would, in my opinion, be far better to lay the matter in its true aspect frankly before the contributors, and to ask them for their consent to the change of purpose, than to throw away the money for a purpose which cannot be accomplished.
In reply to your inquiry whether any bill has been brought before Congress providing for the settlement of the Indians in severalty, and for conferring upon the individual title in fee-simple to the lands allotted to them, I am glad to say that several bills of this kind have been introduced in both the Senate and the House, and are now before the respective Committees on Indian Affairs for consideration. If such a bill passes, of which there is great hope, the Indian, having a fee title by patent to the piece of land which he individually, not as a member of a tribe, holds as his own, will stand in the eye of the law just like any other owner of property in his individual right, and, as a matter of course, will have the same standing in court. This will do more in securing the Indian in the practical enjoyment of his property than anything else I can think of, and it has long been my endeavor to bring about just this result. I trust we shall obtain the desired legislation during the present session of Congress.
TO E. DUNBAR LOCKWOOD
Department of the Interior,
Washington, April 1, 1880.
I notice in the [Philadelphia] Telegraph of March 30th an article about the Ute matter if possible still more outrageous than the first. It says that my “avowed object” in making the bargain with the Utes “was to get from them twelve millions of acres of land for the land speculators and miners of Colorado,” and that I gave them for that less than forty thousand acres, located
