THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
The present difficulties among the Indians in the Dakotas will probably lead to a re-consideration of the whole system by which the Government and the nation deals with these people. As a contribution to that discussion, we present in condensed form some suggestions recently published in a Boston paper, from our esteemed friend, S.B. Capen, Esq., whose intelligent interest in the Indian entitles his opinion to thoughtful consideration:
While public attention is everywhere called to this matter, it is time to agitate for a radical change in the whole administration of the Indian service. We believe that this should be disconnected entirely from the Department of the Interior, and be made a separate department. This whole Indian question is so important and so complex that it ought not to be simply an annex to a department which has under its control land, patents, etc. It should stand by itself; there should no longer be a divided responsibility, which is always productive of evil. We are finding the necessity in our cities of making responsibility more direct and personal. The time, we believe, has fully come to reorganize the Indian service on this basis. Our criticism is not against any individual, but against a system which is the growth of many years.
We would suggest the following;
1. Have the Commissioner of Indian Affairs responsible only to the President and to the public. What he does, or may do, shall not be controlled by the Department of the Interior.
2. Ask Congress to provide such legislation that no agents or teachers shall ever be removed without proper cause.
3. All inspectors and special agents shall be under the absolute control of the Commissioner.
4. There shall be a division of the Indian reservation into school districts, with an assistant superintendent for each. It shall be their duty to visit the schools constantly, and keep themselves in full sympathy and touch with the work. This is the method in the States—an official responsible for a field which he can properly cover.