h
territory in the aggregate; and, what is worse, some of them
unnecessarily obstruct the natural access of population to portions of
territory not reserved, while others, by their neighborhood, render
large tracts of otherwise available land undesirable for white
occupation. Indeed, it may be said that the present arrangement of
reservations would constitute an almost intolerable affliction, were it
to be maintained without change. Nor are the interests of the Indians
any better served by the existing order. Many tribes, even were they
disposed to agriculture, would not find suitable land within the limits
assigned to them. Others are in a position to be incessantly disturbed
and harassed by the whites. Others still, while they stand across the
path of settlement, are themselves, by ill-considered treaty provisions,
cut off from access to hunting-grounds, to fishing privileges, or to
mountains abounding in natural roots and berries, which would be of the
greatest value to them. When it is considered that the present body of
reservations is the result of hundreds of treaties, made, too often, on
the part of the government with ignorance and heedlessness, and on the
part of the Indians with the childishness characteristic of the race,
both parties being not infrequently deceived and betrayed by the
interpreters employed; when it is considered, moreover, that many of
these treaties have been negotiated in emergencies requiring immediate
action,--it would be wonderful indeed if the scheme as it stood were not
cumbersome and ineffective.

It is manifest, therefore, that the next five or ten years must witness
a general recasting of the scheme of Indian reservations. This is not to
be accomplished by confiscating the Indian title, but by exchange, by
cession, and by consolidation. Let Congress provide the necessary
authority, under the proper limitations, for the executive departments,
and the adjustment desired can be reached easily and amicably.

* * * * *

_Second._ It is further evident, that, in recasting the scheme of
reservations, the principal object should be, while preserving distinct
the boundaries of every tribe, so to locate them that the territory
assigned to the Indians west of the Mississippi shall constitute one or
two grand reservations, with, perhaps, here and there a channel cut
through, so to speak, by a railroad, so that the industries of the
surrounding communities may