spondingly increased the amount of such work devolving upon the office. In the work of arranging, examining, and reporting upon depredation claims have been engaged four examiners (three of whom are experi enced lawyers), three copyists, and during the past six months two special agents in the field. Two additional special agents have been appointed recently.

COURTS OF INDIAN OFFENSES.

Longer experience makes more apparent the value of the courts. instituted at various agencies for the punishment of minor offenses committed by the Indians. With one exception, all the agents at whose agencies courts are established speak very highly of the good effect of these courts and of the manner in which the judges perform their duties. As an illustration of the general tenor of the agents' reports, I quote the following from that of Agent McLaughlin, at Standing Rock:

There are regular bi-weekly sessions of the Indian courts held at the agency police headquarters, in a room set apart for that purpose, and the importance of this court is now such that it would seem almost impossible to do without it. Offenses of every character committed at the agency are brought before this court for adjudication, and it has relieved me of much annoyance in trivial matters, and aided materially in the more important cases. The judges, who are the two officers of the Indian police force and John Grass, an intelligent Indian who speaks English, are men of excellent judgment, whose decisions, impartially rendered, have been accepted in all cases the past year without any complaint, except in the instances where an appeal was made, and in two of which a rehearing was ordered upon additional testimony being produced.

These courts are also unquestionably a great assistance to the Indians in learning habits of self-government and in preparing themselves for citizenship. I am of the opinion that they should be placed upon a legal basis by an act of Congress authorizing their establishment, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe. Their duties and jurisdiction could then be definitely deter mined and greater good accomplished.

At some of the agencies it has been found impracticable to establish these courts from the fact that good men cannot be found who are willing to serve as judges without compensation. At others the make-shift policy has had to be resorted to of detailing members of the police force to act as judges in court! The payment of a small monthly salary would have a most salutary effect in giving greater dignity to the office and rendering it possible to secure better men for judges. For this purpose I have asked for the next fiscal year an appropriation of $5,000.

JURISDICTION OF CRIMES COMMITTED BY INDIANS.

In my last annual report attention was called to certain defects in the ninth section of the act of March 3, 1885 (23 Stats., 385), providing for the punishment of certain crimes committed by Indians. Subse quently a bill was prepared and submitted to Congress relieving the Territories of the expenses incident to the enforcement of the law, and extending its provisions to that portion of the Indian Territory not covered by the laws of the five civilized tribes. I deem the passage of this or a similar bill to be necessary to the proper execution of the act. In Dakota especially the county authorities refuse to prosecute Indians guilty of the most serious offenses, on the ground of the expense incident to such prosecution. As the counties derive no revenue from the reservations within their limits, the injustice of compelling them to assume the burden of these prosecutions is apparent.

SURVEYS OF INDIAN RESERVATIONS.

The Indian appropriation act for the current year contains an appropriation of $25,000—

For survey of Indian reservations and of lands to be allotted to Indians, and to make allotments in severalty..

This amount will probably be sufficient to meet the pressing necessities of the service, so far as the survey of exterior boundaries are concerned, and to remark former surveys. Requests have been made for the subdivision of townships on the Great Sioux Reservation; but very little of this work can be done. A similar appropriation should be made for several years to come, until all the reservations where allotments can be made are subdivided and properly marked.

TRESPASSES AND TIMBER DEPREDATIONS ON INDIAN LANDS.

At the last session of Congress the Senate again passed a bill (S. 1055) to amend section 2148 of the Revised Statutes, in relation to trespassers on Indian lands, but beyond reference to the House Committee on Indian Affairs, I do not find that any further action was had upon it.

A bill (S. 2131) was also introduced in the Senate to amend section 5388 of the Revised Statutes, in relation to timber depredations, so as to make it apply to Indian lands, but was not reached before the adjournment.

The necessity for legislation on both these subjects has been so repeatedly and emphatically urged in previous annual reports of this office that I deem it unnecessary to say anything more, except to express the hope that Congress will see the importance of finally disposing of both these measures at the ensuing session.

LOGGING OPERATIONS BY INDIANS.

