest of the Government, the trend has been largely the other way, and several big agencies and reservations have been broken into parts small enough to allow the one functionary in charge of each to maintain closer personal relations with the Indians for whose welfare he is responsible. This practice has caused a considerable increase in the number of reservations. An official list prepared in 1908 placed the number at 161; since then, however, the process of subdivision and the purchase of a few small tracts for homeless bands have brought the total nearer to 200. Traders.-Trade on the reservations has always been unrestricted as between the occupant Indians; and white traders have been licensed to set up stores where the conditions seemed to warrant it. Proofs of good moral character and financial responsibility, besides a large bond obligating the licensee to obey the laws and the regulations of the Indian Office, are required of every applicant not of Indian blood. Formerly these concessions were awarded more or less by favor and were enormously profitable, the Indians being expected to confine their dealings to the licensed traders; but in the interest of broader markets for the Indians, and a sharper competition in prices, the practice has been more and more relaxed. Meanwhile, towns have sprung up on the borders of reservations which a few years ago were remote from all civilization, and the Indians are now encouraged to buy and sell where they can do |