whether we should not find the Indians who would then be drunkards to be the very same ones who under present surroundings experience no difficulty whatever in gratifying this cursed appetite. The great majority of Indians are wise enough to recognize the fact that liquor is the worst foe to their advancement. Complaints have frequently been made by them to me that well-known parties had maintained this illicit traffic with members of their tribe, but no check could be imposed or punishment secured for the very good reason that Indian testimony carries no weight whatever with a white jury. Now by arming the red men with the franchise, we remove this impediment, and provide a cure for the very evil which seems to excite so much apprehension; besides this, we would open a greater field of industrial development. The majority of the Indians whom I have met are perfectly willing to work for their white neighbors, to whom they can make themselves serviceable in many offices, such as teaming, herding, chopping wood, cutting hay, and harvesting; and for such labor there is at nearly all times a corresponding demand at reasonable wages. Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous characters to be found near all reservations who don't hesitate after employing Indians to defraud them of the full amount agreed upon. Several such instances have been brought to my notice during the present year, but there was no help for the Indian, who could not bring suit in the courts. Every such swindle is a discouragement both to the Indian most directly concerned and to a large circle of interested friends, who naturally prefer the relations of idleness to work which brings no remuneration.
"Our object should be to get as much voluntary labor from the Indian as possible. Every dollar honestly gained by hard work is so much subtracted from the hostile element and added to that which is laboring for peace and civilization. In conclusion, I wish to say that the American Indian is the intellectual peer of most, if not all, the various nationalities we have assimilated to our laws, customs, and language. He is fully able to protect himself if the ballot be given, and the courts of law not closed against him. If our aim be to remove the aborigine from a state of servile dependence, we cannot begin in a better or more practical way than by making him think well of himself, to force upon him the knowledge that he is part and parcel of the nation, clothed with all its political privileges, entitled to share in all its benefits. Our present treatment degrades him in his own eyes, by making evident the difference between his own condition and that of those about him. To sum up, my panacea for the Indian trouble is to make the Indian self-supporting, a condition which can never be attained, in my opinion, so long as the privileges which have made labor honorable, respectable, and able to defend itself, be withheld from him."
Chancellor Kent has well said that unity increases the efficiency,
by increasing the responsibility, of the executive. This rule
applies to every department of life. The dual administration of
the Apache reservation, by the Departments of War and the Interior,
did not succeed so well as was at first expected: there were