During the season 1885-'86, 178 contracts for the cutting, sale, and delivery of pine logs, under Department authority of September 28, 1882 (ful particulars whereof will be found in the annual report of this office for 1884), were made by individual Indian patentees of the Lac Court d'Oreilles, Bad River, and Fond du Lac reservations, attached to the La Pointe Agency in Wisconsin. Under these contracts the Indians banked 63,945,769 feet of timber, at prices variously ranging from $4 to $6.25 per thousand feet. The net gain to the Indians on these transactions was $131,281.46, of which $58,006.70 was taken out in merchandise and supplies, and the balance, $73,274.76, was paid in cash to the individual Indians. The agent reports that the general result of these operations is highly satisfactory; the Indians are all learning to work, are getting good, comfortable homes, and their condition is being greatly improved.

With some modifications in the manner of conducting the business, which the agent has been directed to make, there appears every reason to anticipate that the coming season's operations will be on a more extended scale, and will be still more beneficial to the Indians. White labor, except such as is absolutely necessary, is rigorously excluded from the reservations, and the Indian is taught to labor and permitted to reap the benefit of his toil.

INDIAN POLICE.

The greatest number of Indian police in the service at any one time during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, was 701. Considering the very meager compensation allowed, viz, $10 per month for commissioned officers and $8 per month for non-commissioned officers and privates, the service has been very satisfactory. The members of the police force are selected on account of their good character and influence among their people; a majority of them have families to support. They have proven themselves to be worthy of confidence, and have rendered valuable assistance to the agents in maintaining order and suppressing crime on the reservations. They are almost without exception courageous, determined men, who will without flinching face any danger in carrying out their instructions.

To bring the police service up to the highest degree of efficiency it is necessary that the entire time and attention of the men be devoted to their work, but it is often difficult to obtain the services of proper men on account of the small compensation. It would tend greatly to increase the efficiency of this branch of the service if a more liberal compensation could be allowed, even though the number of men should be reduced. The police in the discharge of their duties often come in contact with outlaws and men of desperate character, and being thus called upon to face danger and death it is but fair that they should receive a compensation in some degree commensurate with the service rendered. The cost of their support is money well spent, as at most agencies they are the only means which the agent possesses for protecting his Indians against liquor traffic, cattle thieves, the inroads of bad white men, and for the suppression of every kind of vice and lawlessness on the reservation. Without them he would have much less power either to punish the bad or protect the good, and the knowledge that he has this reliable force always at hand has a much greater induence for good than appears on the surface.

AGENCY EMPLOYÉS.

It is well known that the general public has long been impressed with the idea that much corruption prevailed in the employé service at Indian agencies; that many agents having in their own hands the power to employ or dismiss their assistants had surrounded themselves with such material as they could completely control through fear of discharge or by collusion with them in dishonest practices; that this condition of affairs rendered fraud easy and its detection by inspectors, special agents, and this office almost impossible, and that thus the Government and the Indians were plundered with impunity; and that worthless or worse employés were retained in office solely on the ground of their usefulness to the agent or through his fear of the use they might make of their knowledge of his practices in case he incurred their displeasure. It was also claimed that many agents had placed their relatives, or relatives of their bondsmen, in office merely through cupidity or to fulfill promises made, and had kept them there without regard to their fitness for the positions or their endeavors to discharge their duties, and without power to control them.

After giving this matter careful consideration, and becoming con vinced that there must be some good grounds for so generally unfavor able an opinion in regard to it, I determined to make such a change as would effectually remove all just cause for doubt as to the honesty and

integrity of the service in this particular. Indian agents and school superintendents were therefore notified that the office would select and appoint all clerks as well as physicians and additional farmers. It was believed that this course would meet the approval of all good agents, and of those who considered the good name and best interests of the service paramount to personal preférences, since it promised them competent assistants, and at the same time relieved them of obligation either to their bondsmen or their relatives; and it was thought that thoroughly upright men would prefer to have entirely disinterested proof always at hand that their official acts were without stain.

I am pleased to be able to report that most of the agents were broad enough in their views, and had their own and the best interests of the service sufficiently at heart, cordially to support this move. The reports from various agencies satisfy me that this ruling that agency clerks shall be selected by the Indian Office is a wise one, and it has already been found to tend so directly and plainly to the improvement of the service that I have no doubt as to its necessity for the good of the Indians and the administration of agency affairs generally. A few agents have complained of this change, but they could advance no good reason against it, and I have considered it necessary to make the rule general and to treat all alike.

As I find that but little attention has heretofore been paid by the office to the qualifications for their respective duties of lower-grade employés, the plan has been adopted of plainly laying before all applicants for positions a statement of the duties that will be required of them, and of informing them that if they are found, on trial, to be incompetent, they will not be retained. Clerks must file a sample of their writing and give satisfactory information as to their proficiency, and farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, &c., must satisfy me that they are experienced and capable in their various callings. Thus, when an appointment is offered to an applicant, he is given fully to understand what will be expected of him, and that if he is not confident that he can discharge the duties of the position it will be only to his disadvantage and loss to accept it. I am determined that, as far as I can ascertain the facts, no improper or incompetent employé shall remain in the service.

Physicians are required to be graduates of some reputable medical institution, and as it has been ascertained that in many cases agency physicians have been in the habit of treating persons not connected with the agency, for pay, to the neglect of their regular duty, they are directed to devote their entire time and professional skill to the Indian service.

Such employés as are directly appointed by this office are told that they are under the immediate control of the agent; that they must work in harmony with him, treating him with due respect and obeying his orders cheerfully; and that, as he is a bonded officer, they must take good care of the property for which he is responsible. On the other hand, while agents are not allowed to suspend or discharge any employé appointed by this office, any statement they wish to make as to the manner in which the employé behaves himself and discharges his duties is carefully considered, and such action taken thereon as is deemed just and for the best interests of the service.

RAILROADS.

Bad River Reserve, Wisconsin.-Since the date of my last annual report the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway Company has completed its road through this reservation, and has paid the Indians,

in their tribal and individual capacities, what is deemed to be a just compensation for the right of way as provided for by the terms of the treaty under which they hold their lands. The deeds from individual Indian patentees to the railway company are now before the President, awaiting his approval, in accordance with the provisions of the patents. Blackfeet Reserve, Montana.-Congress, at the last session, having passed an act (S. 2381) "granting to railroads the right of way through the Indian reservation in Northern Montana," it was in due course referred by the President to this office, with an inquiry whether any objection was known to exist against its approval. Upon examination of the treaty with the several tribes and bands of Indians occupying the reservation (October 17, 1885, 11 Stats., 658), it appeared that the right to construct roads of every description thereon was expressly reserved to the United States, and as the proposed legislation appeared to afford reasonable protection to the Indians in providing for compen sation to them, and in other respects, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, prior to the vesting of any right in a railroad com. pany in and to the lands of the reservation, I returned the act stating that I saw no objection to its approval. The President, however, deeming that the bill did not sufficiently guard against the invasion of the rights and a disturbance of the peace and quiet of the Indians on the reservation mentioned, and not being satisfied that the legislation proposed was demanded by any exigency of the public welfare, returned the act to the Senate without his approval. (See Executive message, Senate Ex. Doc. 204, Forty-ninth Congress, first session.)

Coeur d'Alène Reserve, Idaho.-Quite late in the last session of Congress measures were introduced granting a right of way to the Spokane and Palouse Railway Company and the Washington and Idaho Railroad Company, respectively, through this reservation. Both bills have been referred to the United States Indian agent in charge for an expression of the views of the Indians thereon, and for investigation as to the necessity and advisability of the proposed legislation.

Crow Reserve, Montana.-Bills (S. 2778 and H. R. 9677) were also introduced authorizing the Billings, Clark's Fork and Cooke City Railroad Company to construct and operate a railway through this reservation. Fort Hall Reserve, Idaho.-By office letter of December 12, 1885, the attention of the Department was again called to the subject of the continued failure of the Utah and Northern Railroad Company to compensate the Shoshone and Bannack Indians for the right of way and lands of the reservation taken and used for the purposes of its road, constructed from north to south through the reservation in or about the year 1878, and the matter was made the subject of Executive message to Congress December 21, 1885. (S. Ex. Doc. No. 20, Forty-ninth Congress, first session.)

At the last session of Congress a bill (H. R. 2847) was introducedTo authorize the Shoshone and Bannack Indians to sell to the Utah and Northern and Oregon Short-Line Railway Companies certain lands situated upon the reservation of said Indians in Idaho, necessary to said railway companies for railroad purposes and for the relief of said railway companies.

Finding, upon examination of this bill, that it made no provision for negotiations with the Indians in respect of the lands originally taken for the north and south line of the Utah and Northern Railroad, but was simply directed to the acquisition of additional lands at Pocatello Station (the junction of the two roads, where the railway companies seek to acquire some 1,600 acres), I returned the bill with the sugges tion that the question of compensation arising out of the construction